How to Get Married Online in Maryland

By Distant Vows | Updated 2026

If you are trying to figure out how to get married online in Maryland, you will quickly discover that Maryland has one of the more unusual license rules in the country. Unlike most states where you apply in the county where you or your partner lives, Maryland requires that you apply for a marriage license in the Circuit Court for the county where the ceremony will actually take place, regardless of where either of you lives. The license is then only valid in that specific county. Couples must also wait 48 hours after the license is issued before the ceremony can occur — a restriction that disappears entirely when you choose to get married online in Maryland through Utah.

By using Utah’s fully legal online marriage system through Distant Vows, Maryland couples can get married online in Maryland 100% virtually and receive a U.S. marriage certificate that is valid in Maryland and all 50 states. If you are comparing rules across the country, you can also review our full guide on how to get married online in all 50 states.

How Maryland Marriage Usually Works if You Don’t Get Married Online in Maryland

Maryland marriages are governed by Maryland Code, Family Law Title 2. Maryland’s most distinctive rule is that the marriage license must be purchased from the Circuit Court Clerk’s office in the county where the marriage will take place, not where either applicant lives. This applies regardless of whether either partner is a Maryland resident. If you plan to marry in Montgomery County, you must apply in Montgomery County. If you plan to marry in Baltimore City, you must apply in Baltimore City, which is a separate jurisdiction from Baltimore County and has its own clerk’s office, its own fees, and its own courthouse.

Only one applicant needs to appear in person at the Circuit Court to apply. However, that person must bring valid government-issued photo ID for both parties and have all required information for both applicants at the time of application. The license is not valid until 6:00 a.m. on the second calendar day after it is issued, which is commonly described as a 48-hour waiting period. A Circuit Court judge may waive this waiting period for reasons including military service or pregnancy, but the waiver requires a separate court petition. Once issued, the license is valid for six months and may only be used for a ceremony held within the county where it was purchased.

License fees vary from county to county, ranging from approximately $35 in Baltimore County to $85 in some jurisdictions. Some counties offer a reduced fee if the couple completes a qualifying premarital preparation course within one year before the application date, as authorized under Maryland Family Law section 2-404.1. Proxy marriages are prohibited in Maryland. Maryland does not require witnesses at the marriage ceremony, which is unusual compared to most states. After the ceremony, the officiant must return the signed certificate to the issuing court within five days. Maryland does not recognize common-law marriage.

Documents, Waiting Period, and Age Requirements in Maryland

Effective October 1, 2022, under Maryland House Bill 83, individuals under the age of 17 may no longer obtain a marriage license in Maryland. Applicants who are 17 may only marry with a court order issued by a judge in the county where the minor lives. Applicants 16 and under may only marry if they have written parental or guardian consent and a certificate from a licensed physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner confirming that the applicant is pregnant or has given birth. Applicants who are 18 or older may apply without any additional authorization.

The following are standard requirements across Maryland Circuit Court clerk offices at the time of application:

Valid government-issued photo ID for both applicants, such as a driver’s license, state ID, or passport. Only one applicant must be physically present, but ID for both must be presented.
Social Security numbers for both applicants. Social Security numbers are required by federal and Maryland state law but will not appear on the marriage license. Foreign nationals without a U.S. Social Security number must appear in person and sign an affidavit in some counties, including Prince George’s County.
If either applicant was previously married, documentation of how that marriage ended. A divorce requires the full final date of divorce. A death requires the date of death. Some counties require a certified copy of the divorce decree or death certificate; other counties accept the date verbally provided under oath. Applicants should call the specific clerk’s office in advance to confirm the requirement.
Date of birth for both applicants. Starting October 1, 2025, under Maryland HB0323, birth date must be verifiable at the time of application.

Non-residents who cannot appear in person at the clerk’s office in the ceremony county may apply using the Non-Resident Marriage License Application-Affidavit form, available through the Maryland Courts website. This affidavit must be sworn before a clerk of the court or comparable official where the applicant resides, and then mailed to the clerk in the ceremony county along with the required fee. The 48-hour waiting period still applies, so the license will not be valid until the day after it is processed.

