It's kinda a permission thing but not really. When I got married it was just like registering a birth. The city clerk took our information down (name, address, etc.) and had us sign the license under oath that it was accurate. Then the civil officiant just checked our IDs and signed off on the license that we agreed to be married and submitted it the the clerk. We then went back to the clerk to get a copy. The city clerk wouldn't have gave us our license if we showed up without ID or if we were like 12 or something but there really wasn't an "approval" process.