Do you have to be present to get married in Colorado?

Yahoo

20-03-2025

DENVER (KDVR) — Marriages for many people are the highlight of a lifetime, but what happens if you, or your soon-to-be-spouse, have to be away from home for a long time?
Colorado, under House Bill 15-1327, is one of just a few states that allows some people to get married using someone else as a stand in, or proxy, if one person is absent for the big day. Only Kansas, Texas and Montana join Colorado in allowing proxy marriages.
Only certain people are eligible for Colorado proxy marriages, and, unlike Montana's double proxy marriages, only one person is allowed to be absent from the marriage. So, here's who qualifies and how the process works.
According to the Denver Office of the Clerk and Recorder, proxy marriage licenses may only be granted to an absent person that is either:
A member of the armed forces of the United States who is stationed in another country or in another state in support of combat or military operation; or
A government contractor, or an employee of a government contractor, working or in support of US military operations in another country or in another state.
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That person must provide documentation of whichever status. Additionally, both people need to be over 18 years old, and at least one person getting married must be a Colorado resident to apply for a license for a proxy marriage.
To get a proxy marriage license, the person appearing in person applies for the marriage license. Both people's signatures are required, so the present person needs to sign the license application and bring an absentee affidavit form with a notarized signature of the absent person, according to the Clerk and Recorder's Office website.
They also must bring proper identification needed for the absent person.
The absent person then selects someone and gives them Power of Attorney. That person, when the Power of Attorney form is filled out with their name, is then the absent party's proxy and would sign the marriage license.
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Proxies have to be over 18 years old as well.
Colorado does allow self-solemnization marriages, meaning the couples marry themselves, but only when both parties are present. Proxy marriages must be done in front of a judge, a spokesperson for the Denver Office of the Clerk and Records said.
According to HB15-1327, if the person solemnizing the marriage is satisfied the absent person has consented to the marriage, they can solemnize the marriage by proxy. If not, the couple can petition the district court for an order permitting the proxy marriage.
Denver's Clerk and Recorder website also contains several frequently asked questions about marriage license.
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