A courthouse wedding is the cheapest legal way to get married in the United States, but "cheap" still has a real number attached to it — and that number is made up of more pieces than just "the license." Here's what actually shows up on a courthouse wedding's bill, with sourced price ranges.
The core costs: license + ceremony fee
Two fees are unavoidable if you're marrying at a courthouse: the marriage license itself, and (if you want the courthouse to perform the ceremony) a separate civil ceremony fee.
| Fee | Typical Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Marriage license | $20–$115 | National average is roughly $50–$60; varies by state and county. |
| Certified copy of certificate | $10–$25 each | You'll likely need at least one for a name change or benefits paperwork. |
| Civil ceremony fee | $25–$150 | Business-hours pricing; separate from the license fee in most places. |
| Weekend/holiday ceremony | $150–$300 | Some courthouses charge a premium outside business hours. |
Figures sourced from Pix Wedding, "Marriage License Cost 2026: State-by-State Fees" and Pix Wedding, "How Much Does It Cost to Get Married at the Courthouse? 2026 Guide". Always confirm current fees with your specific county clerk — they vary by jurisdiction and change without much notice.
Put together, the two required fees alone typically total $30–$250 depending on your state and whether you want a weekend ceremony. That's the true floor of a courthouse wedding — everything past this point is optional.
Budget your full courthouse day, not just the fees. The calculator's Courthouse style already weights photography, attire, and a celebratory dinner higher than venue.
Open the Small Wedding Calculator →What most people actually spend
Almost nobody's courthouse wedding costs $30. Once you add a modest celebration, a realistic total for a courthouse wedding with a handful of guests and a nice dinner after typically lands between $1,500 and $4,000, per this site's small-wedding cost model — not because the ceremony itself is expensive, but because the categories that don't disappear (photography, attire, a restaurant meal) make up almost the entire budget.
| Category | % of Budget | Example at $2,500 |
|---|---|---|
| Attire & Beauty | ~19% | $475 |
| Photography & Video | ~24% | $600 |
| Catering & Bar (celebration dinner) | ~26% | $650 |
| Officiant / License / Ceremony fee | ~4% | $100 |
| Flowers, music, stationery, travel, contingency (combined) | ~27% | $675 |
Exact percentages are calculated live by the calculator for your own budget — this table rounds for readability.
Where the money actually goes
Photography
With no venue to photograph, a courthouse wedding's photography budget goes almost entirely toward the couple and the moment — which is exactly why it claims a bigger share of a courthouse budget than it does in a traditional venue wedding. A one-to-two-hour courthouse photography package is common and usually cheaper in absolute dollars than a full-day wedding package, even though it's a larger percentage of a smaller total.
Attire
Without a reception to dress for, many courthouse couples spend less here than a traditional wedding budget — but "less than a $2,000 wedding dress" still isn't free, and it's still a bigger percentage of a small total than it would be of a large one.
The celebration meal
This is the line item people forget to budget for and then spend the most on anyway. A dinner for the couple plus a handful of guests at a nice restaurant after the ceremony routinely costs more than the license and ceremony fee combined.
Ways to keep a courthouse wedding genuinely inexpensive
- Marry on a weekday during business hours — avoids weekend/holiday ceremony premiums entirely.
- Order certified copies carefully. Figure out how many you actually need (bank, employer, Social Security, passport) before ordering extras at $10–$25 each.
- Ask about premarital education discounts. Some states (Tennessee is a notable example) meaningfully reduce license fees for couples who complete an approved course.
- Treat photography as the one place to spend. With almost no décor or venue to speak for the day, a good photographer is doing more visual work than in a traditional wedding.
A courthouse wedding is the cheapest way to get legally married — but "getting married" and "having a courthouse wedding day" are two different budgets, and only one of them is close to free.
Frequently asked questions
Do both people need to be present, and do we need witnesses?
Both people almost always need to appear in person to apply for the license and to marry — a handful of states allow limited exceptions (such as proxy marriage for active-duty military), but this is the exception, not the rule. Witness requirements vary by state: some require one or two witnesses for the ceremony itself, and courthouses in those states typically provide a witness for a small additional fee if you don't bring your own. Confirm your specific state and county's requirements before your date.
How long does a courthouse ceremony actually take?
The ceremony itself is usually brief — often 10–15 minutes — though the total time at the courthouse, including paperwork and any wait, commonly runs 30–60 minutes. This is part of why photography packages built for courthouse weddings tend to be shorter (and less expensive in absolute dollars) than a full wedding-day package, even though photography claims a larger percentage of a courthouse budget than it does of a traditional one.
Can we still have a "real" wedding later?
Yes — plenty of couples marry legally at a courthouse first, then hold a larger celebration (with or without a religious or symbolic ceremony) weeks or months later. If that's the plan, budget the courthouse day and the later celebration as two separate line items rather than one combined number; they have very different cost drivers and often very different timelines.
Next steps
Use the calculator with the Courthouse style selected to see your own category breakdown. If you're eloping rather than doing a courthouse-plus-dinner day, the Elopement Calculator is pre-configured for travel and permits instead. For a full checklist that includes marriage license timing, the Small Wedding & Elopement Budget Planner includes a dedicated Elopement / Micro-Wedding Checklist tab.
Marriage license and ceremony fee ranges are sourced to Pix Wedding (2026) as cited above. Category percentages and example totals are this site's own small-wedding cost model, not a third-party statistic.