A certified copy of an Alameda County marriage certificate can be obtained in several ways, as detailed below. If you have any questions, please email [email protected] or call +1 (415) 655-9455.

Important things to know about Alameda County marriage certificates

Prior to placing an order for a marriage certificate for apostille purposes, please note:

• Certified copy: Informational marriage certificates that bear a disclaimer—such as “INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY”—are not eligible for California Secretary of State apostille certification. You must obtain an unrestricted copy of the marriage certificate.
• Eligibility: You are only allowed to order a certified copy of a marriage certificate for yourself or your child, legal ward (with documentation), parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner, as well as any clients who have extended power of attorney to you.
• County of record: The certified copy will only be issued by the county in which the marriage license was purchased, regardless of the county in which the ceremony was performed.
• Confidential marriage: If the marriage was confidential, only the parties to the marriage can obtain a certified copy of the marriage certificate, and only by appearing in person at the Clerk-Recorder’s office. The only exception to this is if another individual is authorized by court order. The instructions below pertain to non-confidential marriages only.
• Recent marriage: Marriage certificates may take some time to be returned to the county of record, particularly if the wedding was performed in a different county. For a marriage ceremony that occurred within the last couple of months, call the County Clerk-Recorder at +1 (510) 272-6362 to confirm that the marriage certificate is in the computer system.

Fastest: In person

The fastest way to obtain a certified copy of an Alameda County marriage certificate (also called an unrestricted copy) is to pick it up in person at the Alameda County Clerk-Recorder’s Oakland Office (1106 Madison Street, Oakland, CA 94607) or Tri-Valley Office (7600 Dublin Blvd., Suite 160, Dublin, CA 94568).

Important note: If the marriage certificate was filed prior to 1971, the record will only be available at the Oakland office (not at the Tri-Valley location).

In case you are unable to pick up the certificate in person, we can obtain the certified copy for you. You will need appear before a notary either in person or through remote online notarization to sign a limited power of attorney that gives us authority to retrieve the marriage certificate. We can help to arrange an electronic notarization—please contact us to discuss.

Once we receive the notarized power of attorney (via mail for in-person notarization or via certified PDF for an electronic notarization), our authorized agent will travel to the Clerk-Recorder’s Office to retrieve the certified copy of the marriage certificate.

Medium: Order online

Option 1: Order the marriage certificate online from Alameda County

Alameda County now allows you to order a marriage certificate through their website. Be careful to choose Unrestricted, not Informational.

The form will prompt you to fill in the married parties’ information, enter billing and shipping information, select shipping method, remit payment, and then answer identifying questions.

When entering the shipping information, please arrange for the marriage certificate to be sent to us:

C/O SF Notary + Apostille
2511 Carlsbad Ave.
Sacramento
California 95821
United States

Please note: Government agencies can take several weeks to deliver your certified copy. If time is a concern, choose the in-person option instead.

Option 2: Order the marriage certificate online from an approved vendor

You can also order a certified copy of the Alameda County marriage certificate online through a California-approved third-party vendor such as VitalChek, State Vital Records, Vital Records Online, or GoCertificates. You can choose to have it delivered directly to us:

C/O SF Notary + Apostille Sacramento
2511 Carlsbad Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95821

Please note: Some third-party processors are quoting up to six weeks or more to deliver your certified copy. If you cannot wait that long, choose the in-person option instead.

Slowest: Order through the mail

Option 1: Order the marriage certificate by mail from Alameda County

You can order a certified copy of a marriage certificate by mail from the Alameda County Clerk-Recorder. In this case, you will need to sign the form before a local notary or an online notary and then mail the form and a check or money order to the issuing agency.

Either you can choose to have it delivered to yourself and then mail it to us, or you can have it sent directly to us.

Please be sure to complete all fields in the application when applying by mail. Also, be careful to choose Unrestricted, not Informational.

You can have the Alameda County marriage certificate shipped directly to us by adding our information in the “Shipping Address” field on the application.

C/O SF Notary + Apostille, 2511 Carlsbad Ave., Sacramento, CA 95821

Option 2: Order the marriage certificate by mail from the State of California

You can also order a certified copy of a marriage certificate by mail from the California Department of Public Health – Vital Records.

Important note: The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) can only provide records of public marriages that occurred between 1905 to 1999 and 2008 to 2023. Certified copies of marriage certificates for any marriages that occurred from 2000 to 2007 or after 2023 must be obtained from the Alameda County Clerk-Recorder.

Again, you will need to sign the form before a local notary or an online notary and then mail the form and a check or money order to the issuing agency.

Please be sure to complete all fields in the application when applying by mail. Also, be careful to order an AUTHORIZED COPY, not an INFORMATIONAL COPY.

You can have your Alameda County marriage certificate shipped directly to us by adding our information in the “Mailing Address” fields on the application.

C/O SF Notary + Apostille Sacramento, 2511 Carlsbad Ave.
95821 Sacramento CA USA

Please note: Government agencies can take several weeks to deliver your certified copy. If time is a concern, choose the in-person option instead.

Contact us before you ship the certified copy

Whichever option you select for ordering a certified copy of a marriage certificate, please email [email protected] with the following information before sending the certificate to us:

• Your name, telephone number, and current physical location
• The name, address, telephone number, and email address of the person to whom we will ship the apostilled marriage certificate
• The destination country (e.g. France)
• The physical location of the marriage certificate or ordering status if you ordered one

The instructions on this page only apply to Alameda County marriage certificates. If you need a marriage certificate from another county that is not Alameda, please visit the website of that county for instructions. Each county uses different forms and employs different processes.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected] or call +1 (415) 655-9455.

Disclaimer: Information on this website is for informational purposes only. These instructions are based on our knowledge and experience and are meant to be helpful; however, they might contain errors. Please let us know if you encounter mistakes so that we can promptly correct them. SF Notary + Apostille is not a law firm, and its agents are not attorneys. Please contact a licensed attorney or your local bar association for counsel on legal matters.