Florida Notary Public Marriage Ceremony

One of the most interesting, an

d somewhat unusual, duties of a

Florida Notary Public is to perfo

rm marriage ceremonies. The law

giving Notaries the authority “to solemnize the rites of

matrimony” was enacted in 1861

. To solemnize a marriage, you

should follow this general procedure:

1.

The couple must obtain a va

lid Florida marriage license

from a county court judge or Cl

erk of the Circuit Court and

present it to you before the

marriage ceremony. You should

check both the effective and

the expiration dates of the

license to ensure that the lice

nse is valid. You should also

require identification if th

e bride and groom are not

personally known to you.

2.

You then perform the marriage

ceremony. An example of a

simple, civil ceremony

is printed below, first in English and

followed in Spanish. It may be

personalized, and the bride

and groom may even exchange

their own vows. But, the

couple’s vows must reflect their intentions to make a legally

binding commitment

to each other.

3.

You are responsible for completing the certificate portion of

the Marriage Record

and returning it to

the office that

issued the license within 10

days after solemnizing the

marriage