Dan Pollock / Twitter / Via Twitter: @DSPollock Dan Pollock (left) and Danielle Geanacopoulos outside the District of Columbia Superior Court on Dec. 27, after learning they couldn't get a marriage license.

WASHINGTON — Danielle Geanacopoulos and Dan Pollock are no strangers to a government shutdown, having gone through a few when they used to work in Congress.

But when the two former congressional staffers walked into the District of Columbia Superior Court on Dec. 27 to get a marriage license — two days before their wedding was supposed to take place — they were surprised when they were turned away. The Marriage Bureau was closed because of the latest shutdown, they were told. "One of the greeters at the front asked us where we were headed, and we said, 'The Marriage Bureau,' and they said, 'Oh, not today you won't,'" Geanacopoulos told BuzzFeed News. Pollock tweeted a photo of the two smiling in front of the courthouse, along with a new hashtag they crafted for their nuptials, which they realized would no longer be legally recognized without a license: #MyBigFakeGreekWedding.

Thank you @realDonaldTrump for the #TrumpShutdown. Thanks to you, the DC marriage bureau is furloughed the week of our wedding! Please stay in Iraq. Sincerely, unwed former public servants. #MyBigFakeGreekWedding https://t.co/PSoCif83nx @DSPollock via Twitter / Via Twitter: @DSPollock

The local court system in DC is funded by Congress, one of a number of city government operations that still interact in some way with the federal government. When congressional leaders failed to reach a funding agreement by midnight on Dec. 21, DC court officials, like those at federal agencies, had to put a shutdown plan into effect. Workers not deemed "essential" were furloughed, and that included Marriage Bureau employees. The fact that Congress funds DC's local court system was news to Geanacopoulos and Pollock, who live in New York City but previously worked for Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. (Geanacopoulos also worked for Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.)

"We've been furloughed I think twice in our time in the Senate years ago, so we’re pretty familiar with what gets funded and what doesn’t," Pollock said. "It never occurred to either of us." The District of Columbia got the ability to govern itself in 1973, and many city services are funded via locally raised taxes and revenue, but the legacy of congressional control persists. Residents do not have a voting representative in Congress. The city's local judges must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The federal US attorney's office, not the DC attorney general's office, prosecutes major crimes. Congress and the president have the power to block legislation passed by the DC Council, although they rarely exercise it.