Albuquerque Weddings
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Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 518,271 as of July 1, 2007 U.S. census estimates and ranks as the 34th-largest city in the U.S. As of June 2007, the city was the 5th fastest growing in America. With a metropolitan population of 835,120 as of July 1, 2007, Albuquerque is the 60th-largest United States metropolitan area. The Albuquerque MSA population includes the city of Rio Rancho, one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, and a hub for many master-planned communities that are expected to draw future businesses and residents to the area.
Albuquerque is home to the University of New Mexico (UNM) and Kirtland Air Force Base as well as the Sandia National Laboratories and Petroglyph National Monument. The Sandia Mountains run along the eastern side of Albuquerque, and the Rio Grande flows through the city, north to south.
Albuquerque is often overshadowed as a tourist destination by Santa Fe, 60 miles to the north. But Albuquerque has a number of great attractions in its own right, with pleasant scenery, colorful history, and a spectacular hot-air balloon fiesta in the fall.
Albuquerque was founded in 1706 as a small Spanish settlement on the banks of the Rio Grande and was named for the Duke of Alburquerque (hence Albuquerque's nickname, "The Duke City"). In the 1880s the railroad came to town, and almost overnight a new city grew up around the train tracks a couple of miles away from the original settlement. This "New Town" became the hub of commerce for the state, and the city grew exponentially (eventually the "New Town", which today is Downtown, and the original "Old Town" settlement were joined to become part of the same city). In the 1920s the federal government officially recognized a series of highways that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles as Route 66, and Albuquerque was one of the towns "The Mother Road" passed through. Today, Albuquerque is still a hub of activity and transportation. While Santa Fe is the state capital and the principal tourist destination of New Mexico, Albuquerque is New Mexico's only truly urban area with a metropolitan population of nearly 900,000. This is where you'll find the headquarters of the state's businesses, the University of New Mexico, many of New Mexico's largest employers, and the Albuquerque International Sunport, the only major airport in the state.
This is a casual town. Expect shorts, a T-shirt, and sandals to be entirely acceptable almost everywhere. People tend to be friendly. While Albuquerque has a large non-native population, it is predominantly white, Hispanic, and American Indian.
- Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau, with visitor centers in Old Town at the Plaza Don Luis and in the Albuquerque International Sunport on the Baggage Claim Level, +1 800 284-2282 or +1 505 842-9918.
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Marriage License Requirements
Your Bernalillo County Marriage License
Believe it or not, only five simple things are required to get married in Bernalillo County, New Mexico:
- a bride
- a groom
- an officiant
- witnesses (two)
- and a marriage license
Here’s the scoop on your Marriage License, assuming you obtain it in Bernalillo County, New Mexico...
No blood test is required.
The Marriage License Bureau of the County Clerk’s Office is located on the 6th floor of the City/County complex in downtown Albuquerque at the Southeast corner of 5th Street & Marquette Avenue.
Marriage License Bureau 1 Civic Plaza NW Albuquerque NM 87102 505-768-4314
Their business hours are Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm.
If both the bride and groom are over the age of 18, they need to present themselves to the clerk with a picture ID and $25 cash. For ages 16-17 both parents need to be in attendance and consenting. If one or both are age 15, permission needs to granted through children’s court.
The license is good for an indefinite time. The ceremony may be performed anywhere in New Mexico.
After the ceremony, the license must be signed by the officiant, the bride, the groom, and two adult witnesses (relatives are OK). The officiant must be an ordained minister of a church or a judge.
The completed license must be recorded in the issuing county. It can be mailed or taken in person. In Bernalillo County, you get a mailing envelope when the license is issued and the license will be mailed back to you after it is recorded—a must-have keepsake. Your marriage is legal whether or not the license is recorded. Recording the license ensures that a record of the marriage can be found when necessary. Incidentally, common law marriage is not recognized in New Mexico, a community-property state.
Couples usually sign the license immediately after the ceremony. They usually do the mailing. (Any one can mail it in but it’s your marriage that may be hard to prove if the license doesn’t get recorded).
Same-sex marriages are not recognized in New Mexico.
Well, that’s the scoop on your Bernalillo County, New Mexico, marriage license. This information has been assembled by Bill Howden, an NMWP officiant and verified with local officials.
