Have you ever walked by your local City Hall and spotted a just-married couple, all dazed and giggly? It’s such a rush, stumbling into the joy of total strangers. Last month, photographer Christine Han and I swung by Manhattan’s City Hall to chat with New York’s newest newlyweds…
Eleni and Byron
How did you first get together?
Eleni: We’ve been a couple for two and a half years, but we’ve known each other for 24 years.
Byron: We met as teenagers while crossing the street — just a chance encounter on a summer afternoon in Queens. This smiling 15-year-old made her way over and said hi.
What happened next?
Eleni: We lost touch, then met again in college through mutual friends, then life happened and we didn’t see each other again for a long time. We both got married to other people, then those marriages dissolved. Now we got a second chance at love.
Victoria and Alex
How did you choose City Hall for your wedding?
Victoria: My parents got married here. I’m a New Yorker, and Alex is too now, so it feels like a special place.
What do you enjoy about being her partner?
Alex: Seeing her smile and making her laugh — it’s the highlight of my life.
James and Chase
What did you do for your first date?
James: We met at business school in Boston, and our first date was at a place called The Beehive. When we got up at the end, the whole tablecloth fell onto the ground and everything else with it. We survived that.
Chase: Then ended up closing the bar. It was perfect.
Francisco and Ashley
When did you first cross paths?
Francisco: We were in the same first-grade classroom.
No way! How long have you been together?
Both: Fourteen years.
When did you decide to get married?
Ashley: A long time ago, but we just, you know — we have two kids! Life!
Daphne (left) and Jennifer
What do you love about each other?
Jennifer: Her patience, her empathy, her care. I lose my shit all the time — I’m the fiery one — and she keeps me calm.
Daphne: And I love her energy and life. We’ve been together for nine years. She proposed in 2023, and I proposed in 2024.
Tell me about these gorgeous outfits.
Daphne: My suit is Good American. My family works in fashion, so they designed the cape to add to my outfit.
Jennifer: Bloomingdale’s!
Teri and Jacobus
How did you meet?
Teri: It was a Monday night in 2018. I don’t usually go out on Mondays, but my friend Jack kept texting me to come out and meet his friend Jacobus.
Jacobus: We were all hanging out, eating burgers, playing pool. Then at some point, the two of us left and walked over to Tompkins Square Park. We sat on a bench and talked for three hours.
Teri: I went home and called my sister and said, ‘The most incredible thing just happened!’ It was so amazing to meet someone I could just talk to for hours.
Jacoubus: Nothing’s really changed since then. And here we are.
What makes you good partners?
Teri: He thinks about things very differently than I do, and his perspective can flip my ideas about life upside down, in a scary-but-nice way.
Jacobus: We do see things differently, but honestly, I wouldn’t want it any other way. If we had the same perspective, I’d be losing out on so much.
Hillary and Ben
How did you propose?
Ben: We were in Switzerland, on a trip to celebrate our tenth anniversary.
Hillary: I figured it was going to happen on that trip, because we’d been dating for so long, but I had no idea what day. So, in the moment, I really was surprised!
What do you love about each other?
Hillary: He always supports me, and loves me so much.
Ben: She lets me see the good in things — not just in her, but in everything.
Congratulations! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful days with us. And just for fun, how about this shot of our new mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rama Duwaji, from their own City Hall wedding?
P.S. More City Hall weddings:
* 4 City Hall weddings from 2023
* 7 City Hall weddings from 2019
* A San Francisco City Hall wedding (followed by a hike!)
* A sweet couple who got married with their toddler in tow
* And a friend who tied the knot in overalls
(Mamdani-Duwaji wedding photos by Kara McCurdy. All other photos by Christine Han for Cup of Jo.)
