There's certain requirements you must meet in order to obtain a Marriage License from us.  Before getting into those requirements, however, you should know that you do not need to be a resident of Los Angeles county, nor do you even have to reside in California or even the United States.  The marriage license merely gives you license to have your marriage ceremony performed in and recorded in Los Angeles County.  After the ceremony, the license is returned to the Los Angeles County Recorder's office for recording.

Two Types of Marriage License:

There's two types of Marriage Licenses: PUBLIC and CONFIDENTIAL.  To obtain a PUBLIC marriage license, both you and your spouse-to-be must appear together during business hours at the Los Angeles County Clerk's Office, wait in line, and possibly have to come back again together the next day.  A PUBLIC Marriage License is available to anyone for viewing after its recorded (its public record), and once its recorded  you'll receive a ton of junk mail from solicitors trying to sell you whatever they're selling.  A CONFIDENTIAL Marriage License is not available to the public for viewing because its not public record - its treated as a sealed record.  Except for the two of you and law enforcement, a court order is needed by anyone else in order to obtain/view a copy of the marriage license.  Many couples (including high-profile couples) opt for the security and piece of mind of a confidential marriage license.

Notary Publics who are authorized by the Los Angeles County Clerk to issue Marriage Licenses (as is the case with Rev. Chuck) can only issue CONFIDENTIAL marriage licenses.

REQUIREMENTS FOR CONFIDENTIAL MARRIAGE LICENSE:

1. Each of you must be at least 18 years of age.
2. You must both be living together.  While no proof is required, you're both stating under penalty of perjury that you're living together.  Your ID's are for identification purposes, not for verification that you're living together.  If you just moved in together today - you're living together!
3. Government-issued photo ID: We can take a Driver's License from the United States or Canada, or a DMV-issued ID card (United States), or a Passport (anywhere in the world.  Any of the above 3 ID's must be ORIGINAL and PERMANENT (ie: plastic drivers license or DMV ID, or original passport), can NOT be expired, and must have your picture & signature.  We are NOT allowed to accept temporary or interrim ID's or passports.  We are only authorized to accept one of the above 3 ID's (if you get your marriage license from the county clerk, they may be able to take other ID's but we cannot).
4. If you get your marriage license from the county offices, you must get married within the next 90 days. If you don't get married in that time period, the license will expire and you must purchase another license.  We normally marry our couples the same day we issue the license (actually, within the same hour!).
5. Ceremony must be performed in Los Angeles County. California is a "ceremonial state" which means that just getting the license does not mean you are married -- you must have a third person to perform the ceremony -- ordained clergyperson, judge, retired judge or deputy commissioner of marriage.  We can issue the license AND perform the required ceremony here at our office/chapel.  No witness(es) required for a ceremony using a confidential marriage license.
6. As of November 5, 2008 - the Los Angeles County Clerk/County Recorder and the Office of Vital Records has notified all marriage license providers that we can only issue a marriage license to an opposite-sex couple.  Prop 8 surprisingly went into effect the day after the November 4th election. 
7. If either of you has been divorced in the last two (2) years, you must bring along a copy of your divorce papers.  If more than 2 years, we need exact date of divorce.  Same applies for annulments (provide copy if in the past 2 years, otherwise date). *SEE "NOTE" BELOW. 
8. If either of you has been widowed in the last (2) years, bring along a copy of the death certificate.  If more than 2 years, we need exact date of spouse's death.       *SEE "NOTE" BELOW.
*NOTE: All Divorce and Anullment papers must be signed or stamped by a judge - the ORIGINALS must be in ENGLISH!!  Death certificates must also be in English!  If not in English, we cannot accept the papers regardless of who translated them.  You can still get a marriage license but you'll need to get it from the County Clerk's office instead.

REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC MARRIAGE LICENSE:
Same as above with the following exceptions:
#2 Does not apply.
#5 You can have the ceremony anywhere in California, but you also need to bring a witness with you - age 18 or over, with government-issued photo ID.