What a Civil Ceremony Is, Who Can Perform One, and What It Costs

"Civil ceremony" gets used three different ways, which is why people search for it. Sometimes it means a courthouse wedding. Sometimes it means any wedding without religious content. Sometimes it means a legal formality done before a bigger celebration later. All three are right, because a civil ceremony is simply a marriage solemnized under civil (state) authority rather than religious authority. The state does not care where it happens or what you wear. It cares that an authorized person performed it and the license got signed and filed.

The legal definition, in plain terms

Every state's marriage statute lists who may solemnize a marriage. The list always has two halves: religious officials (ministers, priests, rabbis, imams, and so on) and civil officials (judges, magistrates, justices of the peace, court clerks, mayors in some states). A wedding performed by someone from the second half is a civil ceremony. That is the whole definition. It has nothing to do with the venue, the guest count, or the presence of a dress.

A civil ceremony is exactly as legally married as a church wedding. There is no second-class marriage certificate. The document you get is identical.

Who can perform a civil ceremony

This varies by state, and it is the thing to check first, because it determines whether you can have a civil ceremony somewhere other than the courthouse.

• Judges and magistrates. Authorized in every state. Active and often retired judges can perform ceremonies, and some will do so off-site for a fee.
• Justices of the peace. Texas is the big one: each JP precinct performs ceremonies and publishes its own fee, which is why our Texas metros have so many courthouse listings. Several New England states use JPs too.
• Court clerks and deputy clerks. Many states deputize clerks to perform ceremonies at the counter. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Minnesota, and Florida clerks all do this in at least some counties.
• Mayors and other officials. New York lets mayors and certain city officials perform ceremonies. A few other states do too.
• Anyone, if your state allows self-solemnization. Colorado, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and a few others let a couple solemnize their own marriage without an officiant at all. Colorado's version is the most permissive in the country.
• Online-ordained officiants. Here is where "civil" gets blurry. A friend ordained through an online ministry is technically a religious officiant under most state laws, but the ceremony they perform can be entirely secular. Most states honor these ordinations; a few, Virginia and Tennessee among them, have restricted or litigated them. If a friend will officiate, check your state before the day.

Where a civil ceremony can happen

Anywhere the officiant is willing to go. A courthouse is the default because the officiant is already there and the fee is published. But a judge or clerk who performs ceremonies off-site, or an independent officiant, can marry you in a park pavilion, a garden, a restaurant, or your backyard. The ceremony is still civil. The courthouse ceremonies collection lists the courts; the park venues and ceremony-only sites list the places you can take an officiant instead.

What a civil ceremony costs

Three numbers, and two of them are small.

The license. $20 to $120 depending on the county. This is the same whether your ceremony is civil or religious.

The ceremony fee at a courthouse. Across the 105 courthouse listings in this directory, published fees run from free to a few hundred dollars with a median of about $40. Several probate courts around Atlanta and the St. Louis city court charge nothing. New York City and the six circuit courts in our Baltimore metro charge $25. Most clerk offices are $10 to $75. Texas justices of the peace and some big-city courts run $100 to $300, and a handful of courts sell a more elaborate ceremony room for more.

An officiant who comes to you. A judge performing an off-site ceremony often charges $200 to $500. An independent professional officiant is $150 to $400 for a short ceremony, more with custom writing and a rehearsal. An ordained friend is free.

A complete civil ceremony at a courthouse, license included, is therefore usually $50 to $200. A civil ceremony at a park with a hired officiant is $300 to $700 including the site fee. That gap is the entire reason the courthouse is the starting point for most weddings under $5,000.

What happens during one

A civil ceremony is short. The officiant confirms your identities, states that you are here to be married, asks each of you whether you take the other as your spouse, gives you the chance to exchange rings or vows if you brought them, and declares you married. Three to ten minutes at a courthouse; up to twenty with an independent officiant who writes something personal. There are no required readings, no required music, and no required words beyond the declaration of intent (the "I do" moment) that most states require in some form. Our guide to what happens at a courthouse wedding walks through the day in detail.

Civil ceremony vs religious ceremony

	Civil	Religious
Who performs it	Judge, clerk, JP, or other state-authorized official	Clergy of a recognized faith
Where	Courthouse by default, anywhere the officiant agrees	House of worship by default, often anywhere
Content	Secular; you may add anything	Set by the tradition; may have requirements
Prerequisites	A valid marriage license	A license plus whatever the faith requires (classes, membership, prior annulment)
Typical cost	$0 to $300 for the officiant	Often a donation or fee of $200 to $800; facility fees separate
Legal effect	Married	Married

Plenty of couples do both: a civil ceremony to be legally married on a convenient date, and a religious or symbolic ceremony later in front of family. If you do this, the civil ceremony is the legal one and the later ceremony does not need a license or an authorized officiant at all. Some faiths will not perform a religious ceremony for a couple who is already civilly married, so ask before you book the courthouse.

Civil ceremony vs civil union

Not the same thing. A civil union was a separate legal status some states created before same-sex marriage was recognized nationally in 2015. A civil ceremony is a marriage. If you search "civil union" today you will mostly find historical information; what you want is a marriage license and a civil ceremony, which every state and county now issues to any two adults eligible to marry.

What you need to bring

• A valid marriage license from the county, obtained by both of you in person with photo ID.
• Photo ID again on ceremony day.
• Witnesses if your state requires them. Several states require none; New York requires one; most others require two. Not every court supplies one.
• The ceremony fee in a form the court accepts.
• Rings and vows only if you want them.

If you are in a state with a waiting period between license and ceremony, our same-day courthouse wedding guide lists every state we cover and how to get the wait waived. Every court in this directory is in the table below with its published fee and a link to the court's own page.