As I previously said, we were waiting until the Thursday before our wedding to get our marriage license. I had been told by multiple people, as well as read on multiple websites, that we needed to get our marriage license in the county we were getting MARRIED in, not the county we LIVE in. I know, I know...I should have just called the court. And since we both needed to be there, and they were only open during the week- we waited until the last minute.
Thursday morning, we drove the the Holmes County Probate Court, fill out the paperwork, and turn it into the clerk. She looked at it, looks at us and asks us the question that will haunt my dreams, "Neither of you live in this county though, right?" After a little bit of back and forth- "well no, not technically." "My license address and my voting address are Holmes county though"- she told us that she didn't think we were going to be able to get our marriage license and that we would have to drive back to Cleveland, but she would go check.
She walked out of the office to talk to someone else and I promptly burst into tears. Huge, body shaking sobs. My dear husband tried to calm me down. Told me it would be ok; that driving to Cleveland and back and battling downtown traffic to get our marriage license wouldn't be a big deal; that I could drink a big beer before we left and sleep the whole way (he's really the best).
The clerk came back in and took pity on me. I had tried to stop crying (unsuccessfully) and my face was beet red. I don't know if she really took pity on me because of this, but I like to believe that. She told us that if I could find a piece of mail with my name and my parents address, that they might accept that.
Thankfully, I had just ripped up and threw away a piece of mail...from the State of Ohio. So I called my mom....still in tears and manage to explain to her what we need. The saint that she is, she dug through the trash can and found the mail (ripped in half and coffee stained).
We make it back to the court house- not in complete hysterics- but still a little teary and completely shaking because I was terrified it wouldn't work. I show the clerk, and she says "ok looks good!"
Now why couldn't she have just told us in the first place that if I had mail, it would be fine. Because I knew I had a piece of mail...but we were under the impression that it might not be enough. That probably would have prevented a decent amount of my tears and freak out.
But oh well- in the end, we left with marriage license in person, picked up my dress from being pressed, and then had lunch (and that big beer I was promised!).
So a warning to all Ohio brides- if you are getting married in a different county than you live in- call BOTH probate courts (in the county you live and the one you are getting married in) and see what they say. I don't know if this is a state rule or just a Holmes County thing...but double check.
