Short answer. Either of the contracting parties. It is the duty of the solemnizing officer to furnish either spouse with the original marriage certificate, while sending the duplicate and triplicate copies to the local civil registrar within fifteen days, and retaining a further copy in their own file.
What the law says
It shall be the duty of the person solemnizing the marriage to furnish either of the contracting parties the original of the marriage certificate referred to in Article 6 and to send the duplicate and triplicate copies of the certificate not later than fifteen days after the marriage, to the local civil registrar of the place where the marriage was solemnized.
Family Code, Article 23 — Solemnizing Officer's Duty After the Marriage. Read the full provision →
The original goes to the couple, not the registrar
The rule places an affirmative duty on the person solemnizing the marriage to furnish either of the contracting parties the original of the marriage certificate. It does not matter which spouse actually receives it — the obligation is satisfied by giving the original to either one of them, not necessarily both spouses at once.
Couples who want their own separate additional copies later on typically rely on the version recorded with the civil registry rather than seeking out a genuine, truly actual second original.
The registrar gets separate duplicate and triplicate copies, on a deadline
Alongside handing over the original, the solemnizing officer must send the duplicate and triplicate copies of the certificate not later than fifteen days after the marriage, to the local civil registrar of the place where the marriage was solemnized. This is what gets the marriage formally recorded in the civil registry, entirely separate from the couple's own personal copy.
The certificate itself is a record of the marriage ceremony
The marriage certificate is tied directly to the ceremony described in Article 6: the couple's personal declaration before the solemnizing officer and at least two witnesses of legal age, all of whom sign the certificate along with the couple, with the solemnizing officer attesting to it. The original given to the couple is their own copy of that same signed, witnessed record of the ceremony.
The solemnizing officer keeps records too
Receipt of the transmitted copies is confirmed through proper receipts issued by the local civil registrar to the solemnizing officer. The officer also retains in his file the quadruplicate copy of the marriage certificate, the copy of the marriage certificate, the original of the marriage license and, in proper cases, the affidavit concerning a marriage solemnized somewhere other than the usual places — a paper trail beyond just what the couple and registrar each separately hold on record.
Related provisions
- Family Code, Article 23 — Solemnizing Officer's Duty After the Marriage
- Family Code, Article 6 — Marriage Ceremony; Personal Declaration