Yes — and for a flat $370, often within a couple of days. Through Utah's online program you apply for a Utah marriage license over the internet (no DC presence, no residency, no travel required), hold the ceremony by live video with a licensed Utah officiant — sometimes the same day with rush service — and DC recognizes the marriage under the Full Faith and Credit Clause. In the eyes of the District it stands on exactly the same footing as a marriage solemnized down at the Moultrie Courthouse.

You can start one online. The DC Courts Marriage Bureau lets you begin the marriage license application over the internet, which is more than most jurisdictions allow. But starting the application online is not the same as getting married online — DC still requires the ceremony to be performed in person, in the District, with both partners and the officiant physically present. For a fully online wedding you use a Utah license instead, which gives you a marriage license online too.

Not on a DC license — DC law requires that both partners and the officiant all be physically present in the District of Columbia at the time of the ceremony, so a remote video ceremony does not create a valid DC marriage. This is the single most important thing DC couples miss. But you absolutely can marry by video: you do it on a Utah license — Utah permits a web-conference ceremony — and DC recognizes the resulting marriage in full.

Self-officiating is allowed in DC, where one of the two partners acts as the officiant, but it does not waive the in-person rule: the self-officiated ceremony still has to happen inside the District with both partners physically present. Self-officiating removes the need for a third-party minister; it does not make a remote ceremony legal. For a remote ceremony you need the Utah route.

A DC marriage license is $45, with no waiting period since 2015 — you can apply and marry the same day. Once issued, a DC license does not expire. By contrast, the Utah online route costs a flat $370 total and the Utah license is valid for 30 days, which is plenty of time since you marry by video almost immediately after applying.

Yes, and it's one of the most common reasons DC-area couples choose it. The two partners can be in different places — one at the Pentagon, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Fort McNair or Joint Base Andrews, the other deployed or at an embassy abroad — and still complete one legal Utah ceremony by video. The certificate qualifies for DEERS enrollment, BAH-with-dependents and TRICARE.

Yes. A Foreign Service officer at an embassy overseas can marry by video while their partner is back in DC, or both can join from different countries. The resulting US marriage certificate is recognized for State Department family benefits, federal employee benefits (FEHB, FERS, TSP) and overseas dependent travel — and it's accepted by the DC agencies and federal offices headquartered in the District.

Yes. Take it to the DC DMV for a driver-license name change or REAL ID, and the DC Office of Tax and Revenue, your insurer, your employer and DC Superior Court will all handle it as the valid marriage certificate it is. The federal side reads the same way — Social Security, the IRS, OPM, the State Department and USCIS recognize it without trouble, which is no small thing in a city where a huge share of households draw a federal paycheck.

No. DC has no residency requirement for its own license, and the Utah online route has none either. That's why the Utah route works for the District's notoriously cross-jurisdictional couples — people who live in Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda or Silver Spring but consider themselves DC.

Yes. Our service is fully inclusive. DC was an early adopter of marriage equality in 2010, and a Utah online marriage is recognized in the District for every legal purpose, exactly like a marriage performed at the Moultrie Courthouse.

Absolutely. Many couples get legally married online via Utah first, then celebrate at a DC landmark — a Georgetown rooftop, a Wharf restaurant, the National Building Museum, an embassy reception, or the Tidal Basin during cherry blossom season — with zero legal paperwork hanging over the day, because they're already married.