Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Manhattan Marriage Bureau Gets Ready to Move
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 5, 2008
Modified Oct 5, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 5, 2008
Modified Oct 5, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Photograph of the Municipal Building by dietrich on Flickr
While the Manhattan Marriage Bureau occupies space in that glorious wedding cake of a building--the Municipal Building designed by McKim, Mead & White--the bureau itself is pretty dingy, and is getting ready to move to a new space, one with marble floors and columns, chandeliers and even a seating area! The NY Times visited the bureau recently, observing 51 weddings (shortest: 48 seconds; longest: 2 minutes, 32 seconds) and speaking with one city employee who has performed thousands of weddings:
Walter Curtis can find a wealth of vivid memories: The bride who showed up in a princess costume one Halloween. The 126 couples who came before him over the course of a single Valentine’s Day. The former Balkans freedom fighter who, when instructed to kiss the bride, turned and planted a smooch on Mr. Curtis’s cheek.
He has a harder time finding anything colorful to say about the setting: a warren of offices on the second floor of the Municipal Building, its hallways lined with cracked tile floors, fading yellow walls and dim fluorescent lighting, where city employees like him have been giving true love a brief, secular send-off since 1916.
“I love my job,” said Mr. Curtis, who is in charge of the marriage records room, as he rested his large frame on a creaky chair in the bureau’s conference room. “But I don’t think I’ll miss anything about this place.”
The move, announced last fall, from cramped 1 Centre Street to the 5,000-square foot space at 80 Centre Street (at Worth) means that Mayor Bloomberg and the city tourism officials will get to market NYC as a wedding destination, more like Las Vegas. And the space is being decorated by Bloomberg's personal decorator, Jamie Drake who has also decorated the mayor's Upper East Side town house. But it won't have the graffiti wall.
The Times has a slideshow of some couples who got married--one bride seems to be Shandi Sullivan, the former America's Next Top Model contestant.
Tagged
city hall wedding
Manhattan Marriage Bureau
marriage bureau
Municipal Building
wedding
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Mamdani names re-entry specialist as chair of Rikers oversight board
Christopher Watler will help the department that a federal monitor says remains in crisis.
By
Ryan Kost
Published Oct 6, 2026 at 3:52 p.m. ET
NYC weighs expanding upstate reservoir following drought
The Delaware River Basin Commission is evaluating options to increase water storage, including expanding a reservoir in New York City.
By
Rosemary Misdary
News
NYC weighs expanding upstate reservoir following drought
The Delaware River Basin Commission is evaluating options to increase water storage, including expanding a reservoir in New York City.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Legionella found in Staten Island building's water system after 2 positive cases
By
Catalina Gonella
Legal 'loophole' helps NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, Bruce Blakeman raise millions
By
Jon Campbell
Police identify 2 men wanted for stabbing an off-duty NYPD officer
By
Ben Feuerherd
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .