Dia De San Valentin

Here is Joe's update on Valentine's Day at the Marriage Factory.  I so missed being there this time.  It is one of the few times you see the commissioners from other days of the weeks which is always fun.  This year was a smaller crowd.  But still a busy day.  Enjoy.

Día De San Valentín

Valentine's Day is a busy day for weddings at the Marriage Factory, as you might imagine.  It's not a madhouse, like 8/8/08 or 11/11/11, but a lot of folks put a lot of stock in calendar-based romance.  So many did this year that the Hall of Records opened on a Saturday just to marry those romantic souls, even taking appointments.

When a couple gets married at the Hall of Records, they can choose to have the ceremony in one of several non-English languages, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Spanish among them. Four years of high school Spanish classes, and a little help from a couple of fluent friends, qualify me as a bilingual marriage commissioner.  I can conduct weddings en Español.  The English to Spanish ratio on an average Friday is 4:1, mas o menos.

There were 5 commissioners on hand Saturday, more than enough to handle the traffic.  Since I was the only Spanish speaker, I got all the Spanish-language weddings.  That kept me very busy. The groups ranged from 3-person walk-ins to full houses chanting "Beso! Beso!" when the ceremony was finished.

One challenge with Spanish weddings is that I know the ceremony very well, but I'm not good at free-style conversation.  I can say "Please silence your phones." or "Do you have rings?" but trouble arises with something complicated like "You have to go downstairs and ask the clerk for your legal certificate, which might take 10-15 minutes before it's ready."  Luckily, at least one person in every group spoke or understood enough English that I could communicate the next steps after the ceremony, and I struggled my way through it a couple times in Spanish, just for good measure.

We opened at 9 and got everyone done by 2, which was a credit mostly to the wonderful clerks who got folks registered, including a bunch of walk-ins, fixed typos, and made sure licenses got recorded properly.  They even got us donuts and pizza!

Fashion report: lots of beautiful dresses and suits, of course.  Why get married on Valentine's Day if you're not going to do it right?

By The Numbers:

Total ceremonies: 40

Ceremonies conducted by me: 15

Spanish ceremonies: 14

Formal wear: 12

Donuts eaten: 2

--

Joe Mallon

Health Update and other stuff

Monday

I had a lab appointment that morning to check platelets and other things to see if I could have chemo on Tuesday.  Everything was all good.  That afternoon I had my two year eye check up.  Then we were off to our regular store, Embry Bay Optics to pick out new glasses. Marty and the owner have picking out my frames since the late 90's. 

After that Marty needed to stop at an Alameda County Office to pick up a survey plot.  He parked in front of the Marriage Factory.  I put on my protective mask and headed in to surprise and visit with the staff.  As I went in I waved at  my favorite Alameda County Deputy.  He looked at me funny and then came over and said, "Janet, is that you?'  The mask, glasses, and my cap did hide my face. I went upstairs to the Marriage desk and said I needed a hug.  Christine (who does have a vision problem) looked at me and said, "I don't think so." She then recognized my voice and we laughed. Then I saw most of the staff.  It was wonderful to see them again.  They had been such a huge part of my life and now I can't do marriages.  Too weak for all the walking and standing, and too many germs from the public. 

Tuesday

At 9:00 I had a dental check up.  A friend who was a nurse had warned me I couldn't have a cleaning.  All that scrapping would spread germs into my blood stream.  The oncologist agreed.  So no cleaning just a check up.  No cavities.  That was a good things, don't know how we would handle the drilling, that could really spread germs into the blood stream.

That afternoon I had my chemo session.  It has been over 24 hours and no side effects other than fatigue.  I will take that any day over all the troubles I had with the other chemo. 

Wednesday

Today I did really normal things.  I did the laundry.  Marty carried down and back up the clothes. I needed to hold on the banister down and up those 26 steps.  Why you ask am I doing the laundry.  Son Erik, who comes every Wednesday to help us out, is out of town on a business trip.  Marty would have done the laundry but I wanted to try to do it.  I need to do more things to build my strength so I can do fun things. 

I had to rest after going up and down the steps.  Then I put clean sheets on the bed.  I had to do it.  I  had stripped the bed that  morning.  We have to have sheets to go to bed tonight. 

Who knows, maybe I will get strong enough to clean the apartment.  Not sure I want to be that normal.

