NYC Mayor Surprises 6 Couples at City Hall Weddings

Imagine racing through 10-degree weather to grab your forgotten marriage license, making it back just in time for your wedding, and then the mayor walks in to officiate your ceremony.

That's exactly what happened to Matthew Cruz and Molly McGhee at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau last Thursday. The couple, together for 12 years since meeting at a poetry reading in Vermont, barely caught their breath before Mayor Zohran Mamdani offered to marry them.

"Are you kidding me?" McGhee responded when she heard the news.

The couple said yes, though Cruz admits his hands shook so much it took 45 seconds to get their rings out. They weren't the only ones surprised that morning.

Mayor Mamdani showed up unannounced to officiate weddings for six couples who had scheduled routine Thursday morning appointments. The visit marked almost exactly one year since his own wedding at the same office, a first for a sitting New York City mayor.

City Clerk Michael McSweeney, who has held his position since 2009, said he couldn't recall another mayor getting married at City Hall or officiating public weddings there. The couples weren't handpicked or given advance notice.

Each pair was simply asked if they wanted the mayor to perform their ceremony. "All of the couples were somewhere between happy and thrilled," McSweeney said.

Emily Grimmius and Muhammad Saleem had expected government paperwork, not star power. The lawyer from Washington and California and the startup founder from Pakistan met through Columbia University friends and bonded over their love of food.

"There is nothing predictable, and that's the beauty of the city," Saleem said about their New York love story getting an unexpected New York twist.

Michael and Minji Tzeng, who met on Hinge in 2019, chose the Manhattan location for its photogenic backdrop. They got more than pretty pictures when Mayor Mamdani complimented Michael's striped tie and mentioned he owned the same one.

After their ceremony, the newlyweds made ramen in their Upper East Side apartment and texted friends wedding photos. "They were like, Wait, is this real? Are you sure it's not A.I.?" Minji Tzeng recalled.

Sunny's Take

What makes this story shine isn't just the mayoral cameo. It's that Mamdani kept each ceremony focused on the couples, correctly using Cruz's they/them pronouns and making personal connections without stealing the spotlight.

McGhee, who had supported Mamdani's mayoral campaign, summed it up perfectly: "I love that the mayor was there, but I'll be honest, my focus was not on him." After their ceremony, she and Cruz rode the subway to Bryant Park with family, took photos at the New York Public Library, and celebrated with a seafood tower.

The mayor's office kept the visit quiet until Valentine's Day weekend, when they released a video celebrating the occasion. "I think it's the best of New York," Mamdani said in the footage, noting the diversity of ages, stories, and lives coming together at City Hall.

Six ordinary Thursday morning appointments became wedding stories these couples will tell for a lifetime.