Orange County Clerk Recorder

I was so happy to learn about this County Clerk-​Recorder office for recording of documents! The docs are actually scanned up to the main Santa Ana office for examining and official recording; a process which took a quick 5 mins in my case! Their estimate was an approximate wait of 15 mins, and then depending on what the SA office determines — the docs are either accepted and recorded; or rejected, but then SA will let you know what is missing. Far more efficient than the Santa Ana process of depositing the documents, only to learn weeks later if info is missing or if it’s accepted!
The three person Clerk-​Recorder Ofc staff was quick to assist, super efficient and very helpful in answering questions.

This week I discovered that in Laguna Hills city hall building in the 3^rd floor you can get your passport. Fantastic!
I went today and had a great quick service and the lady who is the only one there is super nice.
I recommend this place it’s a bit small but it’s not bad. better than going to the post office for sure.

1ST of: Let me just say this to any reviewers who reported any rudeness from the staff members… I made only 2 trips to this office but withOUT exception it became VERY clear to me that the ONLY people who were treated rudely or treated ANYTHING less than completely courteous and professional were people who had been rude or nasty to their employees first. If you complained you were treated rudely here, I highly suspect that YOU were rude first because I watched MANY people get served in there and withOUT exception, the only people treated even REMOTELY rudely? They were ones who treated THEM rudely. Wow… What a concept! Expecting to be treated politely when you’re being a completely rude a-​hole! Would YOU treat someone who was being completely rude and obnoxious to YOU with calm and politeness? I suspect if you’re being honest with yourself and the rest of us here the answer is a RESOUNDING and DEAFENING:
HELL NO!
Secondly: I was here ONLY for marriage license and marriage ceremony services. Nothing else so all my comments are going to be pertaining to those services only.
Finally: Um… WOW! I felt like I’d entered the Twilight Zone BOTH times I came into this place. It was clean, organized, well kept up (might I even go so far as to say beautiful inside and out? Yes, I think I’ll go there!) But THE most, well, heck, I can’t think of another word except «disturbing»…Yes The most DISTURBING thing about the place and WHY it seems like you’ve navigated some future time travel vortex that’s either taken you hundreds of years into the future or maybe 100 or so years in the past is how these government employees ACTUALLY ACT as if they really DO work for YOU and seem to completely grasp the concept that the customers there actually PAY their paychecks and they seem to actually be GRATEFUL
Second visit for our big day (Yes, they actually have a nice little room that’s decorated tastefully with a big podium and all) We were unable to get an appointment so we were worried we moght not get in before the federal memorial day weekend! We even had a few guests that we had invited to witness and be there to share our little intimate ceremony and from start to finish, they did EVERYTHING to accommodate us and make sure they had a person ready to do the ceremony… They have robes and all standing by for the officiant to get into before starting the ceremony. They ask you before hand if you have any special requests, want to read special vows, want to do a ring exchange, etc etc etc etc! We came a little early (2:15 as we had told our friends to plan on it happening at approx 3:30PM and they told us to let THEM know when we were ready and they’d pull someone to «robe up» and go perform our ceremony.
I’m extactic to say that it went off without a hitch and we started RIGHT oh time despite the fact that they were getting ready to close on a holiday and they did everything in their power to make sure the ceremony was perfect, beautiful and started right on time. It was really amazing to see county government actually SERVING the constituents that elected them into their jobs AND doing them well without becoming complacent!
So…If you want to have a quick, easy, no hassle, no frills but simple and pretty wedding ceremony at a «Chapel-​in-​the-​Box» I HIGHLY recommend doing it at the Orange County Recorder’s office in Laguna Hills! If they don’t change anything I guarantee you won’t be satisfied!
Special thanks to our officiant and clerk who’s name I can’t recall but I would actually LOVE it if the supervisor of this office would contact me so I could give her the customer recognition she so richly deserves. Please contact me by PM and I’ll be happy to provide you my information and deliver all the kudos this county recorder employee so richly deserves for a job GREATLY well done!
Thanks for helping to make our special day even more special and come off without a hitch! We BOTH greatly appreciate it!

Went into the office to file notary renewal documents. This office is in a very convenient location. Unfortunately the staff is very rude. They sit behind their counter and turn people away from getting their business done. It has happened to me and I have seen it happen to at least 2 other people as I was sitting there. The staff and supervisor are rude and make up their own rules as they go. Needless to say I had to return to this horrible office 3 times after contacting their superiors in Santa Ana to finally get my paperwork done.

A guide to getting married here from the perspective of a friend of the couple:
I attended a wedding on 12÷13÷14, which was a VERY busy day for weddings, and this was my experience.
–First, everyone that we experienced at the office was really nice. Two thumbs up!
–The building is beautiful. This is a great location.
–While the website showed indoor weddings, the day we went was so busy that they gave the option of indoor or outdoor. If you are a friend, photographing your friends, be prepared to shoot either indoors OR outdoors.
–If it is a special date (like the day that we attended), expect a lot of people and for them to move quickly through the ceremonies. They do special Saturday events such as consecutive date day, Valentines, etc.
–The ceremony was pretty fast. I think our video showed that it was only about 3 minutes long.
–If you are attending on a busy day, take your pictures quickly after the ceremony and move on and out of the general area, out of respect for the next couple.
–Take into consideration that if you linger, you’ll end up in the background pictures of other people’s wedding photos and if you are talking, it might impede the audio portion of video for someone else’s wedding (Not cool!). Especially if you have a lot of friends/​family with you. If you are not courteous, people like me, the friend of the couple, will chase you out of the background or resort to public shaming (see the picture for this review on how not to act… or what it looks like when the bottom of your pants are so tight that they cut off the blood circulation to your brain and make you act like a pack of fools).
Tips:
–Get an appointment to guarantee a time slot. We were able to do this online while applying for the license.
–If you plan on shooting outside, mid-​day, bring a flash to back fill the lighting (to counter the harsh shadows).
–If there are people lurking in the background, crouch lower to the ground and take upshots of the couple. Less photo editing later!

