Getting hitched in Maine just got easier

AUGUSTA – Couples can fill out the paperwork and get married the same day in Maine thanks to changes in state law, the first overhaul of the state’s marriage laws since the 1950s.

The new law that went into effect last week eliminates the three-day waiting period after obtaining a marriage license.

“Three days might have been valuable [in the past], but times have changed,” said Deputy State Registrar Lorraine Wilson. Besides, couples were getting around the three-day rule by obtaining waivers in probate court.

Waiting periods across the nation vary from none to three days. Massachusetts and New Hampshire require a three-day wait.

In addition to eliminating delays, Maine’s new statute removes the requirement that a bride and groom who live in different towns file paperwork in both places. Now, it’s one-stop shopping, so to speak.

And out-of-state couples don’t even have to file a marriage license application in the town where they’ll be married.

The changes mean that an out-of-state couple can drive to Maine, fill out the paperwork in Kennebunk and then get hitched later the same day on the shores of beautiful Mooselookmeguntic Lake in Rangeley.

The state’s Bureau of Vital Statistics and the Attorney General’s Office both agreed the time had come to ask the Legislature to revamp the outdated statutes after several near-comical situations.

In one case, an out-of-state couple wanted to get married in Boothbay Harbor but had to move to an inn just across the town line because of rain.

That last-minute rush for cover invalidated their marriage license.

“We felt this is unfair since it is not an intentional violation – it is a confusion about the law,” said State Registrar Warren Bartlett of the Maine Department of Human Services’ Bureau of Vital Statistics.

There are some downsides to the changes, some officials say.

Eliminating the waiting period takes away that last chance couples have to rethink what they are doing and, in some cases, to sober up, said Mavis Buzzell, a notary public who has performed weddings in Farmington.

Skowhegan Town Clerk Rhonda Stark, president of the Maine Town and City Clerks Association, said the old system had other good points, as well.

Towns will no longer have a complete record of marriages because of the changes. Also, the elimination of the waiting period ends the opportunity for others to intervene to stop an improper marriage.

Other clerks are happy to let someone else deal with the paperwork.

With about 300 marriages a year at Waterville City Hall, a walk-in marriage service may not be far off, said Arlene Strahan, the city’s deputy clerk.