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Summary
- Amish couples need a marriage license like any other couple; Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana, home to almost 60 percent of the Amish, make no exception for any religious group.
- The Amish do not swear oaths, following Matthew 5:34–37, James 5:12 and article 15 of the Dordrecht Confession.
- Indiana’s marriage law lets applicants who object on religious grounds skip the oath or affirmation, but a member of the Old Amish Mennonite church needs the bishop’s signed statement that the application is true.
- Ohio accepts a birth or baptismal record as proof of age, so applicants do not need a driver’s license.
- An Amish bishop performs the wedding, and Pennsylvania and Ohio law recognize a marriage made by a religious society according to its own rules.
- The vows come at the end of a long worship service with preaching from the Old Testament and the Book of Tobit, and Amish couples exchange no rings.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the King James Version (Matthew 5:34, 37; James 5:12). Tobit 7, Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition.
- Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College, “Amish Population Profile, 2026.” https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/amish-population-profile-2026/
- Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, Title 23, § 1301 (“Marriage license required”) and § 1503 (“Persons qualified to solemnize marriages”). https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?txtType=HTM&ttl=23&div=0&chpt=13 and https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?txtType=HTM&ttl=23&div=0&chpt=15
- Ohio Revised Code § 3101.05, “Application for marriage license” (effective March 20, 2025). https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-3101.05
- Ohio Revised Code § 3101.08, “Who may solemnize marriages.” https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-3101.08
- Indiana Code § 31-11-4-4, “Application; sexually transmitted diseases acknowledgment; religious objections,” 2025 Indiana Code, Title 31. https://iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/31
- “Dordrecht Confession of Faith (Mennonite, 1632),” article 15, Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Dordrecht_Confession_of_Faith_(Mennonite,_1632)
- Ernst H. Correll, Harold S. Bender and others, “Marriage,” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (1957 article and 1990 update). https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Marriage
- “Inside a modern Amish wedding,” LancasterOnline, 2016, reporting research by Karen M. Johnson-Weiner. https://lancasteronline.com/features/inside-a-modern-amish-wedding/article_58e041f4-0251-11e6-b853-f7a0ad7af8cb.html
- Amish America, “Do Amish Wear Wedding Rings?” https://amishamerica.com/do-amish-wear-wedding-rings/
