Loft receptions in Birmingham, live oaks in Mobile and a Gulf Shores beach ceremony that has to dodge hurricane season. Real Alabama weddings, filed with the vendor list and the budget attached.
Alabama stopped issuing marriage licenses in 2019. You now sign a certificate in front of a notary, and no ceremony is legally required at all.
Alabama is among the least expensive states in the country and has the lowest cost per guest of any state. It is also the only state that has abolished the marriage license entirely, replacing it with a document you sign and file.
Four markets carry most of the state and they are not interchangeable. A Huntsville wedding and a Gulf Shores weekend are different budgets, different guest lists and different weather problems.
The deepest vendor pool in the state. Garden and loft receptions around Avondale and Mountain Brook, and the shortest drive for most Alabama guests.
Growing fastest, and the guest list is usually half out of town. Hotel blocks go early around graduation and Space Camp weeks.
Live oaks, Spanish moss and the oldest Mardi Gras in the country, which takes January through early March off the calendar.
Beach ceremonies need a permit, and the hurricane window runs June to November. Get the weather clause in the contract, not the email.
Three things that decide more here than the color palette does.
July and August stay humid well into the evening across the whole state. Most couples move an outdoor ceremony to late afternoon or take a shoulder month instead. October and April are the busiest weekends for a reason.
Birmingham-Shuttlesworth is the main airport, but plenty of out-of-town guests fly into Atlanta and drive two and a half hours. Put that on the wedding website before anyone books the wrong flight.
Historic downtown buildings and country clubs in the metros, farms and barns within an hour of them, beach houses on the coast. Each carries a different rule on outside catering and who can pour the alcohol.
Since 29 August 2019, Alabama has not issued marriage licenses. The process is now a form rather than a permission.
How marriage works now
What that means in practice
Photographers, venues, florists and the people who keep the day running, filed by market so you are not scrolling past Gulf Shores and Orange Beach listings when the wedding is in Birmingham. Every listing names what it costs and what it does not include.
Real weddings, fashion and planning filed under Alabama, newest first. Every story carries the vendor credits and the numbers the couple actually spent.
No. Alabama stopped issuing marriage licenses in August 2019. You complete an Alabama Marriage Certificate form, sign it in front of a notary, and file it with a probate office.
Not legally. No officiant, ceremony or witnesses are required. You can still hold any ceremony you like; the law simply does not require one.
Between about $17,000 and $22,000 in 2026, among the least expensive states in the country and the lowest cost per guest of any state.
A recording fee applies and varies by county, commonly in the $70 to $90 range. Confirm the current figure with the probate office.
Nearby: Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee. Or start with wedding venues and photographers.
We publish real weddings with the full vendor list and the real budget attached, from Birmingham to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Photographers and planners can claim a directory listing at the same time.