Here at Wed in Central Park we can take care of almost everything you need to get married in New York’s beautiful Central Park, but there’s just one thing the couples have to do themselves. We’ve been planning weddings since 2012 and we’ve married hundreds of couples since then! In New York State it is mandatory that a couple collects their marriage license themselves, together from the City Clerk’s Office.
A New York State marriage license is valid for a maximum of sixty days. The minimum time you must wait between getting the license and getting married is twenty-four hours. A marriage license issued in New York can be used anywhere within New York State but may not be used outside New York State.
There is a City Clerk’s Office in each borough but the overwhelming majority of our couples go to the office in Manhattan. There’s one in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. Many of the couples that we plan weddings for are visiting New York City, so they tend to go to the one in Manhattan, which is at 141 Worth Street, but you can check addresses of them all on the City Clerk’s website.
All of the City Clerk’s Offices are open Monday through Friday, with slightly varying hours, the Manhattan office is open 8:30am to 3:45pm. The offices are closed on legal holidays, and they update a list of those here.
At the time of writing, you must make an appointment online to get your license. I’ve written a step by step guide of how to book your appointment to collect your marriage license from the City Clerk’s Office in New York City. Check it out here, and please email me with any questions about it all.
So, you make your appointment online, and when the time comes the two of you must go to pick up the license together. The license application is an affidavit. When you sign the affidavit, you are making a sworn statement that there are no legal impediments to the marriage. Before you sign – check for any errors!
The fee for a Marriage License is $35 by credit card or money order payable to the City Clerk. You need to take your passports with you to prove that you are who you say you are. If either of you have been married before, you need to take proof of final divorce of proof or death of your previous spouse. You will be required to provide information regarding all previous marriages. So, any and all divorces, annulments, and dissolutions must be finalized before you can apply for the marriage license. You walk out with the license, and 24 hours later, you can get married!
During the planning process, I will remind couples several times that they need to bring the license with them to the ceremony. When the ceremony is completed, and you’ve said “I do” and you’ve exchanged rings and then been pronounced married, you are not in fact married until you sign the license! So, the couple will sign that with the officiant and either one or two witnesses. There is space on the license for two witnesses, but you’re only legally required to have one.
All of our officiants are New York state registered and are eligible to solemnize marriage ceremonies under New York state law. After the ceremony, couples usually leave the license with the officiant, they photograph it for our records and then mail it back to City Hall on the couple’s behalf. They then register the marriage and send the marriage certificate in the mail to the couple’s home address (which they will have given them when they collected the license). It takes around 6-8 weeks for the certificate to arrive. If you prefer, perhaps you don’t want to wait for the certificate, then you can take the completed license back to City Hal in person, then you can walk out with the marriage certificate. You must make an appointment for this.
If you would like me to do the rest for you when it comes to your Central Park wedding or elopement, please visit our website. Check out our reviews on Wedding Wire and Google, too. Keep updated with our news and see lots of beautiful photos, follow us on Facebook, or Instagram or Pinterest.
At Wed in Central Park, we can handle everything else that you need to get married – we can help you to choose the location that’s right for you, book the officiant, photographer and anyone else that you need there on the day (flowers, video, music, hair and makeup, that sort of thing) and write a unique ceremony just for you. Getting the license is the responsibility of the couple, though, and this is a legal requirement. If you have any questions on this, I can help, so please email me for advice.
