Who Can Officiate a Wedding in Hawaii? Licenses, Fees and Steps

Which route fits your officiant?

Three groups can qualify: clergy and religious societies, any individual aged 18 or over, and judges of a court in Hawaii. The fee and the two license lengths look the same on every route: EMRS shows one fee table, and HRS §572-11 separates licenses only by length. This table comes from the documents listed in its last column, read on November 6, 2026.

Visiting Catholic and Episcopal clergy also need church permission, which a state license does not replace. The Diocese of Honolulu tells a priest or deacon to ask the Hawaii pastor for delegation, have his Ordinary send a letter of good standing and get the state license himself, while the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i asks for the Bishop's temporary permission, a letter of good standing from the visiting priest's own Bishop and the state application.

Visiting clergy should allow more than DOH's two weeks and ask the parish first: the Honolulu page wants the couple's church paperwork at least three months ahead, a Kauai parish page wants the letter at least four weeks ahead, and the two Catholic pages give different addresses for it. The Catholic pages say "temporary license," but DOH offers only 60-day and one-year licenses, so we take that to mean the 60-day license, though DOH does not say so.

The DOH wording for marriages limits the judge route to courts "in the State." A retired judge from the mainland could use the civil route, open to anyone aged 18 or over. DOH's performer guide adds that the license decides how the ceremony is recorded: religious licensees record a religious ceremony, civil and judge licensees a civil one.

What does a Hawaii officiant license cost?

A license costs $110 for one year or $35 for 60 days. The state fee is $100 "per year" for a standard license and $25 "per sixty-day period" for a short-term one under HRS §572-11(b). EMRS then adds a $10 portal administration fee to either.

Payment is by major credit card, and the EMRS registration page says, "There are no refunds after submitting your application." A change of plan therefore costs the fee.

What the officiant charges you is a separate matter. The state fee is paid to DOH, and HRS §572-12 lets a licensed performer accept the price agreed with the couple or a gratuity.

How far ahead must a performer register?

Plan on at least two weeks. EMRS says, "Please register at least two weeks prior to the ceremony date, as your registration could take up to two weeks for approval."

DOH's license page sounds faster, saying the approval email arrives "shortly after registering online." The two statements fit together. Applications that pass online verification can be approved automatically, while missing or unverifiable details trigger "a delay" for manual review. DOH does not say how to tell in advance which path an application will take, so the two-week figure is the safe one.

Can a friend marry us in Hawaii?

Yes, if your friend holds a Hawaii performer license before the ceremony. The civil license is open to any individual aged 18 or over, and your friend does not need to be ordained or to belong to a church. We found no residency or citizenship condition: the statute says "any individual," and the application accepts addresses outside the US, which helps if you or your friend are traveling from another country.

1. Your friend picks the license type. The non-religious route fits most friends. The religious route is for someone a church has ordained or authorized.
2. Your friend times the application. The 60-day license costs $35 and suits one wedding. The window is in the example below.
3. Your friend registers in EMRS. At emrs.ehawaii.gov they go to Performers, then Registration, and pick the type. They check "Marriage," which the form says applicants "MUST check" for any marriage, confirm the attestation and enter their details. On the next page they choose 60 days or one year, confirm with their name, then pay.
4. Your friend waits for the approval email. The payment receipt is not approval. DOH's guide says, "do not perform any marriages or civil unions until your license has been approved." The approval email from EMRS holds the license link and login, and DOH warns it can land in spam.
5. You both give written consent. A civil licensee "shall obtain the prior written consent of each person for whom a solemnization is performed" under HRS §572-12(b). We found no DOH form for this, so a short signed and dated note from each of you, kept with your friend's records, is a sensible way to do it.
6. You two get your marriage license. You apply online, then meet an agent together. Your friend's performer license does not replace your own license and its 30-day limit.
7. You hold the ceremony, and your friend reports it. The two of you and your friend must all be physically present, in Hawaii, under HRS §572-1(7). The filing duties are in the next section.

The attestation in step 3 is made "under penalty of perjury." It covers meeting the requirements, having no revoked performer license and keeping illegal substances or activities out of the ceremony.

Worked example: a friend marries you on May 15, 2027

The usable window for a 60-day license sits between the review time and the license length. Our suggestion is to apply 30 to 45 days out, so a slow review still ends in time and the license outlasts the reporting deadline. DOH does not publish that window. We built it from the two figures above, and HRS §572-11(a) counts the 60 days "from the date of issuance."

Is online ordination accepted in Hawaii?

DOH does not say either way. Its guide covers "any ordained member of an organized church or religious organization" and "any person authorized by the church," and the DOH pages we read name no ordaining body, for or against. The first page of the application, which we read without submitting it, has no field for uploading proof.