Plans for Thursday and Friday

Friend Kirsten is driving me downtown for a little shopping Thursday.  The plan is to have a late lunch and then shop for Valentine cards.  Marty would have taken me, but then he would have to stand in another part of the store as I picked out his cards.  That wouldn't be much fun.

Friday I plan to watch the pouring rain and rejoice. The meteorologist better be right. It hasn't rained in over 40 days.  And we are running out of the rainy season.  This drought is big time scary. 


I am feeling good, doing more, and thank all my prayers warriors for getting me back to a better level of health.  Friday week we meet with the oncologist and work on our game plan. 

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day at the Marriage Factory went surprisingly well.  The new supervisor had us organized within an inch of our lives.  Each Commissioner was assigned his/her own wedding room.  Two of us took all the appointments and the other three rotated taking walk ins.  When I was given a Spanish ceremony Joe, our guest blogger, took that couple and would give me his English ceremony.  About a third of our confirmed appointments did not show.  So Joe and I also did walk ins.  Total weddings from 8:45 to 4:30, 76.  That is not a record but still a busy day.

A few favorite things:.
The couple dressed in jeans, dress shirt, blazers, and one in a top hat.
Lots of little girls in beautiful long red dresses and flowers in their hair.
Little boys in bowties, red dress shirts, and even red shoes.
Brides in red dresses, white dresses, and grooms in red shirts.
Beautiful red shoes, silver sandals, wonderful boots.
Red roses bouquets, Cataleya bouquet and boutonniere, gardenia bouquet and boutonniere
One of Joe's grooms was talking about being so hot.  He told me he just doesn't do heat well, wedding room is a cool 69-70.  He had a tattoo on his arm that said Keep Refrigerated.

What I did not like:
Disappearing guests, brides, grooms.
Channel 2, an Oakland TV station, being in our way and wasting our time filming weddings and then showing a Berkeley wedding
Rude group who told me I was rushing them.  They did not have their act together. They would not do as asked, told me I was ruining their special day.  This is the couple that let me start the ceremony and then remembered they had a special wedding rug to use, then wanted the brother to do a reading, and then the groom left the arch and started digging in a backpack for a special camera.  They then wouldn't leave the room.  It all ended well, the Southern Belle smoothed things over as I visualized killing them.

Now for some pictures:

 

As elevator doors opened, this is what we saw.  This area was for photo shots after we gently moved couples out of the wedding rooms.

Main Wedding Room

 

 

Little lobby outside the Wedding Room

 

 

These pictures are of my Wedding Room, a decorated conference room.

 

 

This is an atrium off the staff lunch room.  It was like an outdoor venue.

 



 

Two of our Alameda County Deputies at the front desk. 

 



 

The part of the back lobby where marriage licenses are sold.

 

 

My favorite group yesterday, my Hell's Angels.  The bride was in a lovely black sheath and killer heels.   The groom and his friend were typical bikers.  They were big burly men with gorgeous silver skull rings.  They were a just couple of Teddy Bears.  The witness took pictures and as he was signing the license told me he had taken a selfie. That made me giggle.  All 3 were so sweet and fun.  As they left I got big Teddy Bear hugs.   

 

Now for the winner of best bride: Commissioner Patricia won with her transgender bride sporting a full beard.

Marriage Factory on Monday

Monday the clerks were busy, couples were buying their marriages licenses ahead of time for Valentine's Day.  We are expecting a mob of people on Friday.  Monday we already had 8 hours of weddings booked.  We know there will be more booked and a gazillion walk ins.  This is the first time same sex couples will be able to marry on Valentine's Day, it is on a Friday, and the topper is it is a 3 day weekend. We may set records again.  Several rooms will be decorated for ceremonies and several volunteers will be there to do the ceremonies.

 But now to Monday's weddings.

The brides had had a huge "wedding" a couple of months ago.  They came on a Friday to buy their license for their big wedding on Sunday.  Oops, they forgot papers to prove a name change, IDs did not match, so no license could be issued.  Monday they had their legal wedding.  Even though they had done a big ceremony, they were much more moved than they expected. Again a same sex couple told me how wonderful it was to finally be real.

Two grooms with their mamas as witnesses were next.  One of the mamas was so nervous and emotional.  She cried with happiness during the ceremony.  The grooms were so pleased with the beauty of the words in the ceremony.  As they left, the nervous mama hurried back to me and hugged  me and kissed me.  She thanked me and the clerks for the wonderful wedding for her son. 

