Getting Married in NYC: A Guide to All Five City Clerk Offices
- Jun 1
- 16 min read
Updated: Jul 9
Most couples planning a City Hall wedding in New York City know about two options: Manhattan and Brooklyn. What almost nobody realizes is that New York City has five City Clerk offices — one in every borough — and each one offers the exact same legal ceremony for the same $25 fee.
The process is identical everywhere. The atmosphere, the architecture, the neighborhoods surrounding each office, and what's available to you afterward, that's where the differences become genuinely interesting and can be tailored to who you are and what you love doing.
As a boutique NYC wedding photographer with over 15 years of experience documenting City Hall weddings across every borough, I've been inside all five. Here's a comprehensive guide — what each one actually looks like, what the photography situation is, and what to do with the rest of your day.
Table of Contents
The Basics of Getting Married in NYC: What's the Same at Every Office
Before the borough-by-borough breakdown, a few things that apply everywhere:
Marriage license: $35, applied for at cityclerk.nyc.gov. Both partners must appear together.
Waiting period: 24 hours after the license is issued before you can legally marry.
The ceremony: $25, about two minutes. A clerk reads a standard script. No personal vows, no music, no processional. You sign the certificate and walk out married!
Appointments: Open three weeks out, released every Monday at 9am EST. Manhattan Friday slots go fastest. Queens and the Bronx tend to have more availability.
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30am–4:00pm across all five offices, with a lunch break in between (11:45-1:00pm)
For a complete step-by-step walkthrough of the marriage license process and what to expect on the day, see our complete guide to getting married in NYC.
Who can come with you
Every City Clerk office allows the couple plus up to four attendees, and your witness counts as one of those four. Your photographer counts as one as well, which is worth planning around if you are bringing parents or close friends. Children twelve and under may be permitted in addition to the four, though this is left to the clerk's discretion on the day rather than guaranteed in advance.
You need exactly one witness, they must be eighteen or older, and they must bring valid photo identification. If it is only the two of you, your photographer can sign as your witness — I have done this for many couples, and it is one of the small ways a City Hall wedding stays simple without feeling thin.
If your guest list is larger than four, the answer is not to squeeze everyone in. It is to let the ceremony be small and plan the celebration around it. Everyone can wait outside, and the moment you walk out married, with a group of people you love standing on the steps waiting for you, is one of my favorite photographs to make at any of the five offices.
If One of You is Not a US Citizen
There is no citizenship requirement and no residency requirement to get married in New York City. You do not need a green card, a visa of any particular type, or a New York address. Couples fly in from other countries to marry at these offices every week, and the process is the same one everyone else follows.
What does change is the paperwork afterward. If you need your marriage recognized in another country, that country may require an apostille, a certification that authenticates the document for international use. Requirements vary depending on where you need the marriage recognized, so confirm with that country's consulate rather than assuming. The steps for requesting the extended-form certificate and having it authenticated are covered in my NYC City Hall wedding guide, and the City Clerk's marriage records page has the current fees.
One practical note from having photographed many international couples: if you need the apostille process started, handle it while you are still in New York. Doing it from abroad after you have flown home is significantly slower.
The Five City Clerk Offices at a Glance
Borough | Address | Hours | Cameras inside |
Manhattan | 141 Worth Street | 8:30am–3:45pm | Yes |
Brooklyn | 210 Joralemon Street, 2nd Floor, Room 205 | 8:30am–4:00pm | Yes |
Queens | 120-55 Queens Boulevard, Ground Floor, Room G-100, Kew Gardens | 8:30am–4:00pm | Yes |
Staten Island | 10 Richmond Terrace, 3rd Floor, Room 311 | 8:30am–4:00pm | Yes |
The Bronx | 851 Grand Concourse, Room B131 | 8:30am–4:00pm | No |
Addresses, hours, room numbers, and camera rules for all five NYC City Clerk offices. Please note: the hours above are the published opening hours, and they do not reflect the midday closure. All five offices pause between 11:45am and 1:00pm, so no ceremonies or appointments happen in that window. This is not stated on the City Clerk's hours listing, and it catches people who booked around the posted times by surprise.
