Marriage License Horror Stories: Part 1

I’ll never forget the day I received a phone call from a sobbing former Bride whose marriage was coming to an end. Less than two years after the couple had wed, the current Mrs. was calling ME hoping to arrange a divorce - no joke! Apparently this bride took my “one-stop-shop” service guarantee a bit too seriously.

Wedding planners play many roles for their clients - as accountants, as therapists… as Houdini. I even stood in for a photographer once. But as many hats as we wear in this industry, I still get a kick out of the folks who confuse wedding planners with lawyers. Sure I do my best to provide information and resources but when it comes down to it, legal documents are the sole responsibility of the Bride and Groom.

At the start of my career I worked for a small events firm in Lake Tahoe and since 99% of our weddings took place on the Nevada side of the lake, all of our informational materials regarding licensing was based on Nevada laws and requirements. Enter Jamie and her groom Pete. Unbeknownst to me, this eager young couple went to the courthouse to get their marriage license the same day they booked their wedding - a full 10 months in advance.

Five months later, an unexpected budget conflict caused Jamie and Pete to relocate the event to a smaller venue about 10 miles away. Amid the frenzy of re-budgeting and cancellation policies, the fact that the new venue was now on the California side of the lake only became a concern when the couple learned they would have to find a new minister ordained in CA. Soon thereafter, I mentioned the marriage license as I was going through one of my typical checklists. Not knowing that they had already obtained a Nevada license, I crossed it off my list after Jamie assured me they had taken care of it.

Long story short, Jamie arrived with a Nevada marriage license to her California wedding ceremony. The Minister refused to perform even a mock ceremony for liability reasons and the only way she was going to have a legal ceremony was to head back to Nevada. With a Bride in tears, our one ounce of luck in this awful situation was that our Minister was also ordained in Nevada and agreed to travel across the state line to perform what he called a “quick and dirty.” That day, the couple exchanged vows on a street corner in front of a casino while the would-be ceremony turned into a rowdy cocktail party.

As sweet a girl as she was, Jamie’s Bridezilla-mode did surface that day as she searched for someone to blame. She came down on me pretty hard for not informing her that a trans-state marriage license does not exist and I do accept some blame for assuming that was an obvious. Since that fiasco, adding “legal consultant” to my job description has become a necessary evil. Stay tuned for part 2 of Legal Horror Stories when we learn what happens when Grandma decides to frame the wrong copy of your marriage licence -fun stuff!