A marriage record contains information about a marriage between two individuals. On a marriage record, you can at least find the bride's and groom's full names, the date of the marriage, and county where the marriage took place.
Many marriage records include other information, such as the names and birthplaces of the bride's and groom's parents, the addresses of the bride and groom, information about previous marriages, and the names of the witnesses to the marriage.

Marriage License: New York State
A New York State marriage license is valid for 60 days (except for active military personnel for whom the validity runs for 180 days) and can only be used in the State of New York. A blood test is not required to obtain a marriage license in the State of New York.
Both the prospective bride and groom must appear together in person to apply for a marriage license. The application must be completed in our offices. The application consists of an affidavit wherein the applicants list various personal details such as their name, address, and birth place, date of birth, social security number, and marital history and make a sworn statement that there are no legal impediments to the marriage. Applicants who have been married previously must list all prior marriages on the marriage license application. They are required to supply their prior spouse's full name, the date the divorce decree was granted and the place the divorce was issued and may be asked to produce the final divorce decree. All divorces, annulments, and dissolutions must be finalized before applying for a new marriage license. If you are a widow or widower, you must provide your deceased spouse's full name and date of death. The marriage license is generated based on this information. It will be prepared while you wait, and you will take it with you upon your departure. You must wait a full 24 hours before your marriage ceremony can be performed unless you obtain a judicial waiver.

All applicants must bring valid forms of identification when applying for a marriage license. Expired forms of identification will not be accepted.

Valid forms of identification are as follows:

1. Driver's license (from the United States or one of its territories)
   
2. Non-driver's identification card (from the United States or one of its territories)
   
3. Learner's permit from New York State only
   
4. Active duty United States military identification card
   
5. Passport
   
6. United States certificate of naturalization (issued within the past ten years)
   
7. United States permanent resident card with valid expiration date
   
8. United States employment authorization card with valid expiration date

You are advised to carefully consider whether to change your surname or not. The various options are listed on the back of the application (Click here to see surname choices) . Whatever your choice of surname it will be final and the only way you will be able to change it is by marrying your spouse for a second time. Although you may amend other mistakes in your marriage record a surname choice is not considered a mistake and therefore cannot be amended.

If either prospective bride or groom is under the age of eighteen years but over the age of sixteen years, written parental consent is required to obtain a marriage license. If either prospective bride or groom is under the age of sixteen years, in addition to parental consent, the written approval of a judge of the Supreme Court or Family Court is needed. If you are less than 18 years of age be prepared to show proof of your date of birth. Such proof of date of birth may be one of the following: original or certified copy of birth certificate, baptismal record, passport, driver's license, naturalization record, or court records. In all instances where either prospective bride or groom is under eighteen both parents must be present with valid identification at the time of application for the marriage license and at the marriage ceremony if the ceremony is performed in our offices. If one parent is deceased, the surviving parent must appear and a death certificate for the deceased parent must be produced. If both parents are deceased, the legal guardian must appear instead. A person under the age of fourteen cannot be married.

Today, upon receipt of a properly completed marriage license by the Office of the City Clerk a Certificate of Marriage Registration or marriage certificate which is printed on light blue colored safety paper is issued to the couple. That is a product of the computerized age. Prior to that, certificates were typed out. Under law a completed photo-copy of the marriage license certified by the City Clerk is also a legal marriage certificate. So a marriage certificate can take two forms. Typically, marriages occurring between 1995 to present are in our computerized data base and a request for such record will result in a marriage certificate of the kind first described above. Other certificates may take that form or will be photo-copied completed licenses certified by the City Clerk. In addition, the law provides that, unless otherwise stated, upon request a basic marriage certificate will be provided to a proper party. Upon request in writing, the man or woman can request a so-called extended version, which contains additional facts such as parents' and marriage officiant's name, place of ceremony, etc. Typically an extended certificate is used by foreign jurisdictions in connection with adoptions, passports, dual citizenships and the like.