Booking in the Right Order
The license and the ceremony are two separate appointments, and they have to be booked in that order. You complete the online marriage license application first, which generates a confirmation number. That confirmation number is what lets you book a ceremony slot: without it, the ceremony booking page has nothing to attach to.
Start the license application before you go looking at ceremony dates, even if your license appointment is weeks out. You do not need the license in hand to book the ceremony; you need the confirmation number.
Appointment slots release three weeks ahead, every Monday at 9am EST. Manhattan Fridays disappear within minutes. If a Manhattan Friday is the whole point for you, be logged in and waiting at 8:59 am. If it is not, the four other offices will still have availability days later, and Queens or Staten Island will likely have it weeks later.
Manhattan — 141 Worth Street, Civic Center
The atmosphere: The most purpose-built of the five — Manhattan's Marriage Bureau is designed specifically for weddings, and it shows. The iconic green curved sofas in the waiting room, the cheesy (in the best way) city hall photo backdrop, the souvenir stand with flowers and champagne, the two distinct ceremony rooms (one in blue with pink florals, one in pink with pastel stripes). There's an energy here that comes from dozens of couples all getting married in the same building on the same morning — strangers nodding at each other in the waiting room, sharing the particular joy of the moment.
Photography inside: Yes, and it photographs well. The ceremony rooms have decent light and character. The waiting room — those green sofas with couples in wedding attire — is one of the most documentary City Hall photographs you could get.
Photography outside: The surrounding Civic Center neighborhood is the richest photography environment of any of the five offices. The Municipal Building's soaring stone arcade is a three-minute walk. Foley Square and the Supreme Court columns are directly outside. Staple Street in Tribeca — a hidden cast-iron skybridge alley — is five minutes west. The South Street Seaport waterfront is ten minutes on foot. No other borough office gives you this density of photogenic locations within immediate walking distance.
Appointment availability: The busiest of the five. Book the moment slots open on Monday mornings, especially for Fridays.
After the ceremony: Lower Manhattan is yours — see our NYC City Hall wedding timeline guide for exactly how to build 1, 2, or 4 hours around the ceremony.
📍 141 Worth Street, Manhattan | Subway: 4/5/6 to Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall, A/C to Chambers Street
Brooklyn — 210 Joralemon Street, Room 205, Brooklyn Heights
The atmosphere: Quieter, more intimate, and more government-office in feel than Manhattan — there's no souvenir stand, no dedicated photo backdrop, no ceremony-room color scheme. What it has instead is a calmer energy. Fewer couples, a more personal feeling, and a staff that tends to be slightly more relaxed about the whole thing. The ceremony room is gorgeous, and the highlight of this building, with stained colorful glass.
Photography inside: Once in the waiting area, the space is more functional than atmospheric, but still documentable with the right photographer. The intimacy of the space produces very genuine photos. The ceremony room and the rest of the building have still an art deco touch like the rest of the City Clerks.
Photography outside: Brooklyn Heights is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the city, and it's right outside the door. The Promenade — with its mile-long elevated walkway and direct view of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge across the water — is a ten-minute walk. DUMBO's cobblestone streets and Manhattan Bridge arch are fifteen minutes away. The surrounding brownstone streets of Brooklyn Heights photograph beautifully in every season.
Appointment availability: Easier to book than Manhattan, especially for midweek dates.
After the ceremony: The Promenade, DUMBO, the Brooklyn Bridge waterfront. For a full comparison of Manhattan vs Brooklyn — including which is better for different kinds of days — see our Manhattan vs Brooklyn City Hall guide, and some inspirations on where to take photos in Brooklyn after your wedding too.