Love this location. It is very clean and the ladies at the desk are very friendly. I got there a little before 9am and there was about 7 or 8 people already there waitin g. I thought it was going to take a while but i was out of there with my sons birth certificate in hand at 910am.

Deducted stars due to unfriendly (or lack of) service.
I was glad to find out that they now open on the first Saturday of each month. Walk-​ins and appointments available.
Originally applied for a marriage license online (it expires in 90 days so make sure you go in prior to it expiring) and booked an appointment as well. Ended up canceling the original appt and re-​booked after the 90-​day application deadline. I knew my application would have been expired, however, when I logged on their site, I was still able to retrieve the application so I thought I was good to go– Wrong, it was no good. More details below.
There are two lines — appointment line and non-​appointments. There were one couple ahead of us in the ‘appointment’ line and about five couples in the ‘non-​appointments’. I would say the average wait is about 5 mins per couple. When it was our turn, the friendly gentleman helping us couldn’t retrieve our info. Turned out since our application had expired, we had to re-​apply using one of their computers (there are about 4 computers in that room).
When we were done re-​applying, we got back in line (and waited about another 5 mins). We showed our IDs, were ‘sworn in’, signed the document and paid the fee — I believe was $ 31. The lady (not very friendly, she seemed like she hated her job) gave us a copy of the application in a manilla envelope to give to the Officiant (or whoever is marrying us).
Our Officiant mailed in the completed license for us. According to the website, the certificate should be ready 6 – 8 weeks.
Picked up copies of the certificate two months later. Walked in on a 3pm week day afternoon with no line. Waited at the ‘non-​appointment’ section. Three ladies were behind the counter, saw me but completely ignored me and continue to talk amongst themselves. I wanted to say «Hello!» but remained quiet. Stood there for about 3 long awkward minutes and started shifting back and forth on the heels of my foot hoping to be acknowledged. Finally, one of the ladies offered to help. When I told her I was there to pick up the certificate, she immediately directed me to the computers: «Vital Records». Huh? «You need to complete VITAL RECORDS on a computer back there». Oh, I didn’t know that. Nowhere on their websites said you were to do that. So I went back to the computer, entered my info then got back ‘in line’. There was still no line but was ignored again while the ladies continued to chit-​chat. Finally, the same lady motioned me over to her.
While the lady was helping me, a young caucasian couple walked in and were immediately greeted and helped by one of the other ladies.
During the entire time, the lady helping me almost did not speak at all, except to tell me how much the charge was and that I ‘was done’. I chose to get four copies of the certificate. Total was $ 60, $ 15 each. I quietly thanked her when she handed back my credit card and I walked off. It would at least been nice if she gave me a manilla envelope to put my certificates in! I didn’t bother to ask.
I’m not sure if these ladies need better customer service skills, hate their job, or if they’re racist. I don’t want to sound cynical, but please, when you are dealing with the public, at least acknowledge and say something along the lines of ‘thank you’ or ‘have a good rest of the day’. Geez.

It’s clean, the waits in line don’t take very long. However, you must preregister yourself on one of the computers before you wait in line. Which can be a little frustrating. Signs are posted everywhere to check in on the computer first, but many common people stand in line before reading this and waist others time. The tellers have good attitudes and are pleasant.

Great location! Came in to get a copy of my marriage certificate. Short line. Was out within 10 min. Very clean location with ample parking. Friendly staff!

Yay! We visited the OC Clerk Recorder to apply for a Marriage Licence!
There was no line, and when we were helped, the representative helping us was really sweet and congratulated us on our engagement. She was thorough and informative.
Had to pull one star because when we stood in line, we had to wait a bit for two of the employees to actually stop their conversation to direct us where to go. It’s kinda funny when you’re the only one in line and you have to wave and say «Hi! Excuse me!?»
Oh well, at least their conversation were interesting. Tia Graciella better not show up at her cousin’s house because oooooh, there’s gonna be drama!

This is the gold standard of county agencies. No line, smart staff, and easy transactions.
I recently had an amazing customer service experience here …
I was planning to order a birth certificate online through a company called VitalChek, only to find out that in doing so I would need to get some forms notarized, thus not saving me any time at all. So I called VitalChek to cancel my order and they tried to charge me anyways, ugghh!
Feeling VERY ripped off, I contacted the recorder’s office about this injustice (I also filed a complaint with the BBB) and a friendly staffer there agreed that I deserved my money back and she contacted VitalChek on my behalf and got me a full refund! YESSS, can you believe that? Amazing customer service from the county! Wow! Just WOW.
Anyways, I eventually made it to this office to get the birth certificate in person and it took all of 5 minutes. Thank you Clerk Recorder office!