[Amended 10-3-2017 by Ord. No. 332-2017; 3-5-2019 by Ord. No. 373-2019]
Any persons seeking to be wed by the Mayor or Deputy Mayor of
the City of Cape May shall pay to the City a ceremonial service fee
of $325. Of that amount, $225 shall compensate the Mayor or Deputy
Mayor for officiating at the service. The remaining $100 shall defray
the City's costs for booking and scheduling the wedding. The
applicant shall also pay a fee of $100 to defray the cost of any rehearsal
at which the Mayor is asked to attend.
In addition, anyone whose wedding takes place on City property,
including City parks and the beach, shall pay to the City a fee of
$50 to defray the costs associated with the use of the City's
property.
All fees must be paid in full within 30 days after a reservation
is confirmed. If the ceremony is to occur within 30 days of the reservation,
payment must be in cash, or by cashier's check or money order.
All fees collected by the City for the performance of weddings,
civil union ceremonies or rehearsals shall be remitted to the City
and deposited into the general fund.
Nothing contained herein shall be construed to require that
the Mayor or Deputy Mayor perform any weddings or civil union ceremonies;
provided that any decisions to perform or not perform such ceremonies
be made non-discriminatorily and in compliance with the New Jersey
Law Against Discrimination, as well as any other applicable federal
or state law.
If a wedding or civil union ceremony is performed in the City
by the mayor or other elected official of another municipality, such
other municipality shall process any such application and establish,
if any, any applicable fees for such services, to be assessed and
collected by such other municipality. Cape May shall not be responsible
for assessing or collecting any fees or compensating the elected officials
from any other municipality for performing wedding or civil union
ceremonies in the City.
The fees described in this chapter shall be nonrefundable.
[Amended 3-5-2019 by Ord.
No. 373-2019]
If any persons need to reschedule the ceremony for which they
tendered either an administrative fee or a ceremonial service fee,
such postponement shall be permitted without additional cost only
if notice is provided no later than 60 days before the scheduled ceremony
date. All postponements are subject to the availability of both the
venue requested and the Mayor or Deputy Mayor.