How To Get There
Get in
By car
Two Interstate highways pass through Albuquerque: I-40 goes east-west and I-25 goes north-south. Where they meet is a large intersection called "The Big I". Albuquerque's Central Avenue is part of old Route 66. A minor note of caution: I-25 south of Albuquerque is a "safety corridor" in which state law mandates higher fines for traffic violations. Enforcement is spotty, but take the speed limits seriously anyway.
By plane
Albuquerque's airport, the Albuquerque International Sunport, is the major air hub for all of New Mexico. The Sunport has service from all major US airlines and their international partners, and is a major hub for Southwest Airlines. One tip: If you're prone to airsickness, try to get flights into this airport that arrive either before noon or after sundown, particularly during late spring and early summer. The high elevation, hot sun, and spring winds combine to produce thermals that can make afternoon arrivals an extremely bumpy proposition. There are no major safety issues (the airport's runways are long, owing to the adjacent Air Force base, with no nearby obstacles to run into), but try telling your stomach that! The rough ride is less of a problem with outbound flights. Incidentally, this airport contains a number of attractive displays of New Mexican arts and crafts as well as one good restaurant (a member of the Garduño's chain, see below under "Eat"), and is a more pleasant place than most airports to kill time while waiting for a flight. The major car rental companies are nearby, with a shuttle from the airport to the large new rental center. The Sunport has charging stations for electronics and completely free wireless internet access.
Airlines and destinations from Albuquerque International Sunport
Concourse A
- ExpressJet: Austin, Oklahoma City, Ontario (California), Sacramento, San Antonio, Tulsa.
- Northwest: Minneapolis/St. Paul.
- Southwest: Amarillo, Baltimore, Chicago Midway, Dallas Love Field, Denver, El Paso, Houston Hobby, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Oakland, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland (Oregon), St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Seattle/Tacoma, Tampa, Tucson.
- United: Chicago O'Hare, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington Dulles.
Concourse B
- American: Chicago O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth.
- Continental: Cleveland, Houston George Bush Intercontinental, Newark.
- Delta: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City.
- Frontier: Denver, Puerto Vallarta.
- USAirways: Las Vegas, Phoenix.
Commuter Terminal
- Great Lakes Airlines: Clovis, Silver City.
- Mesa Airlines: Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Farmington, Roswell.
- New Mexico Airlines: Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Ruidoso, Santa Fe.
By train
Albuquerque is a layover stop along Amtrak's Southwest Chief daily train route. The depot is at the Alvarado Transportation Center in downtown, at 214 First Street SW (in the same building as the Greyhound depot). The westbound train to Los Angeles is scheduled to arrive at 3:55PM and departs at 4:45PM. The eastbound train to Chicago arrives at 12:12PM and departs at 12:55PM.
A commuter rail line, the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, connects Albuquerque to the smaller communities north and south along the Rio Grande, including Belen, Los Lunas, and Bernalillo, with plans to extend the line to Santa Fe by the end of 2008. There are three stations in Albuquerque: the Alvarado Transportation Center in Downtown, one in the South Valley on Rio Bravo Blvd, and one in the North Valley/Los Ranchos area just off of Paseo del Norte. The South Valley and Downtown stations have bus connections to the airport. Currently the Rail Runner only runs on weekdays (and mainly at the peak commuting hours at that) with some limited weekend service during the summer and for special events (such as the Balloon Fiesta). Fares are based on how far you ride; a day pass will be in the range of $2-$4. Tickets can be purchased online or from ticket agents on the train.
By bus
Albuquerque has a fine bus depot at the Alvarado Transportation Center in downtown, 320 First Street SW, which is served by Greyhound +1 505 243-4435, and Autobuses Americanos.
Get around
Albuquerque is a heavily planned city. In much of the city, the major roads are lined primarily with businesses with residential mazes on the insides. Street addresses in Albuquerque take the form "12345 Main Street (NE/NW/SE/SW)" in which the northeast/northwest/etc. suffix denotes the quadrant of the city containing the address. The railroad tracks, which run parallel to I-25, are the east/west dividing line, and Central Avenue is the north/south dividing line. This nomenclature, while useful in helping you with maps and directions, has the drawback that you can't tell whether a street runs north-south or east-west simply by looking at the address.
