civil marriage ceremony How many witnesses can we bring to marriage at City Clerk's Office

[gomes + MF 3]

Hello all,

My fiance is arriving tomorrow (YAY!) and we are aiming on doing the civil marriage procedure ASAP (online application to license -> marriage license -> at least 24 hours -> civil marriage ceremony at City Clerk's Office).

It is stated that we must have at least 2 witnesses during the ceremony.

Our question is: how many witnesses can we have in there?

I have been inviting many of close and special friends, yet I am not sure what is physically allowed and can't find this information anywhere.

If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know!

 

PS If you have been through the civil marriage ceremony at City Clerk's office, please feel free to share helpful tips we might need/may not have considered!

 

Thanks!

 

[Randyandyuni 2,682]

I think it depends on where/how they do it, I've seen as few as 2 witnesses as many as 30, I would ask the court what they consider enough

[Bfree3 132]

Call the court to see how many you are allowed. We had 2 only but the ceremony was in a private little room with about 20 chairs.

[TM92 527]

25 minutes ago, gomes + MF said:

I have been inviting many of close and special friends, yet I am not sure what is physically allowed and can't find this information anywhere.

I found this info from 2014 about the space inside Manhattan City Clerk’s Office Marriage Bureau, https://apracticalwedding.com/get-married-new-york-city-hall/:

Quote

I'm not aware of any strict guest limit imposed by the bureau, but the waiting area can get crowded on busy days and the chapels are not large rooms. I’ve had a group of twenty people go through with no problems; if you’re starting to get toward thirty people I would suggest considering other options.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,078]

The number of guests you can bring (as opposed to any required legal witnesses) is going to be dependent on the exact location you're going to. You may want to look around a bit for the county clerk's office (or equivalent) that best suits your needs.

 

I know here in San Diego county, each office that does civil weddings has a different capacity (though none could hold 30 people; the largest lists an official capacity of 25), and only downtown has an outdoor wedding area, but they discourage you from marrying downtown due to limited parking. So we may well end up getting married in another county, because the county clerk's office has an outdoor area and it's about the same driving time as downtown from my place.

[sremlif 51]

43 minutes ago, gomes + MF said:

Hello all,

My fiance is arriving tomorrow (YAY!) and we are aiming on doing the civil marriage procedure ASAP (online application to license -> marriage license -> at least 24 hours -> civil marriage ceremony at City Clerk's Office).

It is stated that we must have at least 2 witnesses during the ceremony.

Our question is: how many witnesses can we have in there?

I have been inviting many of close and special friends, yet I am not sure what is physically allowed and can't find this information anywhere.

If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know!

 

PS If you have been through the civil marriage ceremony at City Clerk's office, please feel free to share helpful tips we might need/may not have considered!

 

Thanks!

 

My fiancée and I are planning to marry at the Manhattan City Clerks office and when we applied for our licence last week we asked about limits for witnesses and were told by the staff member assisting us that "there is no limit". A somewhat ambiguous response, as I'm sure there would be an issue if we showed up with 100 people! However, most of the parties that were there had 10-15 witnesses with them so I'd say that seems like a sensible amount.

Edited August 20, 2018 by sremlif

[Ann&James 179]

2 hours ago, gomes + MF said:

Hello all,

My fiance is arriving tomorrow (YAY!) and we are aiming on doing the civil marriage procedure ASAP (online application to license -> marriage license -> at least 24 hours -> civil marriage ceremony at City Clerk's Office).

It is stated that we must have at least 2 witnesses during the ceremony.

Our question is: how many witnesses can we have in there?

I have been inviting many of close and special friends, yet I am not sure what is physically allowed and can't find this information anywhere.

If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know!

 

PS If you have been through the civil marriage ceremony at City Clerk's office, please feel free to share helpful tips we might need/may not have considered!

 

Thanks!

 

Everything depends on what county you're getting married in. It is wise to call and find out the restrictions before making plans. I got married in Brooklyn and had only one witness, a friend of mine got married in Queens and had one witness as well. Some days of the week is more busy than others so prepare to be there for at least a couple of hours. Congratulations.

[Going through 5,668]

I did the civil marriage in Queens...there was no limit to witnesses, we only had 3.  Picture taking was not allowed indoors, however there were several business-minded people offering to take (what they called "professional") photos outdoors for a nominal fee.  

 

If you're doing it in Queens, be prepared to arrive early and line up outside.

[JFH 12,189]

*~*~*moved from "K-1 fiancé visa progress reports" to "moving to America"*~*~*

[Diane and Chris 651]

We called and made an appointment. It took us about 10 days to get in. They placed a limit of 4 witnesses. We had 2. It was at a county clerk’s office in Georgia. Congratulations to you two!  🎉

[TNJ17 1,329]

You’re confusing witnesses with guests. You can have as many guests as it will fit there but you only need 2 people to sign for you. The courthouse we had ours looked like it would fit 20-30 people. 

[ajay007 43]

20 hours ago, gomes + MF said:

Hello all,

My fiance is arriving tomorrow (YAY!) and we are aiming on doing the civil marriage procedure ASAP (online application to license -> marriage license -> at least 24 hours -> civil marriage ceremony at City Clerk's Office).

It is stated that we must have at least 2 witnesses during the ceremony.

Our question is: how many witnesses can we have in there?

I have been inviting many of close and special friends, yet I am not sure what is physically allowed and can't find this information anywhere.

If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know!

 

PS If you have been through the civil marriage ceremony at City Clerk's office, please feel free to share helpful tips we might need/may not have considered!

 

Thanks!

 

At least 2 witnesses required.

[felipeTAYA 18]

Witnesses are not people attending the civil ceremony, rather, are two individuals that can attest/testify that you got married. When they say "two witnesses" they are talking about the legal requirement for that locality. 

[Timefliesby_not 4]

21 hours ago, gomes + MF said:

Hello all,

My fiance is arriving tomorrow (YAY!) and we are aiming on doing the civil marriage procedure ASAP (online application to license -> marriage license -> at least 24 hours -> civil marriage ceremony at City Clerk's Office).

It is stated that we must have at least 2 witnesses during the ceremony.

Our question is: how many witnesses can we have in there?

I have been inviting many of close and special friends, yet I am not sure what is physically allowed and can't find this information anywhere.

If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know!

 

PS If you have been through the civil marriage ceremony at City Clerk's office, please feel free to share helpful tips we might need/may not have considered!

 

Thanks!

 

I got married this May at the City Clerk’s Office in Downtown Manhattan. We actually only needed one witness who actually needed to sign some papers. Otherwise, you can bring as many people to attend the ceremony, as you like. The small chapels where they do the ceremonies can easily fit like 30 people.

If you want to have the ceremony at the City Clerk’s Office in Downtown Manhattan please be aware of that this place is a zoo. Everything is on a first come first serve basis. We needed over 2.5h just to pick up the marriage license. We got married on a Friday and were told that we should arrive early because people who show up later during the day might have to wait a long time or even might not be processed on that day.

[gomes + MF 3]

Thank you everyone for the quick responses! We got our marriage license last Thursday at the Brooklyn City Clerk office, and will go through the ceremony tomorrow at the same office.

 

@Timefliesby_not and @Going through how long did the ceremony itself last, apart from the pre-waiting time?

And must all guests be with us during the entire waiting time, if there is one?

Just wondering if it would be smart for us, the marrying couple, to arrive at the City Clerk 30-60 min before the guests in case there is a waiting time.

 

Thank you!