Congratulations, you got married! Now what?
If you are intending to use your marriage certificate in a country other than the USA, you will almost certainly need to apostille your wedding certificate.
What is an Apostille?
An apostille is essentially an authentication of your document from the source of your document. Apostilles are not limited to marriage certificates, there are many other public documents that may need this authentication such as birth certificates, diplomas, business ownership documents, and others.
The Hague Apostille Convention simplifies international document authentication by replacing the traditional, complex legalization process with a single Apostille certificate issued by a competent authority in a member country. To obtain one, you must first ensure the document is properly signed, and then submit it to the designated authority, such as the Utah Lt. Governor‘s Office of Authentications for US state-level documents.
Essentially, an Apostille allows you to give an authenticated document that originated in one country to a different country than where it was created. Not all countries will require the apostille, so it is important to research the requirements for using an apostille before ordering.
Regardless of how it is done, the process to apostille a document is not online, and can only be handled through obtaining the certified paper documents and carrying or shipping the documents to the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s physical office for authentication.
The Best and Fastest Option – Use our Expedited Apostille Document Services
Because the Utah County Online Marriages are so popular, their apostille queue has become extremely backlogged, by as much as 4-5 weeks to get a document apostilled. We have been able to help several couples with urgent document needs who were literally our inspiration for beginning to offer this service.
We have proven that we can obtain the marriage certificate, get the apostille, and get it shipped in a single business day! We can also offer a less expensive economy option that can still get your document to you in 10 business days!
Order from Utah County
If you are not in a hurry to get your document, the Utah County Clerk’s Marriage License Office has upgraded their system so that you will be able to order your apostilled document through them as you sign up for your marriage license. Their new system is great and is an easy, economical, and integrated solution for many couples worldwide.
While we used to offer a how-to page on ordering through them, it is no longer necessary since their new system is greatly improved.
Do It Yourself!
Step 1 – Gathering The Documents
- Include a printed and completed Request Form from the Lieutenant Governor’s site.
- Include the certified paper copies of your wedding certificate. The authentications office will only accept an original paper stamped and sealed copy of your wedding certificate. You may wish to order and apostille two separate copies from Utah County so that you and your partner will both have an original document.
Step 2 – Payment and Processing Options on the Request Form
There are several ways to pay for your apostille, but first you have to decide how fast you want the document to be processed. These are the options listed on the request form. Any processing time will only be counted from when their office gets the document, which may vary based on how you shipped it to them. See Step 3 below for a discussion on shipping.
Please note that each fee is per document so you need to double the fee cost if you are getting two copies.
- Normal processing time – 3-5 business days – $19
- Next Business day (after receipt of the document) – $53
- Same Business day (after receipt of the document) – $93
You’ll write in your credit card information (they accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express) on the request form and they will process your payment based on your choices when you filled out the document. . Please use a card which you know will have the funds available to avoid delays.
You can also pay via :
- Money Orders made payable to “State of Utah”
- Checks made payable to “State of Utah”
- Cash (please note sending cash in the mail is not advised)
Step 3 – Shipping and return
There are many ways to get your document to their office and to get it back. It is highly advised that you use a service that provides tracking of your shipment. When you send your wedding certificate and your request form and payment as detailed in the first two steps, your final choice is to decide how to send and return the document to yourself. Please note that you can also “return” the document to any address, including an international one.
In all cases, you should include a self-addressed envelope for the return of your documents.
If you need the document quickly, and to ensure document tracking, you can use a private service such as FedEx, UPS or other postal service like Priority Mail in the USA.
For instance, if you wanted expedited processing, you could FedEx a document with their guaranteed morning delivery which would get the document to their office before 10:30 am on a business day, whereas a postal mail document may not arrive until later in the day and wouldn’t be eligible for same day processing until the next business day. You also need to take into account weekends and holidays.
Please note that Utah observes an extra holiday called Pioneer Day which is typically on or near July 24th and all official state offices are closed for this holiday.
Sending the document will change based on which service you choose.
For FedEx or other private courier or service, send your documents to:
State of Utah, Office of the Lieutenant Governor
350 N. State Street, Suite 220
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114
NOTE: If you are using UPS or another service you may need to request a pickup of your documents at their office.
For postal mail or non-courier service send your documents to:
State of Utah, Office of the Lieutenant Governor
PO Box 142325
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114
Use a different Third-Party Service
There are a LOT of services out there that will charge you lots of money to process an apostille for you. And although we do offer our own apostille services, we are serious about keeping it affordable while offering a concierge experience for fast expedited apostille services.
So it is up to you if you want the extras or just need someone to take care of it for you if you do not have the time to do it. Be aware that you will still need to order the original paper certified copies from Utah County to send to them!
Private Apostille Services
If you do a search, there are other private services which will do the apostille process for you. I cannot recommend one over the other so please take some time to check them out and decide which is right for you. They all require mailing an original, certified paper copy to them which adds to the processing time, so be aware of that before you pay.
Here is a list of countries that may accept apostille copies for wedding certificates as per the the Hague Convention of 1961 – you may need to research individual countries’ requirements.