Laws and regulations governing the creation and requirement of marriage records were enacted by the Territorial, and later State, government. In the early years of the Territory, these laws and regulations were few and far between. It was not until 1866, that a record of licenses or witnesses was required or that the content of marriage certificates was regulated. Washington State marriage laws have been amended many times since then.

Some laws have changed over time or have been repealed due to cultural changes. For example, interracial marriage was illegal in Washington Territory from 1854 until 1868. The legal age for marriage has also changed over time. Originally, persons born female had to be 16 years old and persons born male had to be 21 years old (or 12 and 16 with parental consent). Currently, both parties must be 18 years old (or 17 with parental consent).

For a number of years, the following people were barred from marriage: "common drunkards," "habitual criminals," "epileptics," "imbeciles," "feeble-minded persons," "idiots," or "insane" people. These rules did not apply to persons born female who were 45 or older.

In 2007, a major cultural shift took place in Washington State with the establishment of state-registered domestic partnerships. In 2012, additional equality measures were taken with legalization of same-sex marriage. For more information about the history of laws and regulations pertaining to domestic partnerships in Washington State, please visit the Washington Secretary of State's website.

Originally, King County recorded marriages by transcribing the certificates into ledger volumes. For some of the earliest marriages, the Record of Marriage Certificate volumes are the only records that still exist. Since these ledgers contain transcriptions of the certificates, the information contained is usually the same as was in the original record. Because of differences in legibility, it can be helpful to consult both the original certificate and the certificate transcription.

The marriage certificate is the official documentation that a marriage has occurred and serves as a legal, civil contract. The marriage certificate form has traditionally been completed by the officiator after the ceremony and recorded with the appropriate county agency: Probate Court (1852-1891); County Clerk (1891-1947); County Auditor (1947-1969); and Recorder's Office (1969-present).

In 2002, the county-level certificate form was discontinued and the county began recording the state-level certificates instead.

The marriage certificate is the official documentation that a marriage has occurred and serves as a legal, civil contract. The marriage certificate form has traditionally been completed by the officiator after the ceremony and recorded with the appropriate county agency: Probate Court (1852-1891); County Clerk (1891-1947); County Auditor (1947-1969); and Recorder's Office (1969-present).

King County began recording state-level certificates in 2002. The Washington State marriage certificates contain different information than the King County marriage certificates. State Law (RCW 70.58.055) requires that marriage certificates filed with the state contain the same information that appears on the U.S. Standard Certificate of Marriage.

Depending on the time period, marriage license affidavits (which later became known as applications) consisted of different information. All of them include the names of each spouse and the date of the affidavit / application. Most of them include the age of each spouse, while others include place of residence, name of a credible witness, and birthplace.

Historically, King County government did not permanently retain marriage affidavits / applications so there is a significant gap in the years of application records that still exist.

These volumes contain transcriptions of the affidavits/applications and pertinent information from the licenses (numbers and issue dates). The volumes from 1866-1889 have self-contained indexes, and the volumes from 1889-1917 can be accessed using the Indexes to Marriage Licenses.

In 1891, Washington State law required county governments to begin recording birth and death records. At the same time, most counties also began a corresponding effort to collect additional information on marriages. King County did this by collecting additional statistical and personal information on marriages beyond what was required by law. The instrument utilized was the marriage return. The return form was filled out by the ceremony officiator and filed with the County Auditor after the marriage ceremony. It included detailed personal and statistical information on the couple and on the ceremony itself. The bulk of the records comprise the years 1891 to 1915 and correspond to most marriages for those years. Few returns are present between 1916 and 1947 and account for less than one percent of marriages for each year.

Originally, there was no requirement for information to be included on the certificates. Since 1866, required information has been the names of the couple prior to marriage, residences of the couple, date of the marriage, place of marriage, name of the officiator, names of two witnesses and the license issue date and location.