Are Online Weddings Allowed Directly if You Want to Get Married Online in Maryland?

Maryland does not provide a mechanism for couples to complete a marriage entirely by video under a Maryland license. The license must be obtained from the clerk’s office in the ceremony county, the 48-hour waiting period applies, and proxy marriages are prohibited. Even if the non-resident affidavit is used to apply by mail, the ceremony itself must take place in person within the state of Maryland.

These requirements are a primary reason couples who want to get married online in Maryland choose Utah’s system instead through a live video ceremony and use their Utah marriage certificate in Maryland instead. Utah specifically allows couples to be joined by video for a fully legal ceremony, while Maryland does not.

4 Steps to Get Married Online in Maryland with Distant Vows (Through Utah)

With Distant Vows, the same four-step process applies whether you want to get married online in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, or North Carolina. The legal engine is always Utah’s online marriage system, which allows couples to apply for a license and hold a ceremony entirely over video while still being recognized nationwide.

Step 1 – Verify Your Eligibility

First, you confirm that you and your partner meet basic Utah requirements and complete Distant Vows’ quick intake form. Typically, you both must be 18 or older, not currently married to anyone else, and able to join a live video call together. This foundation lets couples who want to get married online in Maryland do so in a way that is fully valid under Utah law.

Confirm you are legally free to marry, whether single, divorced, or widowed.
Gather valid government-issued photo IDs, such as a Maryland driver’s license, state ID, passport, or military ID.
Make sure you have a stable internet connection and a device with audio and video so you can comfortably get married online in Maryland.

Step 2 – Choose Your Package and Ceremony Date

Next, you choose a Distant Vows package and select a ceremony date and time that works for your schedule in Baltimore, Rockville, Annapolis, Silver Spring, College Park, Frederick, or anywhere else. You can keep the ceremony short and simple or personalize it with vows, readings, and guests watching online as you get married online in Maryland.

Select a basic legal-only ceremony or a more personalized experience.
Pick a time that works for your time zone and any guests joining from Maryland or overseas.
Tell us if you need witness support, custom vows, religious or civil wording, or language options.

Step 3 – Apply for Your Utah Online Marriage License

After you pick your date, you complete a Utah online marriage license application. Utah County’s system lets you submit everything digitally, including your information, ID uploads, and signatures. You never have to visit a Maryland Circuit Court, you face no 48-hour wait, and you do not need to figure out which county’s clerk to visit, because the license is issued by Utah even though your goal is to get married online in Maryland.

Fill out the secure Utah County application form online from your home in Maryland or anywhere in the world.
Upload clear images of your IDs and any requested documents, such as divorce decrees if applicable.
Respond to any brief follow-up from the Utah clerk if they need clarification before issuing the license.

A Utah online marriage license is valid for 32 days from the date it is issued, and Distant Vows schedules your ceremony within that 32-day window so your marriage is properly created under Utah law.

Step 4 – Attend Your Online Ceremony and Get Your Certificate

On your wedding day, you and your partner join a live video ceremony with a Utah-licensed officiant. Two adult witnesses are required and they can join from anywhere in the world. If you do not have friends or family available, you can invite them at no charge, or use our witness service for a small fee.

Join from your home in Maryland or from anywhere in the world, as long as you are both on the same live video call.
Participate in a real-time ceremony where you exchange vows and say your “I dos.” This is the moment you actually get married online in Maryland, even though the legal ceremony is taking place under Utah law.
After the ceremony, your officiant files the certificate in Utah and you receive your official Utah County marriage certificate digitally and, if requested, by mail.

Maryland County Clerk System vs Online Utah Marriage

Before you decide how to get married online in Maryland, it helps to compare the two approaches side by side. The table below shows the key differences between the traditional Maryland county clerk system and using Distant Vows to get married online in Maryland through Utah.

