Couples saying ‘I do’ to Utah County’s first-of-its-kind online marriage portal
Jonathan Nellemann and Amanda Weigle kiss during their digital marriage-license ceremony officiated by the Utah County Clerk and Auditor, Amelia Powers Gardner, on Friday, April 17, 2020, at the couple’s home in Park City. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Amanda Weigle puts a wedding ring on her husband-to-be, Jonathan Nellemann during their digital marriage-license ceremony officiated by the Utah County Clerk and Auditor, Amelia Powers Gardner, on Friday, April 17, 2020, at the couple’s home in Park City. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Jonathan Nellemann and Amanda Weigle greet their neighbors, Alex and Kassie Deckard and their daughter, Josie, 3, who stood by at a distance to support them for their digital marriage-license ceremony on Friday, April 17, 2020, at the couple’s home in Park City. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Jonathan Nellemann kisses his bride-to-be, Amanda Weigle, as she figures out their computer’s video chat before their digital marriage-license ceremony officiated by the Utah County Clerk and Auditor Amelia Powers Gardner on Friday, April 17, 2020, at the couple’s home in Park City. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Jonathan Nellemann and Amanda Weigle kiss after their digital marriage-license ceremony officiated by the Utah County Clerk and Auditor, Amelia Powers Gardner, on Friday, April 17, 2020, at the couple’s home in Park City. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Jonathan Nellemann and Amanda Weigle kiss during their digital marriage-license ceremony officiated by the Utah County Clerk and Auditor, Amelia Powers Gardner, on Friday, April 17, 2020, at the couple’s home in Park City. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Utah County is operating the only online marriage license portal in the world, and in addition, the county’s clerk auditor just released information about performing marriage ceremonies via web conferences.
When Utah County Clerk Auditor Amelia Powers Gardner took office in January 2019, she asked each of her departments to look into what needs existed within each jurisdiction and how her office could help meet that need. Each department raised concerns about marriage licenses.
During peak times, she said, officers were inundated with marriage license applications, sometimes to the point of creating a two-hour wait for a license. Gardner said these times are usually during spring or when schools are out for break.
With all of the challenges surrounding marriage licenses — including the county being overwhelmed and understaffed — Gardner said her first thought was to integrate technology into the process.
“When I ran for office, I told everybody I wanted to implement technology to help make things more efficient,” she said. “I made a platform of bringing the county into the 21st century and using technology to be more efficient.”
The county moved forward with plans to create a never-done-before marriage license portal that could be completely accomplished online with the goal of making the process more efficient and more cost effective.
By creating the portal, Utah County became the first in the world to have an end-to-end marriage license and certificate process.
“We really had to build the entire system,” Gardner said. “There wasn’t really one single vendor we could go to or a blueprint that we could have.”
The county began the project in February 2019 by sitting down with its information technology and marriage license staffs and discussing what an all-encompassing portal might look like.
It took county officials about eight months to launch the first phase of the online marriage license process before the completed program debuted in December.
“We have a really fantastic IT department here in the county,” Gardner said. “With us having Silicon Slopes here in the county and with us having two major universities, we really have a very well-educated and incredibly talented population. We as a government entity reap the benefits of that.”
In the first four days of April, including one Saturday, the county issued 257 marriage licenses and 150 of them were issued online.
The entire process cost the county about $50,000. Gardner said her office is expecting marriage license fees paid by couples to more than pay for the development of the program used to issue online marriage licenses and certificates.
“We will make more revenue on marriage licenses than it cost us to create the portal,” she said.
Additional funds gathered through the system are expected to be set aside as a net savings for the taxpayers of Utah County, Gardner said.
Since the pandemic began in early March, the National Association of Counties and county clerks in other states — such as Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee — have reached out to Gardner, interested in the unique process.
Gardner also has received calls from other county clerks in the state asking to license with Utah County to provide online marriage licenses and certificates. Gardner said the system hasn’t advanced quite that far, but officials are looking into the potential of hosting other counties’ marriage license portals.
People haven’t needed a service like this in the past because the county clerk auditors’ offices held the power and were unwilling to change, she said.
“When you’re getting married, you need a marriage license, and people are going to get married,” Gardner said. “People jumped through hoops to get married. It’s not like it’s an option for them.”
There was never a need to innovate because the system worked, but now there is an increasing need based on public health and safety.
When Gardner came into office, she also re-introduced county officials performing wedding ceremonies, which Utah County had stopped doing. The officials conducting these ceremonies are all over the age of 60, and when Gardner received news about the coronavirus pandemic, she knew she had to do something to protect her staff.
“Especially when I saw the news that the (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) temples were closing, I knew there was going to be a large part of our citizens who were just devastated because they had a wedding planned,” she said. “I wanted a way that we could step in and give them the opportunity to get married, but I also needed to protect my staff who are in this high-risk category.”
Rather than inviting groups of people into the Utah County Clerk Auditor’s offices, Gardner and her team developed a system of inviting couples to be married via web conferencing. It’s the same ceremony the county has offered since 2019, she said, but in a way that protects employees and couples.
Once social distancing recommendations have been lifted, Gardner said the office is planning to re-evaluate the process and is considering continuing to offer online marriage ceremonies even after the pandemic is over.
As long as the couple is getting married in Utah, a marriage license can be obtained from any county in the state. In fact, Gardner said, with over 60% of the work by the Utah County Clerk Auditor’s Office being done online, a majority of that work is done for couples outside of the county.
In the midst of the pandemic, several counties ceased issuing marriage licenses and have opted to link to the Utah County Clerk Auditor’s website, urging potential newlyweds to obtain their marriage licenses online in Utah County.
Cities are also stepping up to offer marriage and funeral ceremonies in a safe manner. American Fork Mayor Brad Frost announced its city hall will be available to host remote wedding and funeral services at no cost to residents and their families.
The city is offering use of its virtual conferencing technologies to allow friends and families to participate virtually from the safety of their homes.
“We are simply leveraging the space we can’t use right now and the technology we have to use during this pandemic,” Frost said in a statement. “With churches, temples and other facilities closed, this is our way to help those that may not have any other options.”
For each service, families can have up to 10 people physically present at city hall during the ceremony. City staff will set up a camera, microphone, screen and speakers so others can participate from their homes.
These services will only be offered while social distancing recommendations are in place. Residents looking for a space to host a wedding or funeral can call (801) 763-3000 or visit afcity.org/cityhall to schedule an event.
