Got our San Francisco marriage certificate today. Almost married!

It was exactly 1 year ago today that H proposed to me and today was the day we went to city hall to get our marriage certificate. (insert cheesy grin here)

Not only that, we were the first ones in line and so our ticket # was A001. Loving it.

Per usual, our morning started out with us bickering and me running behind but then giving H shit for it. He's really so sweet that he puts up with my craziness and blaming him for all things tardy when I'm the one who's ready last.

Some general tips on navigating the San Francisco system for getting your marriage certificate:


1. Go to the SF gov website and read it (uh-duh). Click here.
2. You can get your certificate up to 90 days before you get married.
3. You can make an online appointment with the court and the calendar booking system is super easy.
4. Fill out the application BEFORE you go to your appt. It will save you a lot of time.
5. It costs $99 to get a marriage certificate (as of today). Other fees can be found here.
6. You don't need a blood test to get married. Growing up watching sitcoms about people getting married and you always had to get a blood test. So I was surprised that we didn't one. I still told H to get one anyway just to make sure that he was good & healthy.
7. The whole process takes about 30-45 minutes! Woohoo! We walked in at 8am, appt. was at 8:15am, took a few pictures, and walked out the door at 8:23am.
8. You can buy a souvenir marriage certificate for $5 that has a pretty pic of City Hall. It's free if you get married at City Hall. My advice, splurge the $5 to get something pretty. You're probably spending $3000 on your wedding dress, so just get the souvenir.