Self-Solemnizing the Ceremony: What Actually Happens

Once you’ve got your license in hand, the ceremony itself is almost entirely up to you. Here’s what’s required, and what’s optional.

What you’re handed

This is worth being clear on, since “the application” and “the license” get used almost interchangeably but aren’t the same document: after your county clerk appointment, you walk away with a physical license, the actual paper you and your partner sign, distinct from the application you filled out to get it. It has your names, the signature lines for both of you (and the optional witness lines), and it’s this specific document that needs to make the round trip: signed at your ceremony, then returned to the same county clerk’s office that issued it. Don’t lose track of it between the appointment and the ceremony; there’s no digital backup if it goes missing.

No officiant required

Colorado allows you and your partner to act as your own officiant. There’s no one to book, no one to pay, and no one whose availability you need to coordinate with your travel dates.

This is an option, not a requirement: Colorado also allows a traditional officiant if you’d rather have one. That choice can matter for reasons beyond preference. France is the clearest confirmed example of a country where it changes what happens to your marriage once you’re home, and several other European countries in our country-specific notes raise a version of the same question with less certainty either way. If your country is one of those, it’s worth reading that page before deciding how to structure your ceremony, not after.

No witnesses required

You also don’t need witnesses. The license has lines for witness signatures, but you’re free to leave them blank, or write your own names in those lines if you want your ceremony to formally acknowledge the two of you as present for each other. Neither approach affects the marriage’s validity.

Family can still be there, informally

Not needing witnesses doesn’t mean you can’t have people there. Family or friends are welcome to attend informally, as guests rather than as legally required participants. It just means their presence isn’t doing any legal work: the marriage is valid whether or not anyone else is in the room.

What you have to do

Strip away everything optional, and the legal core of the ceremony is simple:

1. Both of you sign the marriage license.
2. Return the signed license to the county clerk within 63 days so it can be recorded.

That’s the process, though the exact legal moment your marriage becomes “official” (the signing itself, versus the later recording) is a genuinely open question; see when are we officially married? if the precise timing matters for something on your end, like a visa or benefits application.

Everything else (vows, rings, guests, location) is yours to design. See do we need rings or vows? if you’re wondering whether any of the traditional trappings are legally necessary. (They’re not.)