Certificates from 1952-2002 also include the places of birth of the couple. Certificates from 1952-1999 include the ages of the couple and certificates from 1999-2002 include the dates of birth of the couple.

In 2002, the county-level certificate form was discontinued, and King County began recording marriage certificates using the state-level form. The Washington State marriage certificates contain different information than the King County marriage certificates. State Law (RCW 70.58.055) requires that marriage certificates filed with the state contain the same information that appears on the U.S. Standard Certificate of Marriage. For a complete list of information that appears on Washington State marriage certificates (1968-present), please see Table 6 of WAC 246-491-149.

Originally, marriage records were only filed with individual counties in Washington State. In 1968, marriage record keeping was centralized in Washington State and marriage certificates began to be filed at the state level. Between 1968 and 2002, King County continued using its own marriage certificate form so both a state-level and county-level marriage certificate was filed. In 2002, King County discontinued its county-level marriage certificate form and began to exclusively use the state-level form. Identical copies of this form are filed with the Washington State Department of Health and with the King County Recorder's Office.

• Marriages 1853-1927: Certificate filed in the county where the marriage took place.
• Marriages 1927-1947: Certificate filed in the county where the marriage took place. A copy will also be at the county where the license was issued, if different.
• Marriages 1947-1967: Certificate filed in the county where the license was issued.
• Marriages 1968-2002: Two marriages certificates were filed. A state-level certificate form was filed with the Washington State Department of Health, and a county-level form was filed in the county where the license was issued.
• Marriages 2002-present: Only a state-level marriage certificate form is used. Identical copies were filed with the Washington State Department of Health and the county where the license was issued.

After the officiator returned the certificates to the county, they were recorded by the appropriate county agency at the time [Probate Court (1852-1891); County Clerk (1891-1947); County Auditor (1947-1969); and Recorder's Office (1969-present)]. Originally, this was done by transcribing them into ledger volumes known as the Record of Marriage Certificates. For some of the earliest marriages, these ledger volumes are the only record of marriage that still exists.

Since the ledgers contain transcriptions of the certificates, the information in them is usually the same as it was on the original form. Because of differences in legibility, it may be useful to consult both the original certificate (if it still exists) and the volume. The Record of Marriage Certificates volumes date from 1853 to 1923.

King County Archives holds volumes from 1853 to 1888. Puget Sound Regional Archives holds volumes from 1888 to 1923. After 1923, certificates were bound in volumes rather than transcribed.

Marriage certificates are organized roughly by the date they were returned to King County. Until 1927, certificates were required to be returned within 3 months of the marriage. Since 1927, certificates have been required to be returned within 30 days of the ceremony. Many certificates were still returned and filed well beyond the time limit required by law. There are isolated cases of officiators waiting as long as 14 years to return certificates after marriages were officiated.

Various indexes and registers exist that help users determine dates of marriage and how to locate marriage certificates.

Online Index, 1855-1989

Washington State Digital Archives online platform. This index links each entry downloadable digital images of the certificates. You may also order certified copies on this site.

Online Index, 1979-present

King County Recorder’s Office portal Landmark. This index contains the names of the couple, the date of the marriage and the certificate number (last 6 digits of the instrument number). Entries are sporadic between 1979 and 1982, and the index excludes 1985 and 1986.

Index of All Marriage Records, 1853-1900

Transcribed and available as a pdf. This is the most complete index for marriages through 1900 because it lists all types of King County marriage records that were filed between 1853 and 1900: certificates, transcriptions, returns, license affidavits / applications, and licenses. It also includes a record of marriages that were never recorded, and thus never previously indexed.

The index contains information about 10,507 marriages performed in King County between 1853 to 1900. Entries contain the name of the bride, the name of the groom, and the date of the marriage. For entries from 1891-1900, maiden names of brides (when different than at time of marriage) are also included in the notes field. Additional columns list what types of records exist for each marriage.

You can download a copy of the index that’s organized alphabetically by the name of the groom. You download a separate copy that’s organized alphabetically by the name of the bride.

