was it just me or was getting the marriage license pretty anti-climactic?

[ficklefaye]

FI and i got our marriage license yesterday and the whole experience was just anti-climactic to me, i was excited but going to the courthouse and sitting in the waiting room, then signing a piece of paper, just wasn''t what i expected, ok it''s not the actual wedding, but i guess part of me thought it would be more exciting than it was

 

[daught3rofEve]

I felt similar.... I thought it was going to be a crotchety old woman who disapproved of our relationship (our age difference is 17 yrs and most old women give us a hard time LOL) but it was a sweet older man, I think he was more like, "Dannnngg, good job FI!" lol.

You have to figure though, the marriage license is for the "man". It''s kind of like the rings, it''s more or less just a symbol of the level of commitment you are making.

I''m sure the day of will be the most special and memorable day, if only because you and FI are going to be married.

 

[elrohwen]

Haha, yeah, it wasn''t very exciting. Especially because we went to a very tiny local town hall and kept having to stand aside so they could give people hunting licenses.

 

[charbie]

actually, i liked it i felt a little choked up when she said that our last step was to have it signed in order for it to be legal, and after that we''d be man and wife. FI is all about the paperwork- he reads the contracts, he goes over the bills, etc. so this was the big step in the wedding for him. Maybe because of his excited response to have the license in his hand, I felt more excited for it all?

 

[jet2ks]

Date: 9/18/2009 9:19:03 AM
Author: elrohwen
Haha, yeah, it wasn't very exciting. Especially because we went to a very tiny local town hall and kept having to stand aside so they could give people hunting licenses.

So I can get both at the same time?--Bonus!!!!!

(Would it offend FI if I got the hunting license first?)

We haven't gotten ours yet, probably next week. I am looking at it more as just one more thing on the wedding prep list, not really a climactic event. Here you can get the license up to 6 months before the wedding, it just isn't official until signed by all parties, which will happen soon after the ceremony. THAT will probably be the climactic event. I don't know how other areas of the country handle it.

 

[tlh]

I thought it was exciting... and FUN. The lady was really sweet and helped us through all our paperwork. We got it Monday or Tuesday wedding week... and it was like that was what got the ball rolling... it was an exciting time! (like the quiet before the storm!)

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 9/18/2009 9:55:47 AM
Author: jet2ks

Date: 9/18/2009 9:19:03 AM
Author: elrohwen
Haha, yeah, it wasn't very exciting. Especially because we went to a very tiny local town hall and kept having to stand aside so they could give people hunting licenses.

So I can get both at the same time?--Bonus!!!!!

(Would it offend FI if I got the hunting license first?)

We haven't gotten ours yet, probably next week. I am looking at it more as just one more thing on the wedding prep list, not really a climactic event. Here you can get the license up to 6 months before the wedding, it just isn't official until signed by all parties, which will happen soon after the ceremony. THAT will probably be the climactic event. I don't know how other areas of the country handle it.

Lol. One guy came in wearing all flannel with one of those deer stalker caps. He looked like he was going to take his new hunting license and make use of it as quickly as possible!

ETA: In New York you can get it up to 2 months in advance. We ended up getting ours 2 weeks in advance because we were too lazy to get it earlier

 

[dsgirl81]

I didn''t even go to get the license. He came and got my info and went alone. I guess I didn''t realize it was supposed a special moment.

 

[sonnyjane]

Our notary was located inside of a jewelry store in Hawaii, so while the couple ahead of us did their paperwork, I looked at trinkets It was pretty anti-climactic. We had them take pictures of us signing our names, but that''s about it. Oh - we did ask for scratch paper to practice our cursive, as first, middle, and last names had to be written in cursive print and neither DH or I has written in cursive for almost 20 years.

 

[ficklefaye]

Date: 9/18/2009 2:51:14 PM
Author: dsgirl81
I didn''t even go to get the license. He came and got my info and went alone. I guess I didn''t realize it was supposed a special moment.

we both had to be there for our license, is it different in other places?

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 9/18/2009 4:44:35 PM
Author: ficklefaye

Date: 9/18/2009 2:51:14 PM
Author: dsgirl81
I didn''t even go to get the license. He came and got my info and went alone. I guess I didn''t realize it was supposed a special moment.

we both had to be there for our license, is it different in other places?

