New York couples can now get married via video conference

New Yorkers looking to tie the knot while the state is under lockdown now have the option of getting married via video conference. During his daily coronavirus briefing, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday he is issuing an executive order that will allow clerks to perform marriage services over video conferencing software.

Cuomo also stated couples in the state will now be able to obtain marriage licenses remotely.

As CBS New York reports, the executive order temporarily suspends a provision of the law that requires in-person visits.

The announcement was met with considerable push back, however. “The action that has caused me the most amount of grief is what I said about marriages,” Cuomo said during his Sunday presser. “I said yesterday no one has any excuses anymore.”

“You lose your possible wedding excuses. There’s no excuses anymore. I got all sorts of bad ugly comments with that,” he added.

Prior to Cuomo’s announcement, many marriage bureaus were closed or unable to issue licenses in the state.