I called the next couple.  A man (age 44, never married this is important later) walks up in a gorgeous gray suit with a red rose boutonniere.  I ask for the bride and he says with great pride, " She is the pregnant one over there."  Now their were 6 + women standing there who could have been pregnant:  large bellies, over blouses, just being female.  I looked around and I was not going to address anyone.  No woman wants to be identified as pregnant if she isn't.  I said you are just bragging, as a very pregnant woman in a white lace dress with a red and white roses' bouquet identified herself.  And all the women laughed

I thought OK that was funny, now to the elevator.  As the doors closed the groom's sister's says to him, "Are you sure you aren't gay?" He yelled, "I am not gay"  Then others started in on him, are you sure?  It was a family joke.  It seems his parents kept asking if he were gay because to them he was a little long in the tooth to be single. The groom was crying and the bride kept wiping his eyes.  Everyone was happy and fun, and excited for the couple. 

Monday was so calm, like the calm before the storm.  This weekend I will post about Valentine's Day.

Other signs of Valentine’s Day

I posted about the Marriage Factory on Valentine’s Day.  But there were other signs of love in the air.    Roses were delivered to the Marriage Factory for some of the clerks.  As Marty and I drove home, we saw people carrying flowers.  On Facebook people showed pictures of what loved ones had given them.  There were posts of love messages from friends and family.  Our three pretend grandchildren  were shown with heart shaped pizzas they had made. Cards arrived from family.  Valentine’s Day has become a day of love for friends and family, not just for couples.  I think that is great.

Marty and I had to stop at Safeway for a couple of things for supper.  The parking lot was full, and people were coming out with bouquets and plants of blooming flowers.  Everywhere we looked there were men and women carrying flowers.  Inside the grocery there were dozens of empty containers that each once held 6 or more bouquets.  There were some flowers left.  People were also buying candy, heart cookies/cakes/cupcakes, heart balloons, orchid plants, and other blooming plants.  There were little Teddy Bears that had candy attached.  Champagne was in carts.  And the lines to pay were really really long.  Just in the floral department the line was at least 20 deep.

One of our new neighbors works in the bakery.  We talked to her about all the last minute shopping.  She told us the rush had begun the day before.  That they just kept restocking the flower containers, and restocking cakes etc.  Not only was this a great sign of love, but it showed maybe that the economy is improving.  Roses are stupidly expensive Valentine’s week.

Valentine’s Day at the Marriage Factory

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day.  We only had 10 appointments, compared to 30 in other years.  Staff knew we could have walk-ins, but no idea how many   How many volunteers would be needed to work that day?  I came all day and two women came for an hour each.  Staff did non English ceremonies.   We worked at a steady pace, nothing frantic until the 3:00 rush.  White dresses were everywhere.  And it was only me for the English.  From 4:00 to 4:30 I did three ceremonies, and then I had to leave.  Staff still had at least 6 weddings to do.  We had a total of 41 ceremonies for the day. 

Memories of the day are of white dresses, red dresses, tuxes, and flowers everywhere.  Staff decorated the counters, marriage rooms, and the lobbies with roses, other flowers, and hearts.  They raise money through the year to buy the flowers.  Thank you to the staff. 

Every year we have a problem with people stealing the roses and other flowers.  Last year they took flowers off  the clerks’ counters, as the clerks were telling them not to. After the first theft yesterday, I jokingly told the deputy he was to frisk people as they came off the elevator.  He offered me his Taser to protect the roses.  He did make up signs Please don’t take the flowers.  Thank you and hung them around the building.  We didn’t lose many after that. 

This was the day for romance, the building was full of love.  Many of the brides were in gorgeous wedding dresses.  The wedding dresses had sequins, seed pearls, boned corsets, embroidery on the skirts, lace cut outs.  Every style you can think of came through the doors.  We had long white chiffon dresses.  There were short lace dresses with cap sleeves. One lace dress had a tight bodice and a circle mini skirt that stood out with a crinoline under it.  The bride was long legged and definitely could wear this look. We had white satin dresses that were skin tight and way too short.  And white satin dresses that were ruched and fit nicely.  We had boobs falling out of a V necked dress.  Many brides were in jeans and fancy shirts.   And the grooms you ask?  We had jeans and tee shirts, black suits, tuxes, dress pants with white shirts and ties that matched the brides’ dresses.  One couple wore matching tennis shoes.  And the shoes, you know I love shoes.  Even the men had great shoes.  Cowboy boots, high heel boots, high heels, platform heels, sparkly buckles, sequined heels, it was a feast of shoes.

