In New York City, local couples exchanged vows and celebrated Valentine’s Day at City Hall, an alternate to traditional weddings. With city clerks wearing red hearts and pink flowers adorning counters, marriages were performed every 30 minutes after 10 a.m. The heart-themed nuptials differed from the usual ceremonies by including guests marching in honor of “love’s holy tide.” Nonetheless, couples participating in the celebration reported enjoying the intimacy of having a judge and a few loved ones present, despite the absence of a traditional ceremony or religious affiliation. Hannah Friedman and Jason Tate, both Ivy League graduates, were optimistic about expanding their family with three children and a chihuahua. Also, film editor Ben Mc Carthy and Freddy Keith, a journalist occupied with a young digital company, showed exceptional love and devotedness through keeping calm during the newspaper strike in 2007, despite Mc Carthy moving to California for work. The attire. Couples swung from traditional to casual, with one bride opting for a bright Valentines red orientation over her traditional blue Gucci perfectionism. All in all, the Valentine’s Day weddings at City Hall provide a unique experience that brings the little-known fact to the forefront that weddings do not have to entail high prices and grandeur. While the key attraction is undoubtedly tying the knot in a formal setting, as evidenced by Jessica and Linc defending all costs of their City Hall celebration, others will choose this alternative, like Steve and Justina Canty, whose wedding band fund consisted of iTunes downloads. Furthermore, happy couples are overt, with several opting for marriage on Feb. 14, despite the notion that it is only a commercial concoction. All in all, after legal same-sex marriage, New York City’s marriages have more closely aligned themselves with holiday traditions. In regards to Valentine’s Day, all love stories have endings, whether the couple ends up with a heart-shaped cake and a card inscribed “February 14, 2005,” or a prince, a white horse, and the promise of grapes every day. Either way, the couples at City Hall walked off the premises clutching each other’s hands, continuing long practices of communion and lifelong love.
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