Mrs. Hummingbird, Toronto
Age and Occupation: 25, Publishing Coordinator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Videogame Designer/Cartoonist
Engagement Date: May 4, 2007
Wedding Date: June 28, 2008
Blogging Since: September 18, 2007
Venue: A garden wedding followed by a tented reception on Mr. Hummingbird's father's property.
About Me: I’m a pop culture loving, vintage obsessed foodie living in Canada’s biggest city with my fantastic fiancé and our lovable fluffy cat Bettie. I’m stoked to marry my best friend and to throw what I hope will be
the most fun and colourful party of our lives.
Getting Your Marriage License in Toronto - A Crash Course
May 6th, 2008 @ 5:25 pm by Mrs. Hummingbird
Picture courtesy of www.nationalgeographic.com
Mr. Hummingbird and I went to City Hall on Friday and with the help of friendly City Hall Employee, Catherine, we finally got our marriage license! So, to help out some of our Toronto readers, or perhaps some out of town readers looking to get married in Toronto, here is a bit of a crash course on what you need to get your license.
The Basics:
Toronto City Hall and various other City Centres in the GTA are open to issue licenses every weekday from 8:30am - 4:15pm.
To be issued a license, you need to be over 18, have the proper ID* and be able to pay the issuing fee**.
Required Information:
You and your spouse will also need to fill out a form of personal information that you can get online or from the Registry Services Office. The required information includes:
a. Your names.
b. Your current marital status (including divorce information if that is pertinent.)
c. Your religion.
d. Your age and birth date.
e. Your place of birth.
f. Your father’s name.
g. Your mother’s maiden name.
h. Both your parents’ place of birth.
i. Your present address and telephone number.
j. The place you intend to get married.
k. The date you intend to get married.
What Getting Your License Means:
Once the license is issued, you are not married, but it gives you the ability to get legally married within 90 days of its issue by a certified representative of the Province of Ontario (sorry, no internet officiants here!)
Cool Things About Getting Married In Toronto:
- You do not need to take a blood test.
- You do not need to be a resident.
- We have a large gay community and are in one of the five countries in the world that allow gay marriage. (Go Canada!)
Additional Information:
- For information about registry services across Canada, a list, province by province, can be found here.
- For the form you need to apply for your marriage license in Ontario, check here.
- If you’re coming to Ontario to get married, but don’t have someone to conduct the ceremony, a number of certified officiants can be found listed on this index here or through an agency like All Seasons here.
- If you’re part of a gay couple from the United States that would like to get married in Canada, some good information can be found here.
For any information that hasn’t been covered in this post, call the Toronto Registry Services office at 416-392-7036 or e-mail them at registryservices@toronto.ca.
Hope that helps!
* Acceptable forms of identification include a birth certificate, a passport, a driver’s license, a Canadian Citizenship Card, a Canadian Government Refugee Travel Document, a Conditional Release Identification Card, a United States Green Card, a Native Status Card, a Record of Immigration Landing or Any Country Citizenship Card.
**The fee varies from place to place but in Toronto they currently charge $130.
9 Responses to “Getting Your Marriage License in Toronto - A Crash Course”
I just looked up getting a marriage license in BC and it looks like rather than going to city hall, you go to a “Marriage Licence Issuer.” Most of these are at insurance services! Darn, I was really hoping to be able to go to city hall for this since the last time we tried to get marriage licenses in San Diego, CA at the city government office, we were obviously denied. Going to London Drugs Insurance Services seems so anticlimactic.
Thanks for this Miss Hummingbird - my fiance and I are getting married in Toronto but we live in NYC. I think this is correct when I say that only one of the people listed on the application needs to be there in person. I plan to go myself when I’m in T.O. for my shower in August, one month before the wedding.
About how long did it take? Any crazy lines?
@academicsocialite: Yes, you are right. Only one of you technically needs to be there, as long as they have the other person’s ID. I just went because I was excited and wanted to see first hand what it involved.
@Kate: There were no lines and it took maybe 20 minutes, partially because we were watching a couple trying to name their baby. She wanted Chloe and he wanted Jet. We never saw who won.
@Kate: Oh, if you can, do it outside of a regular lunch hour time, because that’s when you can sometimes get lines. We went at 2:30.
Thanks so much Miss Hummingbird! I’m getting married in Toronto in August and I haven’t even thought of getting the marriage licence! Thanks for your help!
Thank you! We’re planning on first thing Friday morning before work.
Wow - all of these Toronto brides! How exciting! It has been hard for me to get info about Toronto wedding planning, so I really appreciate your posts, Miss H!
Thanks for the details Hummingbird!! We’re going to go to the exact same place to do the exact same thing next week! 