The witnesses wore reds, pinks, and purple.  Many wore hats with feathers or flowers, and some wore fascinators. One guest had an interesting accessory, a pint bottle of liquor in his hip pocket. 
 
Always we have standout couples:

One couple had two children .  The baby boy was in a little black suit.  The  3 year old daughter wore a bright red satin dress, red sparkly hair clip, and red sparkly shoes.  The bride wore a long white wedding dress with seed pearls.  The groom wore a red shirt, black tie, and black slacks.  The little girl did not want to be left out of the ceremony. To prevent a temper tantrum, I had her sit at the feet of the couple with the red dress billowed out against the white dress.   What a lovely picture that was.  When the couple joined hands to say their vows, the little girl got up and put her hand on their joined hands.  Not a dry eye in the room.

My favorite couple was in their 40’s.  The groom was all in black with a red rose in his shirt pocket.  The bride wore a dark dress with a white lace coat sweater with ruffled edges.  She carried pink roses and she wore a turban.  I could see a thin fuzz of hair at the edge of the turban.  The turban was not a fashion statement.  The ceremony was intense and the bride was crying.  Everyone in the room cheered when I pronounced them married, and then they all cried.  I later talked to the witness and asked if the bride was sick.  She said, “She was, but not now.”   And that made me really happy.

You may have noticed

I am pretty sure you noticed I have not written for nearly a week.  I have had a cold.  Not just any cold.  THE COLD that has wiped out the Bay Area.  I have felt awful, but luckily have not been as sick as many others.

Joe the Landlord was sick in bed for 5 days.  I have a friend who has been in bed off and on for over a week. Some friends were so sick they missed days of work.  I have drug around for a week.  I start to  think I am better and then I need a nap, a three hour nap.

In this time at home I had planned to write cute, clever blogs.  I wrote them, I read them, and then I deleted them.  The cold has killed my thought process.  I can't write, and I have trouble reading.  It is just too much trouble to concentrate.

I didn't go to the Marriage Factory last week, I didn't work with the first graders today, and I am worried about Wednesday and Thursday.  Wednesday is my Marriage Factory day. Thursday is Valentine's Day, a very busy day for weddings.  I need to be on my A game. I am the only volunteer for the day.  So keep a good thought for me and the couples I will be marrying.  May my befuddled mind work well enough to do a legal ceremony.

Valentine’s Day Wedding

In spite of my fussing about the lack of people to marry, it was a nice day.  We  had nice groups, beautiful outfits, tacky outfits, really rude people, and thieves.

Let’s begin with the thieves.  We had roses all over the lobbies.  There were also roses in the two wedding rooms.  One of the clerks looked up and a man was pulling roses out of ALL the vases.  That took some discussion.  I discussed the same problem with a group I ran into.

They were leaving after a wedding as I was waiting to go in.  Everyone had a rose.  I asked them to put them back as they were not souvenirs.  They couldn’t understand that.  Finally all except the bride put the roses back in the vases.  She was the bride, “she should get to keep hers”.  Sorry no.

It was a day of incredible red shoes.  We had patent leather platform shoes, animal print patent leather shoes, red shoes with sparkles, red fancy sneakers, red pointy toe cowboy boots.

Lots of gorgeous dresses: red brocade, white chiffon, silver with sequins, cream lace with with a chiffon skirt, white chiffon with a red burned velvet shawl, long traditional wedding dresses.

There were some tacky trashy outfits.  One guest who was a plus size wore a micro mini so short her underpants showed when she walked.

Groups ticked us off, but I will ignore them today.  I have to share with you the wedding of the day.  The groom was born in 1923, she was born in 1929. They had been together 48 years.  Their children and grandchildren were  so excited.  One part of the vow ceremony the couple each say,  “ forsaking all others, be faithful to you”. The groom said his vows, then the bride did.  When she said forsaking . . .  he shook his finger at her and said,  “remember that!”  And they both roared with laughter.  The best part they lived on Valentine Street.

