If you are planning on getting married in September, the state is encouraging you to apply for your marriage license now.

The reason is that the Office of Vital Statistics is taking its marriage license database offline for a week in September, and that will affect marriage license application processing by Kansas courts.

According to the office, the database will be offline from Sept. 8 through Sept. 13, so no data can be entered during that period.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, if a couple applies for a marriage license by Aug. 31, the couple will have a license by Sept. 7. But applications submitted after Aug. 31 will be processed after Sept. 14, when the database comes back online. A three-day waiting period is required by statute, and courts begin processing the application after the waiting period ends.

According to Office of Vital Statistics data, there were nearly 100 marriages in September in Douglas County last year.

The online marriage license application is accessible through the Kansas judicial branch website at www.kscourts.org/marriage.