Town adds marriage officer to meet demand

Requests for licenses and ceremonies have surged, especially among out-of-towners, amid the pandemic.

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. » The Town Board has appointed Deputy Clerk Michele Sehwerert, a self-described romantic, as a town marriage officer to help meet the demand for marriage license requests and officiate over civil ceremonies.

During a videoconference board meeting Tuesday, Sehwerert said Woodstock has one of the few town clerk’s offices in New York state that have issued marriage licenses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“New York City has ... stopped issuing licenses [in person] through the end of the year,” she said. “This has caused a large influx in our office, [with] people coming from Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Westchester.”

The website of the New York City Clerk’s Office says the city Marriage Bureau is closed until further notice but that licenses remain available through an online service called Project Cupid (nyc. gov/Cupid), which uses videoconferencing for appointments.

Woodstock Supervisor Bill McKenna said the town has become a “destination for people who want marriage licenses because they know they can get them here and nowhere else.”

Sehwerert said her office has issued 52 marriage licenses this year compared with an average of 40 annually over the past three years.

Town Clerk Jackie Early, in a written statement, said couples are grateful to have a location where licenses are available and are willing to stay an extra day if the wedding can be conducted locally.

“When people travel 2 to 4 hours, they’re anxious also to get married after the 24-hour wait period,” Early wrote.

Sehwerert said after the board meeting that there are only two entities that can certify as a town clerk as a marriage officer: the Universalist Church and the Town Board.

Town officials said either of the town’s justices can perform weddings but might not have Sehwerert’s flexibility.

“Something just sparked inside of me that I felt this was something that I could do,” Sehwerert said. “A lot of people said I have the personality to do it, and I’m also like a lost romantic. I just think I could bring something special to these couples’ ceremonies.”

No stipend would be paid to Sehwerert to conduct ceremonies, though a fee of $75 to $100 could be charged for the service, town officials said.