Romantics around the state can now enter a competition to design a new marriage certificate for New Hampshire.

It all started with a garage sale. Kristin Martino, State Registrar and Vital Records Director, was shopping for antiques when a slightly moldy piece of paper caught her attention.

She realized that the document — with ornate illustrations of a wedding ceremony, cherubs, and wreath — was an old New Hampshire marriage certificate issued by a church to Frank Gookin and Alice Batchelder of Salisbury back in 1886.

Martino was struck by the beauty and preciousness of the document. The current marriage licenses issued by the state are not as romantic, she explained.

“It’s just an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. And it prints out, it's got our state logo on it. It's got the blue around the

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