Physical Indexes, 1853-1990

King County Archives holds the original marriage certificate indexes dated from 1853 to 1983 and microfilmed copies from 1853 to 1990.

• Entries from 1853 to 1894 include the name of one party.
• Entries since 1894 include the names of both parties.
• Entries from 1853 to 1922 also include the certificate number and the recorded volume and page number.
• Entries from 1923 to 1947 include date of marriage and individual who officiated the marriage.
• Entries since 1947 also include the date of license issuance and omit the recorded volume and page number or the officiator's name.

These records may be searched semi-alphabetically by volume (which usually includes a span of a few years).

Index of State-level Certificates, 1968-2004

Available on microfiche at the Washington State Library at Tumwater. Contact the Library for assistance accessing these records. Searching this index might be most helpful if you are unsure of the county where the license was issued.

Copies of these indexes are also available at the Seattle Public Library Central Branch.

Lists of Filed Certificates, 1889-1916

These lists contain information about marriage certificates that were filed in Probate Court (1889-1891) or with the County Clerk (1891-1916) during the given time periods (one month from 1889 to 1913 and one day from 1914 to 1916). King County Archives holds the original lists.

• Lists from 1889-1890 contain the names of the couple and the license issuance date.
• Lists from 1891-1896 were not retained.
• Lists from 1908-1913 contain the names of the couple and the license number.
• Lists from 1914-1916 only include one surname associated with the marriage and the license number.

Certificate lists don't include unique information that cannot be found in other marriage records, but they can be useful for researching marriages with missing documentation. These lists were usually typed, so they may provide a more legible reading of each party's name compared to other handwritten documentation. Lists dated from 1897 to 1901 also include correspondence and receipts from other Washington counties in situations where a couple used a King County license to marry in another county or when they used a different county's license to marry in King County.

Order a certified, downloadable copy of a marriage certificate dated 1855 to 2017 on the Washington State Digital Archives. You can download an uncertified copy, or you can order a certified copy for a small fee. Certificates available on the WSDA platform are indexed by the name of each spouse.

Order a physical, certified copy of your marriage certificate dated 1855 to the present from the King County Recorder's Office.

You can also order certified copies of a state-level certificate created from 1968 to the present from the Washington State Center for Health Statistics.

In 1866, the Legislative Assembly of Washington Territory passed the Act to Regulate Marriages. This is the earliest year that any records related to marriage licensing exist in King County. Although there were legal marriage requirements prior to this year, there were no official forms or recordkeeping to document that the laws were upheld. These records were kept by the County Auditor from 1866 to 1969 and by the Recorder's Office since 1969.

Originally, applying for a license consisted of submitting a witness affidavit. This form was signed by a credible person other than the parties seeking the license, swearing that there were no legal impediments to the marriage. If either of the parties were under legal age, the parent or guardian also signed an affidavit giving consent for the marriage. The couple then took the form(s), known as Marriage License Affidavits, to the Auditor to apply for the license. The Auditor kept and filed the forms, and they recorded the affidavits by transcribing them in the Marriage License Register.

Sometime between 1880 and 1895, the witness affidavit was standardized and replaced with the Marriage License Application. The longstanding presumption was that these records did not have enduring historical value, and license applications filed between 1896 and 1988 were legally destroyed. King County Archives challenged this practice, and marriage license applications filed from 1989 and going forward are designated as archival documents.

Basic information gathered from applications dated from 1896 to 1917 is available in the Marriage License Register. Information from applications dated from 1983 to 1988 is indexed and available on the Washington State Digital Archives platform.

Originally, no official limit regulated the time between license application and license issuance. Since 1939, marriage licenses have been issued no earlier than three days after the license application has been filed. This three-day waiting period was put in place to give couples time to reconsider a hasty marriage.

