Who has notarized these before and what did you charge?
I wonder why a marriage license would need notarization? I guess I’d charge the usual $15 that is the rate in California plus a mobile fee.
Which State are you based?
I’m in TN. I know notaries have certain things we can do with marriage here. We can even marry people I think.
Here in Texas the Marriage License doesn’t need notarizing. Marriages can only be performed by judges and clergy. On can simply files a marriage license with the local county records office. Clergy in Texas has a rather loose and broad definition.
I found that notaries can solemnize a marriage (which I really don’t want to do but if there’s money in it perhaps… lol). But, I don’t know how much to charge. I mean, a marriage license is $99. Do I notarize the license itself or attach a certificate? Would $50 be reasonable? It’s a fairly important document.
Does solemnizing a marriage certificate mean signing or is that officiating? I’m allowed to do this but no-one has trained me lol. And I don’t know where I’m supposed to get trained??
The state site says…
If a marriage license application is not signed by an officiant solemnizing the marriage and returned to our office the marriage is not recorded in the County’s Marriage Registry.
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Solemnizing generally means the marriage is officiated, this can mean by a sacred or secular traditions. A marriage by a judge would fall into in the secular tradition. There’s no statuary limit in Texas so you’ll want to find out the details for TN. Since I don’t officiate weddings, I’m not what I can offer.
Here is a summary for Tennessee:
Officiating a marriage and solemnizing a wedding are the same thing; it’s what the official, minister, rabbi, mullah, does while listening to the couple exchange vows.
A “notarization” of a marriage is only a notarization in the sense it’s an act that Tennessee notaries are now authorized to do. It doesn’t involve any of the older notarial acts like taking an acknowledgement or administering an oath.
Just like any other officiant, after presiding at the marriage ceremony, the notary fills out all the blanks in the marriage license and delivers the license to the county clerk who issued it.
In my state, I’m a justice of the peace and so am allowed to officiate marriages. I’ve only done one, for a friend, and didn’t charge. I wanted to be certain that the license made it to the proper official for filing; in Vermont it’s the town clerk. So I delivered it in person the day after the wedding.
If I had charged, I would have considered how long the ceremony was going to be, whether I had to spend time writing a little speech to deliver just before the ceremony, and how much time, effort, and expense would be involved in delivering the license to the town (or in your case, county) clerk. For the ceremony I did, I probably would have charged $120.
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Okay that’s helpful. So, we don’t actually stamp the actual license. That’s what I was confused about. And I do see 120 to 200 dollar charges for wedding officiants in my area. I feel like if someone is going to a notary for this they don’t expect a ceremony. What do you think? I’d be comfortable with it as long as it was all business. I’m not writing any poetry for the lovebirds haha.
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As far as how elaborate the ceremony will be, there’s no standard answer. You need to talk to the engaged couple to understand what they expect, and how well that lines up with what you feel able to do. A good clue would be how many people will be there. If it’s just the couple, or the couple plus the minimum number of witnesses required in your state (if any), I’d anticipate hardly any ceremony. In my case, there were about 20 people present so I did say about two sentences before the vows were exchanged.
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Making speeches for people I don’t know makes me nervous since it’s such an intimate moment for them. I’ll do some research. I’d like to expand, so I could offer just the bare bones marriage experience for people who want to get in and out!
I’m a wedding officiant in NJ. We can’t officiate under our commission, so I got ordained. I offer all types of ceremonies. But If you don’t want to write scripts or make speeches you can just offer license signings and elopements.
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In Florida we are allowed to officiate a marriage. The allowable charge is $30.
In the state of Florida, you cannot simply notarize the marriage license, you MUST perform a solemnization ceremony. My brief perusal of the Tennessee’s laws indicate something nearly identical which means you MUST actually perform a ceremony of some sort. I’d call the SOS on this. I’d hate for you to falsely certify someone’s marriage (possibly making it bill & void).
Not that anyone would likely find out, but it just is wrong.
That said, I will perform a marriage ceremony starting at $100.
From Florida’s Secretary of State website: https://notaries.dos.state.fl.us/education/faq/marriage.html
When “solemnizing the rites of matrimony,” is it acceptable for the notary public to complete the marriage certificate without actually performing a marriage ceremony?
No. Completing the marriage certificate portion of the marriage record is not the same act as performing the marriage ceremony. Actually, the certificate is the notary’s way of certifying that he or she performed the ceremony. A notary should not falsely certify that a ceremony was performed when, in fact, one had not been.
The ceremony does not have to be in any particular form. Any form of ceremony to solemnize a marriage that the parties choose ordinarily suffices, so long as there is an agreement by words of present assent. The words used or the ceremony performed are mere evidence of a present intention and agreement of the parties. A marriage ceremony is usually performed for the sake of notoriety and certainty and must be conducted by a person authorized by law to perform the ceremony.
I’d bet it’s the same or similar elsewhere.
Omg people keep calling me to do their marriage licenses all of a sudden. The woman I spoke to says you just have to make sure to pronounce them married.
Update: I did my first one. It was so simple. Super easy $50. And I could probably get away with charging even more… Hehe 
Thanks everyone for your help!
Edit: After a cursory glance at wedding officiants in Nashville, I have found people charging upwards of $200 for the thing I just did for $50. Would someone really pay that much for this?
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Did you perform the ceremony or did you just identify and notarize?
I did a short ceremony, gave them time to say vows (they passed), and then pronounced them husband and wife. Then I just signed the court documents.
I live in Florida,
I do many uncontested divorces, I often pass marriage to other notaries but I want to do one to learn. So I took the offer, in this career you won’t learn unless you do it!
I have two tomorrow in my office.