I know a couple who took a quick trip to Vermont from Rhode Island for that purpose in the 1990s. Or maybe IIRC they were visiting Vermont for some other reason and found that the marriage process was so simple there they might as well tie the knot.
My parents eloped to Nevada from Utah, about a two-hour drive. Really pissed of my mother’s family.
Since the factual answer has already been provided:
In Japan you don’t need to have a license to be married and any ceremony is strictly for fun. The marriage is recognized when the couple submits the necessary paperwork to the city office.
Uncontested divorces do not require going to court. They also are recognized by submitting the necessary paperwork. However contested divorces do require going to court and can take 10 years if the “injured party” does not agree.
The US is the only country I’ve heard of having marriage licenses. Unca Google says Canada does at well (or at least some of its provinces do). Australia and the UK don’t (checked in case it was a “common law” thing).
Wiki’s article on marriage licenses confuses the issue by commingling special authorizations to perform a marriage which would otherwise be illegal, and by not including Canada but including information on three countries which do not have licenses (so why were they included? did they feel left out?).
Not needing a license appears to be the usual case.
The “marriage licence” terminology is distinctively American, but its mostly the case in common law countries that (a) you need to give official notice of your intention to marry, and (b) you’ll get documentary evidence that you have done so, and (c) you’ll need to show or give this to the celebrant who is to marry you or they won’t perform the ceremony.
There are exceptions; in England, for instance, you can marry in the Church of England without giving advance notice to the civil registrar; this no doubt is relic of the Church of England’s established status; it does on behalf of the civil authoirities in relation to processing notices of intention to marry what the civil registrar would otherwise do.
Similarly in Australia you have to complete and present a “notice of intended marriage” a month before you actually marry. You give this to your celebrant, whether civil or religious.
In Ireland you give the civil registrar 3 months notice of your intention to marry. He checks through the supporting documentation that you provide, which establishes your identity and your freedom to marry, and then isues you with a “marriage registration form”, which you and your celebrant complete when you actually marry, and you return the complete form to the registrar. You won’t find a celebrant to marry you without a marriage registration form.