The Tamesis
Although it was a snowy, cold winter in New York City, the day was pleasant with temperatures reaching 40 degrees, and the couple, their families, and Charlotte’s best friend Jay, who served as witnesses, arrived early at City Hall. The bride carried a bouquet designed by her friend, floral designer Sean Stronger. “I gave him almost no instructions — just ‘red, pink and ribbon’ — and what he brought felt less like a bouquet and more like a sculpture,” she said. “The red ribbon tied to the Lunar New Year in a subtle but intentional way.” Also on hand to document the day was photographer Erin Michele Johnson, who captured Charlotte’s sister’s wedding as well as several of the couple’s events. “The only thing that would have made the day better was if our brothers and sisters were there, but like most adults, they couldn’t take off right away,” the pair added.
What’s a big hurdle in their plans? The couple was unaware that New York law requires you to obtain your marriage license 24 hours before the ceremony. “When the clerk found out we didn’t have a marriage license, she told us very nonchalantly, ‘You’re not getting married today.’ You can imagine the look on everyone’s face,” Maxwell shared. “After about 60 seconds of silence, somehow our mother said something that finally made the clerk come around.” The clerk handed me a Post-it note with ‘Exception Please’ written on it in Crayola marker and said silently and confidently, ‘Give this to them, they’ll know. ‘At this point, what else can we do but go to a judge and hope they don’t laugh me out of their room because I handed them a sticky note written in Crayola? After long conversations, vows, and numerous answers as to why we didn’t have a marriage license – my initial response was ‘this is our first time’ which didn’t get any laughs from the clerk – we got our approval! “
Initially, the family planned to have lunch at Lucien’s after the celebration, toast at Charlotte’s gallery space, and finally have dinner at The Ned. Instead, plans changed and Lucien became their intermediate dining spot before returning to court. For the couple, the location was a meaningful choice. “We both have been going there for years, long before we met. We would always sit at the bar after gallery openings or at the end of a long night, meet people, and stay longer than we planned,” the bride shared. “At 12:15 on a Tuesday afternoon, we were basically the only ones in the restaurant, which made it feel more intimate.”
On the way back to the courthouse, the two families took a detour through Chinatown to celebrate the New Year. “The air was thick with smoke, the streets were covered with confetti and there was constant noise – firecrackers going off, drums beating, people shouting. The feeling was thick and vibrant,” recalls Charlotte. “We were chasing the lion dancers, lighting the confetti we had just picked up, and trying not to lose each other or our families in the crowd. At one point, I was holding our papers in one hand and the confetti in the other, which felt like a very accurate representation of the day. No one around us knew what was going on—we were just experiencing this larger celebration and were about to get into something so personal.”
