Courthouse Wedding in the US...

It seems like I've been asking a lot of dumb questions lately, but I've never gotten married before, and so I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. I'll call the county clerk to double check on questions I have, but it's 10.30pm here and I can't call them, but it's still things that are bugging me, so I thought I'd ask here

Me and my fiance are getting married in May--he has two weeks booked off, and I believe in Oregon (or it might be nation wide) that there's a 72 hour waiting period from the time he enters the US before we can get married. The question I have is this--we're planning on just going down to the courthouse and having a justice of the peace (or judge or whatever) officiate the ceremony.

For those of you who have gone down what I call the nitty gritty marriage route--did you guys just go down to your respective courthouses and get married the same day you filed your license? I know every state is different, I'm just hoping someone from here is from Oregon as well and can calm my nerves a bit. If there's any sort of waiting period we're stuffed since he's only going to be here for two weeks :'(

Like I said, I'll call and ask them, but I thought I'd check here since you guys are so smart

We went with this step since we were both very busy and we had to do our visa as soon as possible.  We planned to have the wedding afterwards to save us from the stress of dealing with too many things at once.

This is step by step what I did....

Hubby-to-be arrived and had to wait 72 hours (Shows his passport with the time stamped of when he landed)
We went to the local county (your resident county) to get your marriage license form
You fill out all of the relevant information (He needs to bring a passport with him!)
Called a courthouse (any courthouse) and ask for them to perform the ceremony for you
You show up and they take you to a court room
They ask if you have your own vows, if you don't…. each judge or person has their own version of vows they ask for you to repeat
When you are done, you do the smooching and ring exchange
Then the judge will sign off saying you are married
After which you can immediately return the form to the local county whre you got the form OR you can mail it in
You will need to wait 1-2 weeks for them to process it and he does not need to be there for it
You pick up your license in person (must) and you will probably want to get a few copies for your visas and such

Including the 72 hour, it takes about a week at max to get everything done.
Hope that helps!

Every state is different.  Here are some links for Oregon

http://www.weddingvendors.com/marriage-license-laws/united-states/oregon/

http://marriage.about.com/cs/marriagelicenses/p/oregon.htm

Good luck!

Awesome, thank you guys so much, I went to bed and woke up to these replies I wanted to ask my family, but none of them had gotten married recently, or in Oregon for that matter (all of them got hitched in California), so I'm a bit less nervous now that I know the process. Yes, I overthink things way too much and drive my fiance up a wall I just wanted to see if it was feasible to get everything done in two weeks minus the 72 hour waiting period, sounds like it's very likely

Every state is different.  Here are some links for Oregon

http://www.weddingvendors.com/marriage-license-laws/united-states/oregon/

http://marriage.about.com/cs/marriagelicenses/p/oregon.htm

Good luck!

Thanks for those links, I'll have to try out the Legal Name Change kit in that first link, it's a bit mind boggling to think of all the forms I have to change over to my new name once May comes around

FYI the name change thing is only necessary in the US.  In the UK, you can just start using your married name without needing any paperwork.  If your passport still has your maiden name, you can just carry your marriage certificate to show the name change and you're golden.  I mention this because getting your name changed in your passport won't be possible within your 2 week timeframe, and once you have your visa, it will cost £160 to move into a new passport. 

FYI the name change thing is only necessary in the US.  In the UK, you can just start using your married name without needing any paperwork.  If your passport still has your maiden name, you can just carry your marriage certificate to show the name change and you're golden.  I mention this because getting your name changed in your passport won't be possible within your 2 week timeframe, and once you have your visa, it will cost £160 to move into a new passport. 

Cool, I can do that. I still have a while before my US passport even expires (2018 I think, I don't have it on me at the moment, it's in the other room), so it's not a problem to carry that paperwork with me as well

You might even be able to get the 72 hour waiting time waived. My sister was recently married in Texas, and was on a strict deadline for a visa. She and her fiancé met with the judge, who signed a waiver. She was married that day, and the license was immediately filed.

You might even be able to get the 72 hour waiting time waived. My sister was recently married in Texas, and was on a strict deadline for a visa. She and her fiancé met with the judge, who signed a waiver. She was married that day, and the license was immediately filed.

I was thinking of trying this, but my family told me they won't be in town the week my fiance flies in >.< So I guess I have to wait anyway, I'll never hear the end of it if I go ahead without at least a few of them

Edit: just found out there's a 3 day waiting period after I apply for the license before it can be used. I'll have to call the courthouse tomorrow to see if that's still the case. I guess it'll still fall within the two weeks he's here

Edit: just found out there's a 3 day waiting period after I apply for the license before it can be used. I'll have to call the courthouse tomorrow to see if that's still the case. I guess it'll still fall within the two weeks he's here

Oh, this is what I was referring to getting waived. I hadn' realized there was another 72 hour waiting time, is this set by USCIS?

Oh, this is what I was referring to getting waived. I hadn' realized there was another 72 hour waiting time, is this set by USCIS?

No, it is all up to individual states.  We didn't have to wait at all to get the permit, but had to wait three days to use it in PA.

No, it is all up to individual states.  We didn't have to wait at all to get the permit, but had to wait three days to use it in PA.

Yeah, I guess OR has that rule too, from what I understand it's separate from the 72 hours pertaining to immigration? (I think, I'm really befuddled now). I'll have to see if my county will allow it to be waived, the surrounding counties will. Worse case scenario is I hop over to Portland for the wedding, they'll waive the fee. Wouldn't it be lovely if every county kinda had the same rules within a state?

Maybe it is because he is foreign, but it has nothing to do with anything Federal. 

We wound up taking the license to the courthouse ourselves as opposed to letting the minister do it. 

I hope all the timing works out for you.

No waiting time in CA. DH & I showed up, filled out the license application, got the license and got married within 30 minutes! I did have to wait a day to get the certified copies of the certificate though.

I have a feeling I just confused myself a whole bunch and you guys are right When I get stressed about things I misread the information I find until someone comes along and sorts it out.

Thanks for all the advice, I really hate not knowing what I'm doing and you guys help me out a lot