Marriage License Affidavits, 1866-1894

Originally, two types of affidavits that were submitted in application for a license: the witness affidavit and the consent affidavit. The witness affidavit was required for all marriages and included the names of the couple, the date of the affidavit, and the signature of a credible witness acquainted with the couple. The consent affidavit was only required in situations where either party was under age, and it was signed by the parent or guardian giving consent to the marriage. Witness affidavits exist from 1866 to 1879 and correspond to nearly all recorded marriages for those years. Parental consent affidavits exist from 1866 to 1894.

King County Archives holds the original forms and maintains a searchable name index of affidavits that did not result in marriages in King County. Transcriptions of the forms and a corresponding index are also duplicated in the Marriage License Register.

Marriage License Applications, 1895

These records date from June 1895 to December 1895. They include the name, age and residence of each party, as well as the name of a credible witness acquainted with them and the date of the application.

King County Archives holds the forms and a maintains a searchable name index of applications that resulted in marriages in King County.

Marriage License Applications, 1989-present

These applications include the name, age, signature, birthplace, mailing address, and marital status of each party. They also include the signature and seal of a notary public. The signature of the parent or guardian is included in situations where either party is under legal age. These records are indexed on the King County Recorder's Office online portal Landmark.

The King County Archives holds original license applications filed between 1989 and 2013. The King County Recorder's Office holds applications from 2014-present, and you can order copies through their online portal Landmark.

These volumes contain transcriptions of required license affidavits / applications. The volumes have self-contained name indexes for licenses filed between 166 and 1889. Licenses filed between 1890 up to 1917 are indexed in supplemental indexes.

Puget Sound Regional Archives holds Marriage License Registers. Volumes between 1880 and 1894 are digitized and available the Washington State Digital Archives platform.

Upon acceptance of the license affidavit / application, the marriage license was issued to the couple applying to be married. By law, the County Auditor retained the Marriage License Register, a ledger record of the license issue date and number. After 1917, the license recordkeeping consisted of recording the license numbers and issue dates in volumes indexed semi-alphabetically in the Indexes to Marriage Licenses. Since 1866, the license issue date is repeated on the corresponding marriage certificate. Since 1894, the license number is repeated on the corresponding marriage certificate.

Marriage License Registers from 1866 to 1889 have self-contained indexes, and the volumes from 1889 to 1917 can be accessed using the Indexes to Marriage Licenses, which are held by Puget Sound Regional Archives. Volumes between 1880 and 1894 have been digitized and are available online on the Washington State Digital Archives.

As part of the task of keeping marriage returns, King County also kept corresponding registers of marriages. The Register of Marriage Returns function as indexes to the original marriage returns. For records from 1891-1909, the registers serve as exact transcriptions of the returns. For 1909-1927, the original returns are more extensive. Returns are indexed in the Register by male’s name only.

The King County Archives holds the original registers as well as microfilmed copies.

Between 1891 and 1908, the County Auditor kept quarterly summaries of marriage statistics that were gathered from the information on the returns. These Marriage Return Statistics track the number of marriages, races, nationalities, and age ranges. Although they may be useful to someone researching marriage trends, they contain no names or dates.

King County Archives holds the original statistics dated from 1891 to 1901. Puget Sound Regional Archives holds the original statistics dated from 1901 to 1908.

Order a certified, downloadable copy of a marriage certificate dated 1855 to 2017 on the Washington State Digital Archives.

Order a physical, certified copy of your marriage certificate dated 1855 to the present from the King County Recorder's Office.

You can also order certified copies of a state-level certificate created from 1968 to the present from the Washington State Center for Health Statistics.

Historically, King County maintained different types of marriage records at different times in its history. See History of King County Marriage Records page.

In the past, license applications were not kept because they were not thought to have enduring historical value. These records are now being retained by King County Archives.

Licenses themselves were not kept because according to state law, they were customarily retained by the wedding officiator, whereas the certificate was sent back to the county for filing.

