*Paging Rev. April* NY State Marriage License...Where?

Long Island is a tough situation. The problematic part is that yes, NYC will allow a ULC minister to get registered in NYC. Will it fly in LI?

I'd add 'paging Rev. April" in your title or contacting her directly at ww.churchofancientways.com.

As you know, I always feel a pro is the way to go, but when there are ambiguous legalities on top of all the other issues....

I have not had any luck with getting a straight answer from any clerk in NY state as to who is legal, who is not and which town has approval over that.

Lots of information in this thread

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/ordained-online-suffolk-county-long-island/80bcf5c9a03b3aa9.html

Good afternoon!

The license is a statewide license. So you can get it anywhere and be married anywhere in the state of New York. However that doesn't help with your situation.

NYC changed their laws in 2006 to make it legal for online officiants to marry people within the 5 boroughs. The wording is to where the ceremony physically takes place, not where the license was issued.

May 15th, 2017, legislation was put before Albany to make ULC and other online officiants able to get a single event permit for $75. to make the ceremonies they do legally binding. It didn't pass and the local town halls are not issuing the permits. The very fact that they were trying to make it legal, isn't something that would happen if it were already legal.

However, nobody checks anything while processing the license and issuing the Certificate of Marriage. So even if you filled it out yourself, with Lois Lane as officiant and Clark Kent as witness, you'd still get a Certificate of Marriage from the State.

There's more on the past and current court cases, along with the liabilities on my web site.

http://www.churchofancientways.org/articles/validity-online-ordinations-long-island/

Now while I am a proponent of hiring a professional, there is a way around it that might work for you. Since you live in NYC, let your friend register with the city, and let them sign the license to legally marry you IN NYC, some time before you do the public ceremony on Shelter Island.

Hope this helps!