Basically, if you remember that I-25 runs north-south, I-40 runs east-west, the Sandia Mountains are to the east, and the Rio Grande runs along the bottom of the valley in the western part of the city, you should be able to make your way around the city without too many problems. Here are some basic terms that will come in handy when asking for directions or looking at a map: Central Avenue is a principal east-west artery, running south (and roughly parallel) of I-40. The interchange of I-25 and I-40 is called "The Big I" and is roughly in the center of the city. Downtown is just southwest of "The Big I", the "Heights" are the eastern part of town closer to the Sandia Mountains, and the "Westside" is all the suburbs on the western part of town across the river.
By car
If you're driving, be prepared for frequent road construction. The city government web site, gives information on major construction projects, but there are always minor ones going on. Several radio stations try to give traffic reports during morning and afternoon rush hours, but the service tends to come and go, and it's best to inquire locally as to which stations are currently offering it. KKOB-AM, 770 on the dial, seems to be fairly reliable for these reports. Traffic congestion, while not nearly as horrible as some of the other cities in the Western United States, can still get bad during the rush hour and on Saturdays. The two interstates and the river crossings usually have the worst congestion.
Keep in mind that driving while talking on your cell phone is illegal in Albuquerque.
By bus
ABQ RIDE, +1 505 243-RIDE, is Albuquerque's public transit system. Albuquerque is a driving city, and until very recently the city was not trying to make any great strides in its public transit system. So with the exception of Central Avenue, public transit here is still for the most part very underdeveloped. Most of ABQ Ride's routes spur out of the Alvarado Transportation Center (in downtown at Central Avenue & First Street), which also serves as Albuquerque's Amtrak station and Greyhound depot. Schedules are reduced during the weekend.
The Rapid Ride is an express bus service operated by ABQ Ride with two routes: The Route 766 (Red Line) runs from Uptown to the Westside, mostly on Central Avenue, and connects to several major destinations along the way (Uptown, Expo New Mexico fairgrounds, Nob Hill, UNM, Downtown, Old Town, and the Albuquerque Biological Park), with buses running every 11 minutes (22 minutes on Sunday). The Route 790 (Blue Line), which connects the University of New Mexico to the Westside via Lomas Blvd, I-40, and Coors Blvd (with 15-minute service on weekdays), is of less use to tourists unless you intend to visit the Westside. Both routes utilize buses that are longer than a normal city bus and painted bright red (they're pretty hard to miss). The Rapid Ride operates from about 6AM-8PM (7AM-6PM on Sunday), and most of the stops on the 766 Red Line have a LED display telling you when the next Rapid Ride bus will arrive.
Standard fares for all ABQ Ride routes are $1 per ride, with several discounts possible.
By bike
Albuquerque is fairly bikeable, but it's a sprawling Western city and things are spread out. It's hillier than it looks; Old Town and downtown attractions are several hundred feet lower than things in the heights (Tramway, etc.). There aren't many crossings over the Rio Grande, and some involve uncomfortably close contact with car traffic. Still, there are some great paved trails, particularly the Paseo del Bosque Trail which runs along the east side of the Rio Grande, and the North Diversion Channel Trail which runs from UNM north to Balloon Fiesta Park. Plan accordingly. You can find a complete bike map on the city's bicycling website.
By horse
A principal corridor for equestrian use is the Paseo del Bosque Trail. Trailhead parking lots are large and one, at the Los Ranchos open space in the North Valley, has a feed store, Miller's Feed.
Stay safe
Albuquerque has an average crime rate compared to some other American cities, but most of it is property crime of more concern to residents than to visitors. "Bad" neighborhoods:
- the South Valley, along the river south of Central Avenue.
- the War Zone, the area surrounding and south of the State Fairgrounds.
Central Avenue is home to some of Albuquerque's main attractions, but portions of it can be somewhat dangerous after dark. The section from the train tracks (eastern edge of downtown) to University Blvd. can be a little scary in the evening. Even in Downtown, while Central Avenue is passable, smaller nearby streets such as Copper Street can be scary after dark. The Nob Hill/UNM district (between University and Carlisle) is perfectly safe at night, but Central gets progressively seedier east of Carlisle. Consider the bus or a cab through these areas after the sun goes down.
Due to its size and mild climate, the streets of Albuquerque are considered home to many people. While not typically a danger, do expect to meet up with beggars and vagrants, particularly around the University of New Mexico.
