Smith County marriage licenses are handled by the County Clerk

A Smith County marriage license starts at 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 300, in Tyler, at the County Clerk's office, the same place that holds the county's vital records and the rest of its official public documents.

You apply in person, though you can fill the application out at home and carry it in. The Clerk keeps more than the standard formal license on hand, too: there are separate forms for an informal (common-law) marriage, for corrections, for an absent applicant, and for waiving the waiting period.

That waiting period is what tends to push a wedding date around, and the license expires after a set window besides. Wait too long after you pick it up and you're applying again. The waiting and expiration days, the hours, and the fee all sit with the Clerk, so settle those with the office before you set a ceremony in stone.