The honeymoon is over for couples who want to have Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert perform their wedding for free, as the town will begin imposing a fee of up to $200 later this year for the mayor to officiate their nuptials.
Council members unveiled an ordinance this week which will establish a $50 charge for Princeton residents and a $200 charge for nonresidents to have the mayor or, in her absence, the council president do the honors at a marriage or civil union. The cost will be assessed per couple, with the lower rate applying if the bride or groom is from Princeton.
“We have been finding there are more and more wedding requests, often for people who don’t live in Princeton,” Lempert told reporters on Aug. 13 in explaining the decision to create the fee.
She said that up to now, municipal officials have asked couples to donate money and have provided them with a list of recommended “municipally related funds” like the Princeton Public Library and the Friends of Princeton Open Space.
“We don’t follow up or ask for it at any point,” council President Jenny Crumiller said at the mayor’s press conference.
The state gave towns the green light to charge for weddings in 2007, but Lempert said the issue never came up until now.
“We felt that because of time from the clerk’s office and other administrative overhead, that we should really be charging a fee for the service,” she said. “I think we felt one way about providing service for Princeton residents, but given the volume of couples where neither one of them were Princeton residents and we were providing a free service but it was costing the town our time and the clerk’s time, it just seemed like we should be charging.”
Money from the fees will go to an emergency fund in Princeton’s Human Services Department. The money can be used to provide temporary housing for residents who have been displaced in an emergency.
Lempert said she normally reserves time on Fridays to perform weddings, and that between her and Crumiller they average a wedding a week. She will not travel for ceremonies, but has performed weddings in other places around town, including one at Updike Farm, and in private homes.
She said she was the busiest performing marriages in 2013, her first year in office, right after a state Superior Court judge legalized same-sex marriage in New Jersey.
“At that point there were a lot of couples from around the state who were coming here,” she said, “because I think they wanted to be married by somebody who had been outspoken in support of the decision.”
The council was expected to introduce the ordinance at its meeting Aug. 13 and then have a public hearing and adopt the measure on Aug. 27. Based on that timeline, the charge would go into effect in September.
Asked why the community is a hotspot in which to get married, Lempert said Princeton is “a wonderful place” for newlyweds to celebrate over lunch at a local restaurant. She showed how the website datingadvice.com listed the town among its 12 “unexpectedly perfect cities to get married in,” ranked third behind Montpelier, Vt., and Newport, R.I.
“It’s a beautiful town,” the mayor said. “People like to have it on their certificate.”
