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Can You Get Married in Space Aboard a Blue Origin SubOrbital Rocket?

Published Friday, Jul. 25th, 2025

Are weddings in space the next big trend? Learn if you can get legally married aboard a rocket, where to apply for a marriage license, and what a space wedding might look like.

Stylized illustration of a couple riding a rocket in space with earth in the distance — (Photo: CSA-Images / iStock)

Can You Get Legally Married in Space? What to Know About Space Wedding Laws & Logistics

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AMM Audio Articles · Can You Get Married in Space Aboard a Blue Origin SubOrbital Rocket?

Let’s say you have an extra $60 million laying around and want to get married during an 11 minute wedding ceremony in space. You and your partner pull on your shiny blue body suits and strap into Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, ready to take your love to the next level with a suborbital celebration.

As you reenter Earth’s atmosphere, however, you start to wonder: Did you need a marriage license for your destination wedding in space – and where the heck would you even apply? And will your space marriage be legal? Should you have asked a friend to officiate your wedding here on Earth instead, and saved that $60 million for charity?

Well, big spender, we’re here to answer these important questions and more.

Crew member pose for a photo aboard a New Shepard rocket

Could this be you and your wedding crew? Maybe! (Photo taken on the day of the launch of flight 'NS-21' inside its capsule, together with the mission team: Filipe Rabelo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

1. Can you get married aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket in space?

No. Blue Origin does not currently allow wedding ceremonies aboard its rockets during flight. Although the New Shepard rockets can hold six people – plenty of people to serve as wedding witnesses and officiant – and provide enough flight time for a short wedding ceremony, it’s not really set up for this kind of use yet.

Just give it time though, we’re sure this will happen sooner rather than later.

2. Would a wedding aboard a space rocket be legal? What would that look like?

Maybe. Whether or not a wedding in space would be legal depends on several factors, including where the license was obtained, whether one or both partners were in space at the time, and who performed it. But it has actually been done before, so there’s a precedent to consider!

The first wedding in space actually occurred back in 2003, when Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko married Ekaterina Dmitrievaa, a U.S. citizen, while still aboard the International Space Station. Dmitrievva was figuratively over the moon, but physically in Houston during the ceremony – at NASA headquarters to be exact.

The unusual space wedding stirred up controversy amongst Russian officials, who were against it, but the couple went through with it anyway. Under Texas’s proxy marriage laws, the couple was able to obtain a marriage license and say “I do,” with Yuri more than 250 miles away.

In theory, that approach could still work today, as long as one partner was here on Earth. In that case, a proxy marriage ceremony could be performed in states that allow them, with the distant partner tuning in as a guest from space. An easy way to save $30 million, too!

Another possibility might be a remote wedding ceremony performed by a qualified officiant here on Earth. Potentially, both partners could exchange their vows in space with the help of a Utah wedding officiant, using the state’s fully online marriage system. (This hasn't been tested in court yet, but based on Utah’s remote marriage laws, a space-based Zoom wedding could fly, legally speaking.)

Of course, if space flights become as advanced and accessible as international flights and cruise ships are, weddings in space would quickly evolve too. If that happens, countries will probably develop a standard process for getting married in space. Or they might ask couples to complete their marriage paperwork in their home country before taking flight, just like couples who plan a cruise ship wedding do!

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3. Would a marriage solemnized in space be legally recognized everywhere?

Maybe. If all other marriage laws are followed, it’s likely that a marriage solemnized in space would be legally recognized elsewhere. However, same-sex marriages performed in space would only be recognized in countries where same-sex marriage is legalized.

For example, if a couple applied for a Utah marriage license and held a remote wedding ceremony during a suborbital flight, with the help of a Utah officiant, that marriage would probably be legal in Utah and abroad – just like other marriages performed using Utah’s online marriage portal.

But a same-sex marriage would not be legally recognized in China, Iran, and other countries with same-sex marriage bans – regardless of where the couple is standing (or floating) at the time of the ceremony.

4. Where do you apply for a marriage license for a space wedding?

It depends. While we’re still in the speculation phase, the cruise ship wedding model is helpful in understanding how this process might look: the simplest way to have a wedding in space would be to complete your marriage paperwork at home with an officiant before heading to orbit.

Once aboard the flight, you and your officiant can hold a symbolic (nonlegal) ceremony, having already registered your marriage with your home state in the traditional way.

As an alternative, you might apply for a marriage license in a state that allows marriage by proxy, and have one partner stay on Earth for the ceremony. If you time it right, you could exchange vows with your partner's proxy just as your partner zooms overhead. But we recommend you check with your county clerk on the specifics – this is still up in the air until space weddings start trending.

As a last possibility, you may want to apply for a Utah marriage license, and hold a remote wedding ceremony with the help of a Utah wedding officiant. Thanks to Utah’s tech savvy marriage system, couples can apply for a license, take their vows, and register their license with the county all online – from anywhere in the world. (And maybe from anywhere above it, too!)

Learn more: How to Get Married in an Online Wedding Ceremony in Utah

5. How close are we to seeing a space wedding trend?

Closer than ever. We’re closer than ever before to seeing couples get married in space. It might even happen in your lifetime.

For now, space flight is reserved for talented astronauts and the ultrawealthy. But space travel for ordinary people might not be that far off. A couple years ago, AMM wrote about rumors of a space hotel slated to open in 2027: Would You Perform a Wedding in Space?

The space hotel is projected to hold almost 400 people – the perfect size for a full-frills space tourism wedding – but its construction has faced delays. The company behind the concept, Orbital Assembly, has rebranded as Above Space, and is still working toward the goal of accessible space stations. Although it’s unlikely to meet the 2027 deadline, the possibility of an in-orbit hotel moves closer to becoming a reality every day.

When that happens, we’ll probably see a rush to wed in space!