NYC Institutes Marriage Lottery For Sunday

There's a long list of places where it helps to have a reservation: hotels, fancy restaurants and the hair salon.

Now add Borough Hall to that list. 

This morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced a lottery system for couples looking to reserve a spot at the city's five Marriage bureaus, to make history as .

"The record-breaking number of couples registering to marry shows how popular—and right—passing marriage equality was," said Brian Ellner, senior strategist at Human Rights Campaign, a LGBT advocacy group. "The lottery is a good compromise."

The lottery will be open to same-sex and opposite-sex couples. A total of 764 couples will be selected to hold a guarantee that their ceremonies will be performed at five City Clerk offices located in each borough on Sunday.

In Queens, the ceremonies will take place at Borough Hall on Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens. There are a total of 112 slots slated for couples in Queens, the same as in Brooklyn.

While reservations were encouraged, all couples with valid marriage licenses and a waiver of the state-required 24 hour waiting period will be allowed to marry.

Couples wishing to marry on Sunday can register for the lottery by going to the City Clerk’s website at nyc.gov or by calling 311. The lottery will close to entries at noon on Thursday, July 21.