Feature	Traditional Maryland Marriage	Get Married Online with Distant Vows (Utah)
Where to apply	Circuit Court Clerk in the county where the ceremony will take place. Applying in the wrong county, or in your home county if the ceremony is elsewhere, will result in an invalid license.	Utah County online application. No courthouse visit required in Maryland or anywhere else when you choose to get married online in Maryland through Distant Vows.
In-person appearance	At least one applicant must appear in person with valid photo ID for both parties. Non-residents may use a Non-Resident Affidavit to apply by mail, but the 48-hour wait still applies.	No in-person visits required. Everything is completed online.
Waiting period	48 hours. License not valid until 6:00 a.m. on the second calendar day. A judge may waive this for military service or pregnancy, but a court petition is required.	No waiting period. Utah license is issued after online review and Distant Vows schedules your ceremony within the 32-day validity window.
License validity	Valid for 6 months but only in the county where it was issued. A Montgomery County license cannot be used for a ceremony held in Howard County.	Utah license valid for 32 days. Ceremony can be attended from Maryland or anywhere in the world.
Fee	$35 to $85, varying by county. Some counties discount the fee if a qualifying premarital preparation course is completed within one year before application.	Flat Distant Vows package pricing. No county-specific fee variation.
Proxy marriages	Prohibited. Both parties must be physically present at the ceremony.	Utah specifically authorizes video ceremonies. Both partners join over video and the resulting marriage is fully legal.
Witnesses required	Not required under Maryland law, which is unusual compared to most states.	Two adult witnesses required under Utah law. Distant Vows can provide them if needed.
Officiant filing deadline	Officiant must return the signed certificate to the issuing Circuit Court within five days of the ceremony.	Distant Vows officiants file with Utah County on your behalf after the ceremony.
Valid in Maryland	Yes.	Yes, and in all 50 states once properly issued and filed in Utah, because Maryland recognizes marriages that are valid where they were performed.
International use	May require apostille or legalization depending on the foreign country’s rules.	Utah certificates can receive an apostille for use in many countries, even if you get married online in Maryland. Learn more at Distant Vows apostille services.

Military Couples in Maryland

Maryland’s military installations collectively contribute more than $20 billion to the state’s economy annually and support approximately 100,000 jobs across multiple branches of service. Fort George G. Meade in Anne Arundel County is the largest installation by economic impact in the state, generating approximately $8 billion and 56,000 jobs in the surrounding region.

Fort Meade is the headquarters of both the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, and has the fourth largest workforce of all Army installations in the continental United States. The NSA’s presence at Fort Meade includes tens of thousands of civilian employees and contractors in addition to active duty military personnel, many of whom turn to Distant Vows when they want to get married online in Maryland on a timeline that fits around deployments, clearance schedules, and interagency assignments.

Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County is home to the 316th Wing and the Air Force District of Washington. Andrews is best known as the home base for the two Boeing VC-25 aircraft that carry the call sign Air Force One when the President is on board. The base generates approximately $4 billion and 20,000 jobs for Prince George’s County. Aberdeen Proving Ground, located on the Chesapeake Bay in Harford County, is the Army’s oldest active proving ground, established on October 20, 1917. APG spans 72,500 acres and employs more than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel. Major commands at APG include the Army Communications-Electronics Command, the Combat Capabilities Development Command, and the Army Test and Evaluation Command.

Naval Air Station Patuxent River in St. Mary’s County is the Navy’s primary test and evaluation facility for aircraft and aviation systems, home to the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, and contributes approximately $2 billion and 22,000 jobs to southern Maryland.

Fort Detrick in Frederick is the home of the Army Medical Research and Development Command. Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Naval Support Activity Bethesda treats approximately 1 million patients per year. The 175th Wing of the Maryland Air National Guard operates from Warfield ANG Base at Martin State Airport in Baltimore. Naval Support Facility Thurmont serves as the support installation for Camp David, the presidential retreat in Catoctin Mountain Park.

