Let’s play a game. How many of you know exactly where your marriage license is at this exact moment? No, don’t raise your hands – I can’t see you! Just think about it. Is it framed and hanging on your wall? Behind a plastic page protector in your scrapbook, right across from that glamour shot of you in your bridal gown? Or did it get put in that one drawer where everything ends up when you aren’t sure where to put it? Yes, you do too have one of those drawers. Everyone does, and there’s no point in denying it.
Now let me ask another question. If you had a house fire and were forced to leave immediately, would you take your marriage license with you? Well, why not? Your marriage license shows that you are legally and lawfully wed. It is the closest thing to a contract your marriage has, unless you have a prenuptial agreement, but that’s a whole ‘nuther thing entirely. That piece of paper shows the legal commitment the two of you have made to each other, and while you can always get another copy from the county in which you were married, you should keep a copy with your special papers and another with your emergency supplies along with your insurance paperwork and your identification. A photocopy made on a regular copier or scanner works great.
You never know what information you are going to need in case of an emergency. It might not be a house fire, a flood, or other type of natural disaster. You might find yourself with a bad case of genealogy fever. Keeping your certificate handy, at the very least in a filing cabinet or in a desk, can save you a lot of headache later as you whack your forehead against the wall, trying to remember where on earth you put it.
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