Civil Ceremony questions

Good morning everybody,
I am getting married this year. We decided to go for the civil ceremony first and the religious one about a year later.
So my question is...how does the civil ceremony work? Is it really a 5-minute thing in a cold office where people have to get in line? Or do they also have some decoration, chair for family/friends (12-14 total)?
Does anyone have pictures from the NY city hall ceremony willing to share?

I need help :(

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Posted by mimmelit

Good morning everybody,
I am getting married this year. We decided to go for the civil ceremony first and the religious one about a year later.
So my question is...how does the civil ceremony work? Is it really a 5-minute thing in a cold office where people have to get in line? Or do they also have some decoration, chair for family/friends (12-14 total)?
Does anyone have pictures from the NY city hall ceremony willing to share?

I need help :(

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hi
i would FM carolinep24 - her and her DH just got married at city hall in a civil ceremony. if you are going to town or city hall, it will likely just be in a room with the official marrying you. if you want witnesses , that's fine, but i wouldn't expect any type of fanfare or decorations & chairs. they keep it simple & no frills since, well it is a civil ceremony in a public office.

there's nothing wrong with it being civil and then later on getting married big!

When we went to pick up our marriage licence at the clerks office in manhattan there were a lot of couples getting married that day! From what we could see, it's a very simple room, no decorations or anything. It didn't seem depressing or sad at all! DH and I actually thought it was kind of romantic! Lots of smiling, happy couples with flowers and diffirent stages of dress (wedding gowns, to jeans) walking around

Thanks for the replies so far.
When saying decorations I meant not that fancy stuff but a vase with flowers for example. Something that goes with such an occasion.

Does anyone have suggestions about where else to go within the state of NY? Maybe a small town hall is 'more appealing' and less crowded :)

It's just not a civil ceremony per se - it's part of my tradition opposed to the 'usual' American wedding. So I wanted it to be nice as well

Another option would be having an officiant come in. But then again they charge from 300 $ to ???? and I have to set up decoration/the place....

any ideas?

I'll be completely honest... I've witnessed two wedding ceremonies at City Hall; my brother's and the other was my friend's wedding.

Basically you go one day to pay for and get your marriage license. Then you have to wait at least 24 hours to come back to get married at City Hall (or elsewhere).

When you go back, you basically sit in a big room (or in the hallway - some people wait there) until they call your name. When my brother got married, there were no type of decorations at all (month was August). When my friend got married, right after Thanksgiving, they had a Christmas tree and some garlands decorating the waiting room.

The room you actually get married in is not very big. There's an 'officiant' who basically asks each of you if you agree to marry the other and a couple of other things, then you sign the marriage certificate and wa la! You're married. My brother's ceremony took 60-90 SECONDS. My friend's ceremony took about 45 seconds because they didn't exchange rings (they had a religious ceremony months later which they consider their real wedding so they didn't want to exchange rings at their civil ceremony, although they could have if they wanted to). The process, once you're IN the ceremony room, is VERRRRRRRRY quick and not very personal at all.

For my friend's wedding, I was the only witness. For my brother's wedding, there were about 4 of us with them, so 6 total. I really wouldn't bring much more than that - waiting area space is sorta limited if there are a lot of couples waiting.

HTH!