For service members at any of these installations whose partners are stationed elsewhere, deployed, or based overseas, Maryland’s county-specific license rule creates a real scheduling barrier. Getting both partners to the same county’s Circuit Court during business hours, waiting out the 48-hour period, and then holding the ceremony all within the same county is difficult around military schedules. Utah online marriage eliminates these logistics entirely for couples who want to get married online in Maryland. Both partners join a live video ceremony from wherever they are. You can read more at Distant Vows for Military Couples.

Immigration and Long-Distance Couples in Maryland

Maryland is home to approximately 900,000 immigrants, representing roughly 15 percent of the state’s total population, and many of these couples use Distant Vows when they want to get married online in Maryland without requiring an overseas partner to travel, above the national average. The state’s immigrant community is concentrated in the Washington-Baltimore corridor and is notable for being among the most diverse and highly educated in the country. Maryland is consistently ranked as the most educated state in the United States, and a significant share of its immigrant population arrived on professional visas in technology, medicine, government contracting, and federal employment.

The Salvadoran community is the largest single immigrant origin group in the Maryland-Washington corridor by absolute numbers. According to data from the Immigrant Learning Center and George Mason University, approximately 208,800 Salvadoran immigrants reside in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore combined metropolitan area. Montgomery County and Prince George’s County hold the first and second largest county-level Salvadoran populations in the entire United States outside of Los Angeles and Fairfax County. Salvadorans account for approximately one in every ten immigrants in Maryland, a concentration three times higher than the national average. The Salvadoran community in Maryland grew significantly during the 1980s civil war and expanded further through family reunification and TPS extensions in subsequent decades.

Maryland also has one of the largest concentrations of sub-Saharan African immigrants in the country. According to the Migration Policy Institute’s 2025 analysis, Prince George’s County and Montgomery County are two of the five counties nationwide with the highest concentrations of sub-Saharan African immigrants. The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is the top metro in the United States for Ethiopian immigrants.

For binational couples in these communities who want to get married online in Maryland, the Utah route removes the need to coordinate international travel. Other significant African communities in the Maryland corridor include immigrants from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

For binational couples who want to get married online in Maryland and where one partner remains abroad, Maryland’s county-specific license rule adds an extra layer of complexity. Not only must both partners arrange to be in Maryland, they must also coordinate around the specific county of the ceremony.

When couples get married online in Maryland through Utah, your partner can be anywhere in the world — a critical advantage for the DC-Maryland corridor’s large binational population. The Utah County certificate is accepted by USCIS for spousal visa and green card applications, the same as any Maryland-issued certificate would be when couples get married online in Maryland through Distant Vows. If you need your marriage recognized in another country, Distant Vows can help you obtain an apostille so your certificate is accepted internationally. You can learn more at Distant Vows apostille services.

Couples researching international marriage recognition may also want to read our guide on whether getting married online affects immigration cases.

Using Your Utah Certificate in Maryland

After you get married online in Maryland through Utah, your certified Utah County marriage certificate is your primary legal document for updating your records. Maryland agencies accept any valid U.S. marriage certificate and do not require it to be Maryland-issued.

Change your name with the Social Security Administration first. Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration checks SSA records for name changes, so updating SSA before visiting the MVA prevents delays and rejected applications.
Update your Maryland driver’s license or state ID through the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration. This is the same step whether you used a traditional Maryland license or got married online in Maryland through Utah.
Adjust your name and marital status with banks, employers, schools, and insurance providers.
Use your certificate for USCIS spousal visa and green card applications. The Utah County certificate is treated the same as any other U.S. state marriage certificate for immigration purposes.

Many couples who get married online in Maryland also use their Utah marriage certificate to complete a legal name change after the ceremony. You can learn more in our guide on how to change your name after getting married online.

