Weddings Past and Future

Monday and Wednesday were slow at the County Clerk Recorder's Building.  Well, slow if we were performing weddings.  Not slow if selling licenses. 

Most couples were there to buy a license for Monday, Valentine's Day.  As of Wednesday we had 4 pages of appointments for ceremonies. This is the only day we take appointments, and we still do walk ins. We have 15 minutes to do a ceremony and exit the room.  I love Valentine's Day, the excitement, the dresses, the flowers, the love in the room.  I hate running couples in and out of the room.  More about Valentine's Day next week.

Monday I did 4 weddings and Wednesday only 2.  The theme for all of the weddings was black and white.  Even some of the witnesses wore black and white.  Monday I wore black and white.  One couple was very worried about family in Colorado getting here for their "wedding" on Saturday. (I explained this was the wedding, they were having a huge party.)  Anyway with all the snow and another storm due to hit on the day to  fly here, they were worried.  I suggested Amtrak.  The only way to travel.  They liked the idea.

One of the weddings was a confidential. (for new readers:  a confidential license does not require a witness; once it is recorded no one may see the license without a court order).  I am sure the groom was a policeman.  He just had that look.  I hate the state quit requiring the professions of the bride and groom.  A hundred years from now genealogists will be screaming about the lack of information on the marriage license. Anyway, the couple had the bride's mother with them.  They did not tell her they were getting married until they were filling out the license.  The mother was beside herself with joy.  She kept laughing and saying it was the best birthday present she had ever received.

Now to the wedding that really stands out, and not for a good reason.  This reflects my personal beliefs on cleanliness.  I defend myself from those who might think I am being a snob, that I have too high a benchmark on bathing by this:  I have married couples that were wet and sweaty from biking 20 miles to the building.  There were people with dirt/oil under their nails, clothes that were oil stained, greasy hair, a whiff of sweat, not real clean looking.  That was OK, it wasn't OLD dirt.

This couple, their daughter, and guests were just different.  The little girl had long hair that was dirty, not just greasy, dirty.  The creases in their skin had black rings.  When the bride's mother signed as a witness I nearly gagged smelling her dirty musty hair.  Their clothes were clean, the little girl had on a white dress that was spotless.  But their bodies had a dirty musty smell. 

Again every wedding brings something different.  The laughing bride, the groom who is crying so hard he can barely say his vows, the families that cheer when the ceremony is over, the adult children from each side who are thrilled for their parents to have found love.  Love is what it is all about.