📍 210 Joralemon Street, Room 205, Brooklyn | Subway: 2/3/4/5 to Borough Hall, R to Court Street
Queens — 120-55 Queens Boulevard, Ground Floor, Room G-100, Kew Gardens
The atmosphere: Honest answer: it has the energy of a DMV office. The waiting area is functional, the space is shared with other government services, and the ceremony room is no-frills. But here's the thing — there's something genuinely fun about it. The couples who choose Queens tend to be local, relaxed, and completely unbothered by ceremony, which creates a candid, documentary energy that actually photographs beautifully in its own way. It's the least performative of the five offices.
Photography inside: Professional photography equipment is generally permitted, though the environment is less controlled than Manhattan. The DMV-adjacent atmosphere is actually charming in a documentary sense — it's real, it's unglamorous, and the joy of the couples in the midst of it is all the more genuine for the surroundings.
Photography outside: This is where Queens surprises people. The Queens Borough Hall complex has an incredible garden immediately outside — one of the most overlooked wedding photography locations in the borough. The subway photography around Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike station is excellent, and the E and F lines from here connect you quickly to Jackson Heights, Flushing, Long Island City, or anywhere you want to go next.
Appointment availability: Significantly more available than Manhattan or Brooklyn. Good option if you're planning on shorter notice or want a specific date without the Monday-morning scramble.
After the ceremony: The city is yours — hop on the subway and head to Long Island City's Gantry Plaza State Park for the best midtown skyline view in Queens, or head into Manhattan from here in under 30 minutes.
📍 120-55 Queens Boulevard, Ground Floor, Room G-100, Kew Gardens | Subway: E/F to Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike
Staten Island — 10 Richmond Terrace, Room 311, St. George
The atmosphere: A genuinely beautiful building in the Borough Hall complex, with a lovely exterior area that photographs better than most people expect. The office itself is intimate and quiet — Staten Island has the smallest population of the five boroughs, and it shows in the ceremony experience. There's a personal, unhurried quality to a Staten Island City Hall wedding that's hard to replicate at the busier Manhattan office.
Photography inside: Permitted and workable. The building has more character than Queens or the Bronx inside, and the exterior of Borough Hall is genuinely photogenic — classical architecture, wide steps, and the harbor visible in the distance.
Photography outside: The exterior area around Borough Hall is beautiful and underused as a portrait location. But the real reason to choose Staten Island for your City Hall wedding is what comes immediately after: the Staten Island Ferry. Free, runs every 30 minutes, and gives you unobstructed views of the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan skyline from the water — one of the most cinematic ferry rides in the world, and it's entirely free. A couple in wedding attire on the ferry deck with the Statue of Liberty behind them is one of the most uniquely New York photographs that exists. Do not skip this.
Appointment availability: The easiest of the five to book. Rarely fills up even on Fridays.
After the ceremony: Take the ferry back to Manhattan and continue your day — or explore St. George, Staten Island's walkable waterfront neighborhood, before heading back.
📍 10 Richmond Terrace, Room 311, St. George, Staten Island | Ferry: Staten Island Ferry from Whitehall Terminal, Manhattan (free)
The Bronx — 851 Grand Concourse, Room B131, Concourse
The atmosphere: Here's I have to be completely honest, and then immediately tell you why it doesn't matter. The Bronx City Clerk's office does not allow professional photography equipment inside the building. Many opinions tell you one or the other, but I went there personally because I wanted to confirm this firsthand. What we also know is that it's not the wand, it's the wizard: an iPhone in the right hands captures the moment just as genuinely as anything else, and the moment is what you're there for. Yes, these photos below were taken on an iPhone!
Photography inside: iPhone only for the ceremony itself. The documentary quality of those photographs, unpolished, immediate, real — actually has its own kind of beauty. These City Hall ceremony photographs from the Bronx exist because of the constraint and forcing us to get more creative with the tools we have!
Photography outside: The Bronx County Building at 851 Grand Concourse is one of the most extraordinary courthouse buildings in the entire city. A monumental landmark of limestone and marble that blends modern and classical forms, raised on a granite podium between two parks — Joyce Kilmer Park to the north, Franz Sigel Park to the south. The exterior — the six-columned portico, the pink marble sculpture groups, the scale of the Grand Concourse facade — is genuinely breathtaking and almost completely unused as a wedding portrait location.