Marriage returns are the only King County marriage record that provides information about each spouse's parents. The bulk of these records date from 1891 to 1915. There are also also a small number of returns between 1916 and 1947, but these only account for about one percent of marriages during that time period.

Marriage certificates issued by King County do not include parents' names, but state-level marriage certificates filed with Washington State Center for Health Statistics do include names of parents. State-level certificates exist from 1968 to the present.

The names of each spouse's parents may be found in situations where either spouse was a minor at the time of marriage. In those cases, one legal guardian was required to sign the license affidavit (application), giving their permission for the marriage. This type of record exists from 1866 to 1895 and 1989 to the present.

One possibility is that the couple may have purchased their license in a different county, even if they were married in King County. If that is the case, and the marriage occurred after 1946, the county that issued the license would hold the marriage record.

It is also possible that the marriage record might not have been returned to the county for filing, or it might have been incorrectly indexed.

If the marriage certificate was not returned to the county for filing, it is still possible that a certificate was returned to the state beginning in 1968. If you can't find a certificate dated between 1968 to the present, it might be held by the Washington State Center for Health Statistics.

If no civil record of the marriage exists but the marriage took place in a religious institution or was officiated by a religious authority, it is possible that a religious institution may hold a non-civil record of marriage. Please be as thorough as possible in providing name spelling variations or realistic date ranges when doing or requesting searches.

To correct an inaccuracy on your marriage records, you will need to file an Affidavit for Correction form available through the King County Recorder's Office.

To search marriage records without ordering copies, please review our list of available marriage record indexes.

You may also visit the Washington State Library for statewide marriages and divorces between 1968 and 2004. You can request a lookup online.

For more on locating marriage and divorce records issued in Washington State, please read the Washington State Library's handout.

King County Archives doesn't hold divorce records but other state and county agencies do. Please visit our Records Not at the Archives page under the Vital Records tab for more information on where to locate divorce records.

First make sure that if you're looking for a King County marriage certificate, that it was recorded prior to 1989. If the certificate was recorded after 1989, it will be available on the King County Recorder's Office online portal Landmark.

If the certificate was issued prior to 1989, then try the following tips:

• As with most indexing, some degree of human error is guaranteed. There could be transcription errors in the database or the original certificate may in fact be incorrect. Make sure you are as thorough and thoughtful as possible in your search.
• Remember that what you type in the name field will yield every result that begins with those letters. For example, if you type "John" in the last name field, then you will get all last names beginning with John: Johnson, Johnston, and Johnstone. You can use this to your advantage. For example, you might be searching for a family name that frequently used different spellings (like Hanson and Hansen). In that case, it could be helpful to just type Hans in the last name field, thus yielding all results.
• Enter as little information as possible, while still narrowing your results. For example, if you are searching for "Bettye Samuels" in 1946, you would probably type "Bettye" in the first name field, "Samuels" in the last name field and "1946" as the year. But, if the name was spelled "Betty Samuels" on the original certificate, you would get no results. So, if you leave the first name blank and search only for last name "Samuels" in 1946, then you should find your marriage record. You can search for any combination of search terms that you want, provided you fill out at least one field.
• Finally, you can try searching for the bride's name in the groom's name field and vice versa, as these may have entered into the incorrect locations.

Records for domestic partnerships converted to marriages may be obtained online from the Washington State Department of Health or by contacting them by phone at (360) 236-4300.

Marriage records for converted domestic partnerships are not available through King County.

To obtain a copy of a marriage certificate issued by a different county in Washington, please check the following:

• Many counties have made digital copies of marriage certificates available on the Washington State Digital Archives platform.
• Some early marriage certificates are indexed on the Western States Marriage Index.
• If you know what county issued your marriage certificate or where your marriage took place, please contact the county auditor where the certificate would be filed.

Marriage certificates prior to 1947 are filed in the counties where the marriages took place.  Marriage certificates 1947 to present are filed in the counties where the licenses are issued.