We both had to be there and show ID. FI asked if I could do it myself, but I explained that they wanted to make sure I was getting married to a real person

 

[iheartscience]

Ha, yes, totally! I thought it was going to be all fun and cute, too, but not so much. At the courthouse I had to go to they X ray your stuff and you can''t bring in cell phones, which is so annoying. Oh, and you can only pay cash for some reason, which I didn''t realize! So the first time we went we got through the X ray just fine but didn''t have cash, so we had to walk in the sweltering heat to the ATM, get cash, and then go back.

So the second time I put my purse through the X ray there was a new person checking the X rays and she didn''t like my nail file and wouldn''t let me in with it. (It was one of those small metal ones.) So I was like "Oh, I''ll just throw it away," and went to go throw it in the trash, but she wouldn''t let me throw it away in the trash can right there and said I had to go outside to throw it away. And she was totally rude the entire time-it wasn''t like she was just doing her job! So yeah, I was pretty furious by the time I actually went to get the license!

Then it was super hot where I was waiting at our venue before the wedding, so my sister and friend were fanning me with the envelope with the marriage license in it so it got all bent and ugly-looking. Oh well!

 

[April20]

I don''t know what I expected when we got our marriage license, but our whole experience was more comical than anything.

First of all, there were three lines in the office, one of which was to get your gun license. I found it absolutely hysterical that the entire purpose of the office was to either issue marriage licenses or gun licenses. I mean, really? How are those two connected? I kind of thought there should be a combo line, but that''s just my strange sense of humor peeking out.

Second- we had to wait for our number to be called to get the license. We watched a couple go up to the desk and then towards the end they raised their right hands. We couldn''t hear what they were asked, but at the end, the woman tells them "NO, you''re not married yet. If you want to get married, you need to make an appt with the judge". When we finally got our turn, we figured out that the raising the right hand part was swearing that all information on your application was true. It cracked me up to no end that this couple thought that married them and then scared me to death to think they were actually going to go get married. What else were they confused about???

 

[ficklefaye]

gun and wedding licenses?

luckily the place i went to did marriage licenses and passports, so it kinda makes sense, marriage license for your wedding and passport for your honeymoon

 

[ficklefaye]

Date: 9/18/2009 5:33:18 PM
Author: April20
I don''t know what I expected when we got our marriage license, but our whole experience was more comical than anything.


First of all, there were three lines in the office, one of which was to get your gun license. I found it absolutely hysterical that the entire purpose of the office was to either issue marriage licenses or gun licenses. I mean, really? How are those two connected? I kind of thought there should be a combo line, but that''s just my strange sense of humor peeking out.


Second- we had to wait for our number to be called to get the license. We watched a couple go up to the desk and then towards the end they raised their right hands. We couldn''t hear what they were asked, but at the end, the woman tells them ''NO, you''re not married yet. If you want to get married, you need to make an appt with the judge''. When we finally got our turn, we figured out that the raising the right hand part was swearing that all information on your application was true. It cracked me up to no end that this couple thought that married them and then scared me to death to think they were actually going to go get married. What else were they confused about???

oh this is so funny and a bit scary.

 

[charbie]

Date: 9/18/2009 9:56:06 PM
Author: ficklefaye
gun and wedding licenses?

luckily the place i went to did marriage licenses and passports, so it kinda makes sense, marriage license for your wedding and passport for your honeymoon

glad i live in a big city for once! we had a whole wing of the 23rd floor of the courthouse for marriage licenses!! if i turned the other way though, i could have adopted a child.

 

[dsgirl81]

Date: 9/18/2009 4:44:35 PM
Author: ficklefaye

Date: 9/18/2009 2:51:14 PM

Author: dsgirl81

I didn''t even go to get the license. He came and got my info and went alone. I guess I didn''t realize it was supposed a special moment.

we both had to be there for our license, is it different in other places?

I live in Maryland. All he had to do was take my birth certificate and Social security card, I think. We got married a while ago, so I don''t remember if he had to take anything else, but I just know I didn''t have to go.

 

[Munchkin]

I had to take the day off work as the Town Hall was only open Mon-Fri 9-5. We live in a different state than we were married in, and in our marriage state the officiant has to bring the completed license back to Town Hall after the ceremony. To make it easier on him, we wanted to get it in my tiny hometown Town Hall. I definitely had high hopes of it being all cute like the Norman Rockwell painting.

I had butterflies in my stomach the whole way there. The woman was nice and kept smiling at us. While there - I blanked. I kid you not, I forgot my address! I didn''t realize how nervous I was! I had to ask FI where I lived. I think he was a bit offended that after 8 years together I had that reaction to a marriage license. Now, it''s a funny story, though.