November 3, 2026

How to Get a Marriage License in San Antonio (Bexar County Guide)

wedding photography

Every San Antonio wedding, from a ten-minute courthouse ceremony to a 300-guest reception, starts with the same piece of paper: a Texas marriage license from the Bexar County Clerk. We photograph a lot of courthouse weddings downtown, so these are the questions our couples ask most, answered with the county's own requirements. Fees and rules can change, so double-check with the clerk's office before you go.

Where to Get a Marriage License in San Antonio

Bexar County marriage licenses are issued by the County Clerk's marriage license office on the first floor of the Paul Elizondo Tower, 101 W. Nueva St., Suite 120, downtown. It's open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours until 5:45 p.m. on Wednesdays, and it's closed on holidays. Plan for both of you to apply in person. For questions, call the clerk's office at 210-335-2223.

Officiant signs the marriage license at a San Antonio courthouse wedding

What to Bring

Proof of identity and age for each of you. A driver's license or state ID (current, or expired no more than two years), a passport, an original or certified birth certificate, or a military ID.
Your Social Security numbers, if you have them.
The fee: $80, paid in cash or by card. The office doesn't take checks, Apple Pay or tap-to-pay.
Your Twogether in Texas certificate, if you took the course (more below).
A certified divorce decree, but only if either of you divorced within the last 30 days and the court waived the waiting period.

No blood test is required in Texas.

Couple says their vows during a courthouse wedding ceremony in San Antonio

Newlyweds kiss after their courthouse wedding ceremony in San Antonio

The 72-Hour Waiting Period

Texas law says your ceremony can't happen during the first 72 hours after your license is issued. Pick up your license on a Thursday at 2 p.m., and the earliest you can say "I do" is Sunday at 2 p.m. The waiting period doesn't apply if:

One of you is on active duty in the military (bring your military ID)
You completed the Twogether in Texas premarital course
A judge gives you a written waiver
You're remarrying each other

Save $60 With Twogether in Texas

Twogether in Texas is a state-approved premarital education course. Bring your completion certificate when you apply and Bexar County takes $60 off the license fee and waives the 72-hour wait. The certificate is good for one year from the date you finish the course.

Bride and groom at the entrance of the historic Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio

How Long Your License Is Good For

Your license is valid for 90 days from the day it's issued, and a Bexar County license works for a ceremony anywhere in Texas. If you don't get married within 90 days, it expires and you'll need to apply and pay again.

Booking Your Ceremony

The county doesn't schedule your ceremony for you. In Bexar County, Justices of the Peace perform weddings by appointment, so call the precinct you'd like to use. You can also be married by a judge, a minister or another authorized officiant, at the courthouse or anywhere else in Texas. And every Valentine's Day, the County Clerk keeps up a long tradition of free mass wedding ceremonies on the steps of the Bexar County Courthouse.

Bride and groom at the doors of a historic building in downtown San Antonio

After the Ceremony: Recording Your License

After you say your vows, your officiant completes and signs your license and returns it to the County Clerk to be recorded. Texas gives them 30 days. Licenses can be returned to the clerk's Vital Statistics office in the Bexar County Courthouse, 100 Dolorosa, Suite 104, and your recorded license is mailed back to you.

Once it's recorded, you can order certified copies for $8 each (plain copies are $2). Get a few. You'll need a certified copy to change your name with Social Security and the Texas Department of Public Safety, and military couples need one to enroll a spouse in DEERS.

Military Couples

Getting married before a PCS? Our guide for military couples covers the active-duty waiver, what to do when one of you can't be there and the paperwork that comes after the wedding.

Bride and groom on a tiled stairway along the San Antonio River Walk

Getting Married at the Courthouse?

We photograph courthouse weddings and elopements all over downtown San Antonio, from the ceremony to portraits at City Hall, Main Plaza, San Fernando Cathedral and the River Walk. See Matt and Kristen's courthouse wedding, our San Antonio courthouse wedding photography, our guide for family flying in, or reach out to check your date. Courthouse wedding coverage starts at $400.