Joe our guest blogger is out of the country most of August. I am working his Friday morning shift at the Marriage Factory. Friday the busiest day of the week. Wednesday has become a no business day. So I really enjoyed the fast pace yesterday. There is one down side to the fast pace. There is no time to make many notes on fashion, quirks, errors, etc.
Clerk A mainly does Spanish ceremonies when I am there. But we had a plan, she did Spanish and English. I did English. We have a lot more English ceremonies. This cut down on wait time for couples. We were using two rooms which meant we were doing roughly 2 weddings every 15 minutes. The whole morning we had 5 licenses waiting every time we came back to our desks. The clerks out front were swamped with couples buying licenses and couples. Clerk A and I never felt we were far behind. If 3 or more clerks are processing licenses, 2 commissioners will be somewhat behind them.
Things got a little testy when some clerks kept telling us couples had been waiting for an hour and were unhappy. When a couple of clerks started circling check in times on the receipts, we were ticked. We are working our tails off, being gracious, making sure each couple feels this is a great experience and clerks are bitching at us to hurry up. Don't tick off the volunteer. Do the math, 3 or more licenses every 10 minutes, 15 minute ceremonies, 2 commissioners. We do not do appointments, it is first come first serve, that means you have to wait.
Now for one happy story. My first ceremony the couple was two charming men. They were in their early 80's. Very dapper, beautiful suits with pocket hankies. The shine on their shoes would blind you. They were very emotional during the ceremony. These men had been together 52 years and still adored each other. Their friends did not look dapper, well one did. Two were young and over the top with sparkly phones and shoes. Everyone in the room was happy, fun, and having a great day.
52 years is a wonderful statement for love. How honored I was to do the wedding ceremony for these two men.
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