Self-Solemnization in Colorado: No Officiant Needed

The single most useful fact about getting married in Colorado, if you’re planning to fly in from another country to do it: you don’t need anyone else there.

Colorado is one of a small number of US states that allows self-solemnization: you and your partner can act as your own officiant. No ordained minister, no notary, no witnesses required by law. Whatever ceremony you hold, however small or elaborate, is entirely your choice. The legal requirement is just that the two of you sign the license.

That single fact removes an enormous amount of logistics that most international couples assume they’ll need to solve: finding and vetting an officiant in a state you don’t live in, coordinating their availability with your travel dates, and paying for a service you don’t need in the first place.

What the license costs

• $30 for the marriage license itself, paid at the county clerk’s office.
• No waiting period. You can get the license and hold your ceremony the same day if you want.
• No residency requirement. You don’t need to live in Colorado, or even in the US, to apply.
• No blood test. Colorado doesn’t require one.

How long the license is valid

The license is valid for 35 days from the date it’s issued. This matters for trip planning: apply for the license too early relative to your ceremony date and it can expire before you use it. Time your county clerk visit to fall within that window relative to your actual ceremony day, not months ahead of your trip.

It’s valid statewide, not just in the county that issued it

Before you pick a ceremony site, know this: the license works anywhere in Colorado, regardless of which county’s clerk issued it. Apply in whichever county is most convenient (the one closest to the airport, say) and hold your ceremony somewhere else entirely, as long as it’s within that 35-day window. See scenic spots within 2 hours of Denver if you’re weighing ceremony locations separately from where you’ll get the license itself.

Getting it recorded after the ceremony

Signing the license isn’t the last step. Once you and your partner have signed it, the license needs to be returned to the county clerk within 63 days of the ceremony so it can be officially recorded. This is the step that makes your marriage part of the public record, and it’s the prerequisite for the next stage: getting a certified copy and, eventually, an apostille.

A few mechanics worth knowing:

• It goes back to the same county that issued it, not just any county. This is easy to miss given the license itself is valid statewide for the ceremony; the return step is the one part of this process that isn’t location-flexible.
• You can return it in person or by mail. In person is generally the more reliable option; if you’re mailing it (for instance, because you’ve already left Colorado), certified mail is worth the extra cost so you have proof it arrived and when.
• Missing the 63-day window has a real, escalating cost, set by state statute (C.R.S. § 14-2-109), not by the county: a $20 late fee, plus an additional $5 for each additional day, capped at $50 total. Since it’s the same statute statewide, this applies regardless of which county issued your license.

What this means if you’re planning from abroad

Because there’s no residency requirement, no waiting period, and no officiant to book, the entire “getting married” part of this process can realistically happen within a single trip, sometimes within a single day, if your county clerk’s office allows same-day license issuance and you’re ready to sign right away. The complexity in an international elopement isn’t the Colorado side of the ceremony. It’s everything that comes after: turning that license into a document your home country will recognize. That starts with getting it apostilled: see the apostille process, step by step.

For the mechanics of filling out the application itself (including what to do if you don’t have a Social Security number), see how to fill in the license application. For what the signing moment itself looks like, see self-solemnizing the ceremony. Planning on taking a new name? That’s also declared on this same application; see changing your name after getting married in Colorado.