Ordination does not avoid the state license or its fee. A friend with an online ordination still registers in EMRS and pays the same amounts. Anyone choosing the religious route should be ready to show a letter of authorization or an ordination certificate, the examples DOH gives, if the application goes to manual review. The civil route asks for neither.

Are there required words for a Hawaii wedding?

We found no prescribed wording. HRS §572-1(7) asks for a licensed performer and for the couple and performer to be physically present together in Hawaii, and we found no script in HRS §572-1, §572-11 to §572-13 or DOH's Marriage Performer Guidelines.

Ordination sites list two requirements: each partner's consent, such as "I do," and a pronouncement that the couple is married. We did not find either spoken element required in the sections named above. As a safe minimum, we suggest that each of you states your consent aloud and your friend then pronounces you married. That is our suggestion, not a state rule, and spoken consent does not replace the written consent a civil licensee must collect.

What does the performer do after the ceremony?

The performer must report the marriage within three business days and should do it in EMRS. HRS §572-13(b) sets the duty "to report within three business days every marriage ceremony," and DOH's Marriage Performer Guidelines ask for "electronic filing of the record within three working days."

• You two declare your names. Each of you gives the middle and last names you will use after marriage, and these "do not have to match." The guidelines call this declaration "a legal name change," and "No amendments to acceptable declared names will be allowed, except by a legal change of name." Check the spelling together before your officiant certifies.
• Your officiant certifies the record in EMRS. The EMRS home page says performers "must complete the ceremony information and certify electronically so that couples will be able to access their electronic temporary marriage/civil union certificates."
• Your officiant avoids paper if possible. A performer can send a paper worksheet to the local registrar on the island of the marriage, but "the couple will not be able to print their temporary marriage certificate."
• Your officiant uses the official place name. For a park or beach, DOH says to read the sign posted at the entrance. For a ceremony on a boat within the three-mile limit, the performer gives the best description of the location.
• Your officiant writes the date in full. The guidelines ask for "January 1, 2010," with no abbreviations, and the date cannot come before the issue date of your marriage license.
• Your officiant keeps a record. Every performer must make and preserve a record of each marriage, or face a $50 fine under HRS §572-13(a).

Civil licensees must "fulfill all provisions of sections 572-13 and 572-15." Section 572-15 requires performers to deliver their marriage records to DOH on request, when the license ends or "upon the departure from the State." The fine for breaking it is "not more than $500," according to DOH's guidelines. DOH does not explain how that applies to a friend who filed in EMRS and flew home, so your friend should ask the DOH Registration Office before leaving Hawaii.

Once the record is filed, you can move on to certified copies of your marriage certificate, and, if another country needs proof, an apostille on that certificate.

What if the performer is unlicensed or never reports?

An unlicensed performer is the serious case. The EMRS application states, "Marriages or civil unions performed by solemnizers who are not properly licensed are not valid and cannot be registered." HRS §572-11(a) makes it unlawful to perform a ceremony "without first obtaining from the department of health a license to solemnize marriages."

A missing report is easier to fix. Under HRS §572-13(b), "the parties married may provide the department of health with a notarized affidavit." The affidavit attests that you married and gives the date and place. Once DOH receives it, "the marriage shall be deemed to be valid as of the date of the solemnization of the marriage stated in the affidavit," provided the requirements of HRS §572-1 are met. If your temporary certificate never appears, contact the performer first, then DOH.

To check a professional officiant, ask for their Hawaii license number and a copy of their current license, with its end date, before you book. EMRS says approved performers receive "your approved license number and an electronic copy of your license," so a licensed performer should be able to send both.

The Find Performers list is a starting point and does not prove a license is current. It shows city, ceremony type, name, contact number and performer type, with no license numbers or expiration dates. It does list performers who can file electronically, and "Only electronically completed licenses will enable the access of electronic temporary certificate."

A performer license says nothing about the venue, so a ceremony on a beach or in a park can still need a state or county permit.

Does a performer license cover civil unions too?

Only if the performer checked that box. Applicants choose marriage, civil union or both when registering, and the two are not interchangeable. The application warns that "Civil union is NOT a marriage and performers who have this type of license only are not authorized to perform marriages." Couples entering a civil union should ask which box their performer checked. DOH will not advise on the differences between the two: its guide tells couples to seek legal advice.

Claims to ignore on other pages

Several ordination sites and wedding guides give instructions or fees that differ from the state's text. We read their Hawaii pages on November 6 and 7, 2026, and compared each claim with the statute and DOH's own pages.