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To get legally married in Ontario, most couples need a marriage licence issued by a Municipal Clerk's Office, valid anywhere in the province for 90 days from the date of issue with no waiting period before your ceremony. Couples marrying in a church may qualify instead for a publication of banns, a religious alternative that skips the licence entirely. Requirements differ if you have been divorced, or if you are marrying outside Ontario, so it is worth confirming which path applies to you before your ceremony date gets too close.
Most couples in Ontario will need a marriage licence, but couples marrying in a church have a second option. A publication of banns is a traditional religious announcement of your intent to marry, read aloud during church services on three consecutive Sundays before your ceremony. To qualify, both partners must be members of the church and attend regularly, and neither can have been previously married. Banns skip the licence and its fee entirely, but they only apply to religious ceremonies, so most couples will move forward with a standard marriage licence instead. If you are considering this route, speak with your clergy directly, since they administer the process.
The marriage licence application is straightforward once you know what to bring. Both parties must complete and sign the application form, and at least one of you needs to submit it in person at a City Clerk's Office. If one partner cannot attend, the absent party can instead provide an original birth certificate, a valid passport, or a notarized Affidavit of Age.
Licence costs and office hours vary by municipality, so check current pricing and locations for your specific city before you go.
These two documents are easy to confuse but serve different purposes. Your marriage licence is what you apply for before your wedding, and after your ceremony, your officiant gives you a Record of Solemnization, the portion of the licence you keep. This is not a marriage certificate.
A marriage certificate is the official proof that your marriage took place, issued by Ontario's Office of the Registrar General after your officiant registers your completed licence with ServiceOntario. You will need a marriage certificate for things like a legal name change, updating benefits, or settling an estate down the road, so it is worth applying early. The suggested wait time between your ceremony and applying is eight weeks.
If you have been divorced, additional documentation is required before you can apply for your marriage licence, see Getting Remarried in Ontario After a Divorce. If you are marrying outside Ontario, either elsewhere in Canada or internationally, the requirements are different, see Getting Married Outside Ontario: What You Need to Know. And for current marriage licence fees and office locations by city, see our full breakdown, Marriage Licence Costs & Locations.
Keep every other part of your wedding organized alongside your legal paperwork with The Wedding Ring's free Wedding Planning Checklist, built right into your Couples Dashboard at TheWeddingRing.ca.
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