Eloping to Vegas? Why Not Lower Manhattan?

FERNANDA SANTOS The New York Times 01/07/2009 20:56

Someone plopped an iPod into a docking station and strains of Vivaldi filled the room as the couple strode in — she in a white minidress and peep-toe shoes; he in black slacks, maroon shirt and an ivory rose clipped to his collar. “This place is really lavish,” said the bride, Jennifer Avila, 22, taking in the chandeliers, bronze counters and shiny marble columns. “It’s really romantic to me,” said the groom, Carlos Sanchez, 27.

Those words were rarely used to describe the old Manhattan Marriage Bureau, a cramped space with cracked tile floors and plastic chairs in the Municipal Building across from City Hall.

But, with revenues tight and tourist dollars desperately needed, the Bloomberg administration has created a 24,000-square-foot wedding palace, in the hope of increasing the number of couples who marry at the city clerk’s office.

“We want to be the wedding destination of the world,” said First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris.

Mary Altaffer/Associated Press - Jennifer Avila, 22, and Carlos Sanchez, 27, the first to wed at Manhattan’s new Marriage Bureau.

And it’s not just the $25 wedding fee the city is selling. Forget the wedding band? No problem. The new bureau offers an elastic faux-diamond band for $9. No flowers? They are available as well — $4 to $7 for a single stem and $25 to $50 for a bridal bouquet. There is also hairspray ($4), disposable digital cameras ($16.25) and tissues, at $1.75 a pack, for the weepy types.