New Yorkers in love can finally say “I do” starting next week when the city’s Marriage Bureau reopens for in-person weddings.
The bureau will start accepting appointment applications on Monday, July 19, ahead of reopening for services on Friday, July 23, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.
“Weddings are back, wedding bureau is back, we’re coming back,” Hizzoner said at his daily press briefing. “And love is in the air.”
The Marriage Bureau, part of the City Clerk’s office, provides marriage licenses and performs civil ceremonies for couples tying the knot. It closed last year along with the rest of the city at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been closed ever since. In the interim, the city launched Project Cupid, which allows couples to obtain marriage licenses and have a ceremony virtually, though virtual ceremonies are not being performed anymore according to the Marriage Bureau’s website.
Even as much of the city has reopened, the Marriage Bureau had remained closed for in-person services. Wedding honchos told the Wall Street Journal last month that the bureau was still shuttered because hugging and kissing, the opposite of social distancing, are par for the course for their visitors.
“A lot of folks were waiting for this moment, a lot of folks have been waiting to get married,” de Blasio said. “I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to who have said, ‘we were planning on getting married, we can’t wait to get married.’ Now, it’s time.”
There are five marriage bureau locations, one in each borough, all open during business hours on weekdays. Couples can apply for a marriage license online at the City Clerk’s website.