 

Really? I got up at 6:00 for this??

I am not a morning person.  I still can’t figure out how I was able to hold a full time job and show up at 7:30 in the morning.  Schools start really early.  Anyway, Tuesday was Valentine’s Day.  This is the Super Bowl for The Marriage Factory.  Not this year.

In past years we have added two more rooms for ceremonies.  We had 4 to 6 volunteer marriage commissioners working that day.  We married a huge amount of couples.  I’ve done  20+ weddings on some Valentine’s Day. 

Tuesday I was to be there at 8:30 when the doors open.  We get caught in traffic and I am cranky toward Marty.  I am never late.  That is just rude.  We finally get to the County Building and I am late, a whole 2 minutes.

Cranky Janet stomps in.  Where are the couples?  Where is the line around the block?  If no one is here, why am I?

We only have 17 appointments beginning at 9:00. (Other years we have had 30.)  No walk-ins waiting, a few people are buying a license.  The 9:00 doesn’t show.  Nor the next appointment.  Then there was a cancellation.  Where has the love gone?

I had nothing to do, so I took pictures of the areas staff decorated.  They were still working when I took these.

 

As the elevator doors open this is what you see.

                                                 

They had hung white tulle from the ceiling and red tulle as a backdrop .  The heart hung down around 6 feet  2 inches from the floor.  I had several tall grooms and brides I had to warn to step forward.

They were still working in this room. The hearts hanging down were only the beginning.  They covered the wall with other strands spaced 6 inches apart.  Each room had fresh roses as did areas of the lobbies.

I did my first wedding at 9:30.  The 2 other commissioners didn’t do a wedding until close to 10:00.   The 9:00 appointment showed up at 11:00.  And we didn’t even have to work them in.  We had no business.  One commissioner said why am I here, left and went to work.  Another left shortly after that.  I only did 9 weddings.  The whole day only 30 ceremonies were performed.  Why no people, I asked.

The answer given was that the powers to be saw no need to advertise, no need for a press release, no need to spread the word.  They said people knew we were there.  I guess they didn’t.  We didn’t even have same sex protesters wanting to marry. 

The low turnout could also be attributed to the economy.  What do you think?  Let me know.

Weddings from last week

Last week was very busy for me.  I  could only go to The Marriage Factory on Monday.  Monday was a very light day for weddings.

I married four couples last Monday.  Only two were blog worthy.  The first couple made a little fashion statement.  The groom wore  black slacks and a black shirt.  His shoes were the statement:  purple needle nose shoes.  You could not miss his shoes.

The plus sized bride wore white stretchy flannel looking tights.  She completed the look with a sleeveless silver sequined top, which was sequined only on the front.  The back was thin white cotton.  The crowning touch was her Pepto Bismol pink bra showing through.

There was a large group with them, maybe 20 people, all glued to their cell phones.  I asked them to please mute the phones, they all kept talking.  Even the bride and groom were on the phone.  After several requests, I ordered the phones turned off, not just muted.  Did not faze them.  Many of them kept talking, not even whispering.  I pronounced the couple married, they both whipped out their phones and started making calls. 

The second couple the groom was white and  65. The bride was Chinese and 35.  She wore a heavy lace top over very very short heavy lace hot pants.  The groom had been married twice before.  His son, who was around 14, was his Best Man.  The bride’s parents stood with her.

She had lots of family attending the weddings.  Her family was very traditional Chinese, few of whom spoke English.  I could still tell they were very happy and excited about this wedding.  The groom’s son, not so much.  He didn’t act out, he wasn’t rude.  He just looked so unhappy.

Tomorrow, February 14, is our Super Bowl at the Marriage Factory.  I will be there from 8:30-5:00.  In the past I have married as many as 29 couples on Valentine’s Day.  We have more volunteers coming in this year.  So I don’t think I’ll be as busy as in the past.  I think the day will be at a fast pace, but not crazy as other years.  I will post later this week and let you know.

OH YES, WE HAD WEDDINGS ON VALENTINE'S DAY

As someone at the marriage factory said Monday, "Valentine's Day is our Super Bowl."  In the past doing weddings all day just wore me out.  No time to sit down, let alone have a bathroom break.  It was grueling in a wonderful way. I would have 8 or 9 licenses lined up on my desk. Part of the problem was other commissioners who took too long for a ceremony.  Appointments are booked every 15 minutes, plus we take walk ins. No time for the fluffy long version. We needed to be gracious, make it a serious occasion, and move them to the picture center outside the wedding room.

