In order to get legally married you only need a few things: a consenting couple, a licensed wedding officiant, a marriage licence, and wedding witnesses to sign and make it official!

But who are these wedding witnesses? How many do you need and do they have to be over 18? What else do they have to do?

Below we’re answering all of your questions about witnesses at weddings, including what you need to do to prep for your witnesses and how to find witnesses if you don’t have any.

What is a wedding witness?

A wedding witness is a person who observes your wedding ceremony and signs your marriage licence. By signing, they are saying that they watched your ceremony and that you two really do want to be hitched!

In many areas, you are required to have wedding witnesses in order for your wedding to be considered legal. Without their signatures on your licence, you won’t be officially married.

How many witnesses do we need?

Most jurisdictions require two people to witness the ceremony and sign the licence – but double check in your jurisdiction to see if you need more or less than two.

Generally speaking, the witnesses cannot be the couple getting married or the wedding officiant, as these people will need to sign the licence themselves.

What does a witness have to do?

Luckily, being a witness at a wedding is a very easy job!

All your witnesses need to do is observe your ceremony, just like any other guest. They should be paying attention to ensure that both you and your partner consent to marry one another (aka you both say “I do”).

After the ceremony, the witnesses will sign the marriage licence and any other paperwork. Your officiant will be on hand to show your witnesses exactly where to sign and what to write (e.g. their name, signature, date, etc.).

Who can sign our marriage licence?

Keep in mind that every jurisdiction has its own rules about who qualifies as a witness and is able to legally sign the licence. In some areas, these people must be over 18 years old.

Typically, there is no rule about whether a witness can be related to you or not. They also don’t have to know you for any specific amount of time. So the rules for wedding witnesses are way less strict than the rules for witnesses of wills or passports!

In British Columbia, “no definitive age is required as long as the individual knows what they are signing.” AKA you don’t have to be over 18 years old to sign the marriage licence.

This means there’s a great opportunity to involve your children in an essential part of your wedding day if they’re old enough to understand and sign. We’ve had lots of families invite their pre-teens and teens to sign the licence, making the ceremony signing even more special.

How should we choose our witnesses?

As stated above, make sure you are following all legal requirements in your area so that your witness is qualified to sign your licence. In BC, this means the person must understand what they are signing. In other areas, they must be over 18.

Choose someone who is important to you or a big part of your relationship. For example, you can choose mutual friends or a relative from each side of your family.

Sometimes members of your wedding party can serve as witnesses – we often see the Best Man and Maid of Honour take on this role – but it’s also an opportunity to honour someone else.

If there are special people who don’t have a role in your ceremony yet, asking them to be your witnesses and sign your licence is a beautiful gesture.

For example, if dad is walking down the aisle, then mom can sign the licence. Or you can ask your grandparents or children to be your witnesses.

How should we prepare our wedding witnesses?

Because it’s an easy job, there’s not much you need to do to prepare your wedding witnesses beforehand. But here are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Choose your witnesses ahead of time and let them know. Even though they don’t have much to do , this still isn’t something you want to surprise them with on the big day.
  • Let them know when the signing is happening – signing can happen before, during or after the ceremony – and where it’s happening (e.g. do you have a signing table set up?).
  • If they’re not in the wedding party, make sure they’re seated close to the signing area so they can get there when they need to.
  • (op) Buy them a small gift or write them a card to thank them for being an important part of your wedding day.

On your end, make sure your signing table is prepped with pens, chairs and anything else you need. Coordinate with your wedding officiant so they know where and when the signing will take place.

What if we don’t have anyone to witness our ceremony?

With our Intimate Elopements, we sometimes have couples tell us that they don’t have anyone to witness their ceremony. They may be travelling to us for a destination wedding or they may just not be inviting any guests to their elopement.

We’ve got three easy solutions to help you find witnesses and still have a legal wedding. (Remember: in many places, you need witnesses to observe your ceremony and sign your licence in order for your marriage to be legal.)

1. Ask your vendors to be your witnesses

If any vendors will be present at your wedding ceremony, they can serve as your witnesses. For example, with our Helicopter Elopements, our photographer and the pilot can act as your witnesses and sign your licence.

Keep in mind that your officiant cannot sign your licence as a witness, because they need to sign it as an officiant! But any other vendors – photographer, videographer, planner, DJ, etc. is fair game. Just ask them ahead of time!

2. Ask strangers to be your witnesses

If you’re getting married in a public area with lots of foot traffic, you can simply ask two kind strangers to act as your wedding witnesses. Remember, unlike witnessing a will or passport, your wedding witnesses don’t have to know you ahead of time.

We’ve done this many times with elopements in parks, on beaches, at coffee shops, etc. People are usually very excited to help out and share in the joy of your wedding ceremony.

3. Ask your officiant to bring witnesses

If you won’t have any other vendors at your wedding and don’t want to ask strangers, you can ask the Young Hip & Married team. We’d be happy to provide witnesses for you!

This is a great option if you’re worried about relying on strangers, which can be stressful for some couples. This also works well if you’re getting married in a more remote or private location where there won’t be many people passing by who you can ask to sign.

If you’re interested in having Young Hip & Married provide your witnesses, please reach out for a quote and to confirm availability.