Dispatch From the Marriage Factory

Thank goodness we have guest blogger, Joe.  Without him we might not have wedding posts. My days have been slow. Fridays are always our busiest time at the  Marriage Factory.  And from his post, it was even busier than usual.  Thanks Joe for again sending us news from the Wedding Room.

Unlike Miss Janet, I barely had time to sit and read the paper today. The Hall is closed on Monday.  Perhaps that is why so many couples chose today to get married - 15 in all, and 3 more to be done after I left!  To top it all off, the clerks were shorthanded thanks to the megaflu, yet they still managed to keep bringing me ceremonies.  My desk was like the room in The Sorcerer's Apprentice - I'd have 5 weddings to do, get done one, and still had 5 weddings left.  They were multiplying!

There were examples of just about every kind of wedding: "just doing the paperwork", "we came in to get the license and thought what the heck and have the coffee stand attendant as a witness", several "we're having a baby", and a couple all-out shows.

Standouts include the couple who had been dating 2 weeks (the groom  made it clear they had been close friends for a long time – wonder what flipped the switch?), the bride who held the couple's sleeping daughter throughout the ceremony (I normally ask the couple to join hands - the groom gently took hers without my prompting) the little girl woke up in time for the pictures, the bride who smiled and cheered and did a little dance after the pronouncement ( I love a happy bride), and the pregnant bride who chewed gum all the way through the wedding.  I'd be cross except I bet it's to fight nausea, so she has my sympathies.

For some reason, at least 4 brides had turquoise necklaces.  As far as I can tell, garnet is January's stone, so go figure.  Beautiful dresses all day long, including a few standard wedding-type dresses in shades of white and off-white, with and without adornment.  A few noteworthy ones: a lilac full-length prom-type dress with a lacy corset, a red & black Japanese-patterned maternity wrap, and a gorgeous black and white sheath with ruching on the front.

I hope some of this bounty of brides spills over to Janet's next shift, and I also hope all the sick little clerks are feeling better when I get back next week!

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Joe Mallon