If you're going to be engaging in outdoor recreation (even as laid-back as watching an Isotopes day game), slather on the sun screen. The elevation of the city is 5000' or higher, and there is usually not much cloud cover, so one can get a bad sunburn in surprisingly short order.
Be forewarned about New Mexican cuisine; if you're not used to green chile, go easy at first. Many first-timers have tried to eat the hottest chile they could find, only to discover six hours later that it was MUCH hotter than they remembered. Be prepared.
Get out
North of Albuquerque:
- Santa Fe, one of the world's great travel destinations, is about 60 miles to the north. The direct route is via I-25, but if you have time and the weather forecast is good, consider taking instead the "Turquoise Trail" (NM SR 14) on the east side of the Sandia Mountains.
- If taking the Turquoise Trail, stop at Madrid, an artist community located along the way. There's a small selection of galleries, a glass blower and decent tavern for lunch. Another attraction on the route is the Tinker Town Museum, which contains a large collection of wood carvings and Americana. Its off Highway 536 on the Turquoise Trail about 20 minutes from Albuquerque. Its open April 1st - November 1st.
- Bernalillo is 15 miles north of Albuquerque on I-25 and is connected via the Rail Runner commuter train. The Coronado State Monument is a popular attraction, as well as the Santa Ana Pueblo's casino and golf course, which are right next to Bernalillo.
- If you're traveling north on I-25 and you have a few hours to kill, consider a detour to the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. This little known monument, open for day use ($5/vehicle), contains some gorgeous natural scenery and geologic formations, such as a narrow slot canyon you can hike through. To get there, get off at the Santo Domingo Pueblo exit (Exit 259) and follow the signs up SR 22 and onto a gravel road to the monument.
- The pretty Jemez Mountains offer pleasant hiking and fishing in the summer and can be good for skiing and snowshoeing in the winter, although snowpack varies greatly from year to year and may be insufficient for winter sports. Take I-25 north to Bernalillo, then US 550 to San Ysidro, where NM 4 (502 on some maps) takes off through the astonishing red rock of San Diego Canyon and into the Jemez.
- Los Alamos and Bandelier National Monument are also to the north, and about as distant from Albuquerque via the Jemez route as via the Santa Fe route.
- Beyond Santa Fe lies the beauty and cultural color of north central New Mexico -- Taos, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, etc.
South of Albuquerque:
- Isleta Pueblo, off of I-25 just south of the city, is a small Native American village with the St. Augustine Church, a large white mission and one of the oldest in the nation. Take the Isleta Pueblo exit (NM 314) and drive south until you reach the village.
- Belen is located about 30 miles south and makes a good day trip.
- If traveling south during the winter, be sure to stop at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, south of Socorro and covered in that community's article...and while you are down there, consider visiting the Very Large Array, one of the worlds biggest radio telescope arrays.
Climate
Albuquerque, NM Weather
Albuquerque, NM climate is warm during summer when temperatures tend to be in the 70's and very cold during winter when temperatures tend to be in the 30's.
The warmest month of the year is July with an average maximum temperature of 92.30 degrees Fahrenheit, while the coldest month of the year is January with an average minimum temperature of 23.80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Temperature variations between night and day tend to be moderate during summer with a difference that can reach 27 degrees Fahrenheit, and moderate during winter with an average difference of 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
The annual average precipitation at Albuquerque is 9.47 Inches. Rainfall in is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. The wettest month of the year is August with an average rainfall of 1.73 Inches.
Normal Climate
Normal Temperatures
(ALBUQUERQUE INTL AP Weather station, 3.72 miles from Albuquerque) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual Max °F 47.6 54.6 62.4 70.6 79.7 90.2 92.3 89.0 82.2 70.7 57.1 47.9 70.4 Mean °F 35.7 41.4 48.1 55.6 64.7 74.8 78.5 76.1 69.1 57.3 44.4 36.1 56.8 Min °F 23.8 28.2 33.7 40.5 49.7 59.4 64.7 63.2 56.0 43.8 31.6 24.2 43.2
Normal Precipitation
(ALBUQUERQUE INTL AP Weather station, 3.72 miles from Albuquerque) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual Inch 0.49 0.44 0.61 0.50 0.60 0.65 1.27 1.73 1.07 1.00 0.62 0.49 9.47