A simple wedding made special

The wife and I and Susan, our witness, who made our wedding special with her violin music. 

After 7 years together, the wife and I finally tied the knot a month ago today. The wedding was small and simple just the way we wanted it, but if I had one complaint, I'd say it went way too fast. However, considering we had it at the City Clerk's Office downtown, it went much better than I'd imagined.

It was nice to find out a civil wedding in New York City actually isn't all that bad. It was a bit too institutional perhaps as expected--it seemed like we were at a bank waiting our turn (#C712)--but at least the place felt comfortable. It had clean restrooms, comfortable seating, even a flower shop and a place to take photos! I had pictured an outdated space with bare walls common to many government buildings, so I was pleasantly surprised. In addition, they were quite organized. It must not have been more than half an hour from the time we checked in with our witness to the ceremony itself. I expected a much, much longer waiting time.

If you have decided on a civil wedding in NYC, I would recommend the following:

1. Stop by before the day of to check out the place. We didn't do this, so the whole thing was a surprise. Thankfully, a pleasant one. Still, I think it would have been nice to have had an idea.
2. Change and get ready before you check in. The process goes by quickly once you are given a number. We were in fact able to do this as we arrived about 30 minutes before our witness, so we were able to sit and relax a bit.
3. Hire or assign a designated photographer to record everything. We didn't do this. Thankfully, my wife's friend's husband took a couple of shots and a really nice video of our ceremony. Thanks, Huseyin!

In the end, despite the bare minimal simplicity of our wedding, it ended up being quite special. Thanks in large part to Susan, my wife's friend from school aka the New York City Violinist--you've probably seen her playing around town. Everything just worked out for us. We were the last couple in our officiant's group. He was nice and laid back and even suggested that Susan play through the short ceremony--not just in the beginning and the end. My wife, who plays the piano herself and who picked the two pieces Susan played, beamed when we learned we were allowed to have violin music. The violin definitely made the day for us, made my beautiful wife happy, and made our simple, generic wedding special. Thanks, Susan! 

Watching Huseyin set up the sheet-music stand while Susan gets her violin ready.

We were #C712. The whole process went rather fast. 

Having lunch at Siggy's in NoHo after the ceremony.