Weddings, we have weddings!

Monday I was beginning to think no one wanted to be married.  Then about 10:30 it got busy.  From then until 12:30 I did 6 or 7 ceremonies, and there were two foreign language ceremonies.  Not a huge number, but a lot was done  in 2 hours.   The pink wedding took forever to sort out.

My first two couples were witnessing for each other.  You would have thought they were close friends the way they interacted.  One couple was in their 20's and the other in their 50's.  The older couple were African American and dressed in a light shade of orange and in white.  The other groom also had on an orange shirt.  The older bride had on a white "brocade" dress.  Except it was a heavy cotton with a linen orange stole.  Beautiful outfit.

I asked the older couple if they had their own vows: he said no and she said yes.  Big worry lines on his face, "Do I have to create something right now?"  I told him he could do the traditional vows and she could say what she wanted to say.  Well they both said their own thing, and made me tear up.  He began with, " I can't imagine my life without you . . ."

Then we had the pink satin wedding.  The groom and all the little boys wore black slacks, black vests, and Pepto Bismol pink satin shirts.  The bride wore the same pink colored satin blouse with a white lace skirt.  The little girls wore pink and black dresses.  The bride and groom were each 21 and two of the children were theirs, the oldest was 5 or 6.  Babies having babies.  The ceremony was lovely, everyone was happy.  I took the license in to be recorded and it all hit the fan.

The bride was changing her name to his, except it was his middle name (Smith), not his last name.  The law won't let you do that.  ( I had never been told about this particular law.)  His ID showed his name as John Smith Doe, as did the marriage license.  Their children had the name, Smith.   He told us the ID had been wrong for years.  Why didn't he correct it years ago?  He said his birth certificate had John Doe Smith on it.  The Marriage desk clerk told him to take the birth certificate to DMV and they would tell him what he needed to do.  I am not sure what name the bride ended up with.  I had another couple to marry.

More weddings later this week.