If you are flying into Denver to elope, the Denver Clerk and Recorder is the obvious first stop for your license, and the process is simple once you know the one rule that trips people up: there are no walk ins for marriage licenses in Denver. Everything runs by appointment, and appointments open only seven days ahead. Plan around that and the rest takes about twenty minutes.
A Denver license works anywhere in Colorado, so you can pick it up downtown and marry in Telluride, at Sapphire Point or on your own on a trail in Rocky Mountain National Park. It does not work outside Colorado.
How the Denver process works
Denver lays the process out in five steps on its marriage page, and the order matters.
- Read the requirements. The city publishes a requirements sheet listing the information you will be asked for.
- Complete the online application. You do not need to create an account. Do this before you book, because the appointment assumes the application is already done.
- Book an appointment. Choose in person or virtual. Slots open up to seven days in advance and go quickly; if nothing is open, the city suggests checking back the next day for new times.
- Attend the appointment. Both of you, together, with ID and payment.
- Sign the license after the ceremony and return it. By mail or the drop box, within 63 days.
Arrive on time. Denver’s appointment policy says arrivals more than ten minutes late have to reschedule, and with a seven day booking window that can cost you your license before a weekend ceremony.
In person or virtual
In person. The office is the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office at 200 W. 14th Ave., Denver, CO 80204, open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on city holidays. In person marriage appointments were paused during building construction; the city’s notice says couples are welcomed back for in person appointments starting October 13, 2026. You walk out with the license in hand. Two guests may come with you, though witnesses are not required.
Virtual. Denver also issues licenses over a Microsoft Teams video call. You both need to be inside Colorado, in the same room and on the same screen at the same time, with your IDs and a debit or credit card ready. The license is then mailed by the Postal Service to a Colorado address. Two consequences follow: virtual appointments only make sense if you have a Colorado mailing address, and the city itself warns that if your ceremony is within two weeks you should book in person, because it cannot guarantee mail delivery in time.
For most couples visiting from out of state, in person is the right call.
What to bring
Both of you bring one valid form of ID. Denver accepts:
- a U.S. state issued driver’s license or permit
- a U.S. state issued ID card
- a U.S. military ID
- a passport that includes English, or a passport with a certified English translation
Birth certificates, baptismal certificates and foreign consular IDs are not accepted as ID. The name on your license will appear exactly as it is on the ID you present, so if your license and passport differ, bring the one you want printed.
You will also be asked for your Social Security number if you have one. If one of you does not have one, you can still marry; Denver provides an affidavit for that situation. Expect questions about the date and place of your ceremony, whether you are related by blood, and the city and state where each of your parents was born.
If either of you has been married before, you need the exact date and location of the divorce or of your former spouse’s death, the city and state of the divorce, and the type of court that granted it. If the divorce became final within 30 days of your application, bring a certified copy of the decree.
The fee
The license is $30. Denver takes cash, check, or Visa, Mastercard and Discover for in person appointments, and cards only for virtual ones. Since May 1, 2025 the city adds a 2.5% service fee to card payments. A certified copy of the license or application is $1.25.
If you are already in a civil union with each other and now want to marry, you apply for a marriage license and pay the same $30; the civil union does not need to be dissolved.
Signing it on the day
Your license is valid from the day it is issued, and the certificate must be signed in Colorado within 35 days. Colorado does not require witnesses or an officiant, and Denver’s page says plainly that neither is needed for a valid self solemnization. If you do use an officiant, it must be someone the law recognizes: a judge, retired judge, magistrate, an authorized public official, a tribal official, or clergy recognized by a religious denomination, including a friend or relative who has been ordained. Our self solemnization guide walks through how to fill in the certificate if you marry yourselves.
One small detail from the city’s own page: paw prints are not allowed on marriage licenses. Save the dog’s signature for the guest book.
Returning the signed license
The license and certificate are one form; do not separate them. After the ceremony, send it back by mail or use the Clerk and Recorder drop box outside the building on Bannock Street, which the city checks daily during business hours. The certificate must reach the clerk within 63 days of the ceremony. After that, the late fee is $20, plus $5 for each additional day, up to $50. Take a photo of the signed certificate before you let it go.
Once it is recorded, certified copies can be requested online through Denver’s records search. You will need one for any name change; see our Colorado marriage laws page for the order most people follow.
If one of you cannot be there
Denver offers a marriage license absentee affidavit for a partner who cannot appear. It must be notarized and used within 30 days of the notary date. A separate power of attorney form covers a partner who cannot attend the ceremony itself, but proxy marriages are limited by state law to service members and certain military contractors, and Denver notes they may not be self solemnized.
If Denver has no appointments
The Denver clerk does not perform ceremonies; if you want a judge, our courthouse wedding guide lists the courts that do. Any Colorado county clerk can issue your license. The closest walk in option is the Jefferson County clerk in Golden, which takes drop ins Monday through Thursday and sits on the way to the mountains. If you are heading to Breckenridge, read the Summit County page first, because non residents need one of a handful of daily appointment slots. The statewide license guide compares nine county offices, and how to get married in Colorado puts the license in order with everything else.
Planning a Denver elopement
Denver works well as a base: the Denver and foothills guide covers Red Rocks, Mount Falcon and the state parks within an hour, and our page on Red Rocks and the foothills ceremony sites explains which permit applies where. For a small dinner afterward, see our list of Denver micro wedding venues. When you are ready to book people, browse officiants and photographers.
