Monday when I arrived at the County Recorder's Building, I went straight to one of the supervisors. I needed to find out our game plan on doing same sex marriages. Would we begin on Wednesday at 5:01 when the stay was lifted or on Thursday morning? I told them I could do either day. The powers upstairs decided to begin on Thursday. Little did I know that the stay would not be lifted. We are now waiting until the appeals are heard in December and they hope to rule sometime in January.
I did several weddings Monday. One couple had been together for nearly 20 years. Their two sons were the witnesses. The bride was surprised at how emotional she and the groom were.
One couple were in their 60s. Both Iranian. Both very striking looking. They had lots of friends and family with them. And there was major jewelery in the room. All the women had big honking diamond rings, pearl necklaces, gold bracelets. But two stood out: The bride wore a gorgeous white pant suit. Her necklace was pearls that were huge. Her earrings were pearl drops, lots of gold and the pearls were as large as the end of my thumb. But those were nothing compared to her friend's earrings: again huge pearls that had three rows of baguette diamonds. Can you say covet, covet, covet?
Another couple was fun and a little different. He was in a black silk shirt, black vest, and black slacks. She had on a very plain white strapless dress, street length. At the waist she had a yellow sash. She carried a nosegay of roses and the rings were tied up in the ribbons. Oh, and on her feet, red Converse shoes. I loved it.
There were other weddings. But the last I will tell you about. There is a saying, "No good deed goes unpunished", attributed to Clare Boothe Luce. That is so true. To be married the day you get your license, a couple must be punched in by 4:00. I am scheduled to work until 4:00. Usually if couples are at the desk I will wait and see if they are going to be married then.
Monday there were several couples in the queue, and I said I would wait to see if they needed me to marry anyone. The last couple wanted to be married. I get the license at 4:15, I checked the license, go out to get them, and the bride and the witness are gone. They had gone to feed the parking meter. If you are going to buy a license and get married wouldn't you put the full 2 hours in the meter? We are efficient but there are lots of people in line. Anyway, the groom is calling her to tell her to hurry back. No answer. Then it is 4:30 and the Deputy locks the building. My bride and witness are locked out. I asked him to let them in when she came back and he did. The wedding does happen. The couple is one of those that radiated love and caring. It was a goose bump wedding. So I forgave them in my heart for making me wait on them.
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