Related Online Marriage Guides

If you are researching how to get married online in Maryland or other Mid-Atlantic states where you want to get married online, you may also want to read:

FAQ: Getting Married Online in Maryland

Is it legal to get married online in Maryland?
Maryland recognizes marriages valid where they are performed. When you get married online in Maryland through Utah’s system, your marriage is valid in Utah and must be recognized in Maryland even though the ceremony happens over video. Maryland’s own requirements about in-person court appearances, county-specific licenses, and in-state ceremonies apply only to Maryland marriage licenses, not to marriages legally performed in Utah.

Why does Maryland require the license in the ceremony county rather than the home county?
Maryland Family Law requires the license be obtained from the Circuit Court in the county where the marriage will take place. This means if you live in Montgomery County but plan to marry in Anne Arundel County, you must apply at the Anne Arundel Circuit Court. A license purchased in the wrong county is invalid. This is one of the most common practical reasons couples choose to get married online in Maryland through Utah — there is no county to select, no courthouse to identify, and no validity restriction tied to a specific location.

Are Baltimore City and Baltimore County the same?
No. Baltimore City is an independent jurisdiction entirely separate from Baltimore County. They have separate Circuit Courts, separate clerk offices, separate fees, and separate addresses. If you plan to marry in the city, you must apply at the Baltimore City Circuit Court. If you plan to marry in the county, you must apply at the Baltimore County Circuit Court in Towson. This is one of the most common sources of confusion for couples who want to get married online in Maryland without navigating county boundaries.

Can the 48-hour waiting period be waived?
Yes, but only by a Circuit Court judge and only for qualifying reasons, which typically include military service and pregnancy. The waiver requires a separate court petition and is granted at the judge’s discretion. Couples who get married online in Maryland through Utah face no waiting period, because Utah does not impose one.

Can military couples at Fort Meade or Joint Base Andrews get married online in Maryland?
Yes. Both partners join the ceremony by video from wherever they are. A service member deployed overseas or stationed at another installation can participate from anywhere while the other partner remains in Maryland or elsewhere. No Maryland Circuit Court visit is required. You can read more at Distant Vows for Military Couples.

Does Maryland require witnesses at a wedding ceremony?
No. Maryland law does not require witnesses at a marriage ceremony, which is unusual compared to most states. Utah law does require two adult witnesses, and Distant Vows can provide them. This means nothing extra is required of you when you get married online in Maryland through our platform.

Can same-sex couples get married online this way?
Yes. Maryland legalized same-sex marriage by popular referendum in November 2012, one of the first states to do so by voter approval. Same-sex marriages are treated the same under Utah and federal law, so same-sex couples who want to get married online in Maryland can do so through Utah’s online system and receive the same legal certificate as any other couple.

How fast can we get married online from Maryland?
Many couples complete all four steps and receive their digital certificate within a few days. Rush options are available for couples who need to get married online in Maryland on a tighter timeline. The process is the same whether you are near Fort Meade, in Baltimore City, or anywhere in the state. Whether you are in Rockville, Baltimore, Annapolis, Bethesda, or a more rural county, the process is identical.

For details on Maryland’s traditional marriage license requirements, the Maryland Courts marriage license page lists the clerk’s office for each county. For couples who want to get married online in Maryland without the county research, the courthouse visit, or the 48-hour wait, Distant Vows handles everything remotely. Whether you are in Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, or Baltimore City, the process to get married online in Maryland through Distant Vows is the same.

Ready to Get Married Online in Maryland?

If you are ready to get married online in Maryland, Distant Vows makes the process simple. Every week, couples across the Washington-Baltimore corridor choose to get married online in Maryland through our four-step system walks you from eligibility to your official U.S. marriage certificate, with licensed Utah officiants, witness support, and clear guidance at every stage.

Start today, choose your date, and let us handle the legal details so you can get married online in Maryland without visiting a courthouse. Couples from Baltimore, Rockville, Silver Spring, Annapolis, Frederick, and across the state choose Distant Vows to get married online in Maryland every week. You can begin by completing our intake form at get married online.

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