Directly across Grand Concourse lies Joyce Kilmer Park, and just a 0.2-mile walk west across the 161st Street Bridge brings you to the gates of Yankee Stadium. For couples with a connection to the Bronx, to baseball, or who simply want something completely unexpected — a portrait in front of the courthouse, a walk through the park, and then a photograph outside Yankee Stadium is one of the most distinctly Bronx wedding days imaginable.
Appointment availability: Generally easier to book than Manhattan or Brooklyn.
After the ceremony: The Grand Concourse is one of New York's great architectural boulevards — a mile of Art Deco apartment buildings that rivals anything in Manhattan. Walk it, photograph it, and then take the 4/B/D train anywhere.
📍 851 Grand Concourse, Room B131, Concourse, The Bronx | Subway: 4/B/D to 161st Street–Yankee Stadium
Which Borough Should You Choose?
Choose Manhattan if: You want the most iconic experience, the richest immediate photography environment, and you're planning a full Manhattan day after.
Choose Brooklyn if: You want something quieter and more personal, you love Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO, or you simply want the City Hall experience with a Brooklyn feel.
Choose Queens if: You're local to Queens, you want the easiest appointment availability, or you want something genuinely unbothered.
Choose Staten Island if: The ferry is non-negotiable for you (it should be), you want the most intimate and unhurried experience, or you're coming from Staten Island or New Jersey and want the shortest journey.
Choose the Bronx if: You have a connection to the borough, you want the most unexpected and architecturally extraordinary exterior portraits, or you simply want something completely different from what every other City Hall wedding guide suggests.
There is no wrong answer. The $25 fee and the two-minute ceremony are the same everywhere. What differs is the story, and each borough tells a different one.
How Many Hours of Photography You Actually Need
The ceremony is two minutes. That number surprises people, and it is the reason coverage length has almost nothing to do with the ceremony itself (or the time you'll wait for it to happen, since time in the building is usually 40-60 minutes for the whole process) and everything to do with what you want around it. You can read a bit more about how many hours of photography you actually need and some ideas on how to spend the time on your City Hall wedding day, but here is a short version of it:
One hour covers arrival, the waiting room, the ceremony, and portraits immediately outside the building. This works if the ceremony is the whole plan and you are heading to lunch afterward on your own. It is the most common choice at Queens and Staten Island, where the process moves a bit more quickly.
Two hours adds a walk and portraits. After the ceremony, we leave the block and photograph somewhere with more character: the Brooklyn Heights Promenade after a Joralemon Street wedding, or the Municipal Building's arcade and the streets around Foley Square after Manhattan. Two hours is the coverage length I recommend most often, because it is the point where the day starts to feel like a wedding day rather than an errand, and we can spend some time together capturing a "just married" atmosphere and portraits!
Four hours or more gives you a real day. Getting ready, the ceremony, a proper portrait session, and a celebratory meal, or a few more favorite locations. Couples who are treating City Hall as their wedding rather than their paperwork usually land here: their first date spot, or seeing a family member, popping into their favorite museum: the possibilities are truly endless, and the final wedding photos end up telling a sweet story of your love.
What You Walk Out With
At all five offices, the civil ceremony ends with a marriage certificate in your hands the same day. There is no waiting for the mail, and no follow-up appointment. That is one of the advantages of marrying at the City Clerk rather than with a private officiant, where the signed license goes back to the office and the certificate arrives a few weeks later.
If you need an additional certified copy, or a certificate valid for use in another country, you can request it same day while you're at the City Clerk office. I have written a full walkthrough of ordering a copy of your NYC marriage certificate, including current fees and the apostille steps. If you ask at the check in window at your office, they will be able to assist you!
Frequently Asked Questions about Getting Married in New York City
Can you get married at any NYC City Clerk office, or do you have to go to your borough?
You can get married at any of the five NYC City Clerk offices regardless of where you live. There is no residency requirement for the borough you choose. Many couples choose Manhattan or Brooklyn even if they live in Queens or Staten Island.
