If he had ever thought about his wedding day, Vinson Cunningham would have assumed it would be in a church. But when the time came to get married, Cunningham and his fiancée, Renée Chung, didn’t want anything too big or ambitious. So they did the real New York thing: a City Hall wedding. These ceremonies do not in fact take place in City Hall, but in the Manhattan Marriage Bureau, a municipal office that feels like a gussied up D.M.V. To enter, everyone—including bridal parties in pastels and stiletto heels—has to pass through metal detectors. But once bride and groom stand before the officiant, the power of the moment takes over. For Cunningham, the generic setting and lack of trappings allowed him to see more clearly the basic, binding commitment that makes a marriage.
This segment originally aired July 27, 2018.