Which NYC City Clerk office is easiest to get an appointment at?
Queens and Staten Island consistently have the most appointment availability. Manhattan, particularly on Fridays, is the hardest to book. Appointments open three weeks out on Mondays at 9am EST across all five offices.
Can you have professional photography at all five NYC City Clerk offices?
Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island all permit professional photography during the ceremony. The Bronx office does not allow professional camera equipment inside the building; however, iPhone photography is permitted, and the exterior of the building is extraordinary for portraits.
Is the Staten Island Ferry free?
Yes: completely free, runs every 30 minutes, and provides unobstructed views of the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan skyline from the water. It is one of the best free experiences in New York City and an essential part of a Staten Island City Hall wedding day.
How long does a City Hall wedding take at any of the five offices?
The ceremony itself takes about two minutes. Total time inside the building — including check-in, waiting, and paperwork — is typically 40–60 minutes. For a detailed breakdown of how to plan 1, 2, or 4 hours of photography coverage around any City Hall wedding, see our NYC City Hall wedding timeline guide.
Do you have to get married in the borough where you live?
No. Any couple can marry at any of the five NYC City Clerk offices, regardless of where they live or whether they live in New York at all.
Which NYC City Clerk office has the most appointment availability?
Queens and Staten Island are the easiest to book. Manhattan is the hardest, and Manhattan Fridays are the hardest slots of all. Appointments are released three weeks ahead, every Monday at 9am EST, through Project Cupid. Pro tip: login and be ready at 8-8.30 AM EST, as sometimes times go live a little earlier and this will give you a huge advantage!
Do you need an appointment at the NYC City Clerk's office?
Yes. Walk-in visits are not permitted at any of the five offices for any service. You need a confirmed appointment and a confirmation email before you show up. Marriage ceremonies must be booked as in-person appointments; the marriage license appointment can be done either in person or virtually.
How many witnesses do you need to get married in New York?
One. Your witness must be at least eighteen and must present valid photo identification. If you are marrying just the two of you, your photographer (me!) can serve as your witness.
Can you bring a professional photographer into City Clerk office?
Four of the five City Clerk offices, yes. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island all allow professional cameras inside during and after the ceremony. The Bronx does not: professional cameras are not permitted inside the building, though phones are, and the exterior is spectacular enough that I would still photograph a wedding there without hesitation.
Do you say your own vows at a courthouse wedding?
No. The clerk reads a standard civil script, and it takes about two minutes. There is no processional, no music, and no space in the ceremony for personal vows. Couples who want to read vows to each other usually do it privately before or after, on the steps, in a park nearby, or over dinner that evening. Here are some ideas for locations!
Do you exchange rings at a courthouse wedding?
Rings are optional. If you want to exchange them during the ceremony, tell the clerk before you begin (even though they usually ask it themselves). If you are skipping rings entirely, that is completely fine and nobody will comment on it.
Can you get married in NYC if you are not a US citizen?
Yes. There is no citizenship requirement and no residency requirement. You will follow the same Project Cupid process as everyone else, bringing valid photo identification such as a passport. If your marriage needs to be recognized in another country, you may need an apostille afterward — check with that country's consulate for their specific requirements.
How much does it cost to get married in NYC?
The legal minimum is $70: a $35 marriage license plus a $35 ceremony fee at the City Clerk's office, payable by credit card or money order. Cash is not accepted. Everything beyond that (photography, flowers, a dress, dinner) is entirely your choice.
How long does a City Hall wedding take from start to finish?
The ceremony runs about two minutes. Plan on 30 to 60 minutes inside the building once you account for security, check-in, waiting for your number, and paperwork. Manhattan on a Friday can push past that. Staten Island on a Tuesday can be done in twenty minutes.
All The Feels by Mucci has photographed City Hall weddings at all five NYC borough offices. If you're planning your ceremony and want photographs that feel as real as the moment — regardless of which borough you choose — come say hello. ♥