This year was a totally different experience.  We all arrived around 8:30 A.M.  There were 4 volunteers doing ceremonies:  me, J, M, C.  J and M also did Spanish ceremonies, so couples didn't have to wait for staff to be available.  J organized us, kept track of who was next to work, who hadn't had a break, who needed to vent.  Good job J.  These other three volunteers were wonderful.  They did their job, they moved the couples in and out of the three rooms, they made every couple feel special.  It went smooth as silk.  When I got home I was tired, but not exhausted.

Now to the weddings.  We had three rooms for ceremonies: our regular wedding room, a conference room, and another smaller meeting room.  All the rooms had red and white tulle (I know I should have taken pictures) with lots of hearts, there were silk rose petals on the lecterns and all over floors, and vases of roses in each room.  One room had a wedding arbor that was covered with little white lights, white tulle, and red hearts.  Every room was lovely.  Every desk in the two downstairs areas had decorations and roses.  We were ready for our super bowl.

J did a ceremony for a couple who were in a white tux and a long white dress.  The outstanding part was all of the guests wore black and red.  Stunning to see all them together.  There were gorgeous saris, men in red suits, huge men with earpieces that looked like the Secret Service, men in red shoes, a bride who had colored her hair Valentine red for the ceremony.  We had little girls in frilly dresses with tulle underskirts and little girl high heels.  We had little boys in suits.  We had brides and grooms in jeans and sweatshirts.  If you can think it, we probably saw it.

The fashion item that stood out the most was shoes.  I even saw a piece on the news that night about the gorgeous shoes at the weddings around the Bay Area.  I love shoes and had so much fun looking at all the killer shoes. Even if the brides were in jeans, they had great shoes.  We saw red snake skin 5 inch heels.  Red shoes so high the front had a platform.  Red shoes with rows of bows across the top of the foot.  Gold bootie heels, bejeweled flip flops, black heels with straps that went up to the ankle.  Even the men had great shoes.  There were cowboy boots, dress black with a military shine, sneakers with bright laces and racing stripes. 

Now with all this you know not everything went smoothly.  I came back from one ceremony and M asked why my ceremonies took longer.  Well, as J says I am the crazy  magnet.  If there was a problem it seemed to be one of my couples.  First wedding I did began really badly.  I called the names three times in the first lobby, nothing.  I went into the front lobby, called the names three times nothing.  Finally a man asked who I wanted, I repeated the name.  He said, "They went upstairs with some guy in a suit." Are you kidding me? I gather up the witnesses and go upstairs to find the couple.  I see them with the "suit".  I told the suit he had hijacked my couple.  He had taken them upstairs to let them pick a room.  NO, we take whatever room is empty. I start down the hall to the room and the bride says, where is my wallet.  The witness had left it down stairs.  So we waited while she went to find it.  Finally I have everyone together at the same time and did the ceremony.  Instead of 15 minutes, my first wedding took over 30 minutes.  And it went down hill from there.

I had a bride meltdown because the groom's grandmother was trying to organize things her way.  That took an extra 10 minutes.  One couple waited two hours for his mother to get there.  (traffic was gridlocked).  They had put her mother and father as the witness because the witness has to be there when the license is processed.  Mama arrived and was ticked she wasn't down as a witness.  Great hullabaloo.  I sweet talked lovely Clerk S into reprinting the license and Mama and the father signed. Couples didn't both speak English and I had to get a commissioner who spoke Spanish.  One couple we had to print the license three times.  They had filled out the personal information and misspelled his father's name and her mother's name.  I caught one error and the clerk then caught the next one.  People dont' read the license when we ask them to check it. 

The number one problem for all of us was groups were not ready when we called them.  Someone was still on the way.  They were feeding the meters, gone to take a walk, outside smoking.  J was in the wedding room ready to begin the ceremony and the couple told they had to wait for so and so to arrive.  Did they not hear J say, "Is everyone here?" 

In spite of the problems it was a fabulous day.  The staff did a wonderful job keeping things moving. They also brought in pizza for the staff and volunteers.  And when we were ready to go home we volunteers were given bouquets of roses.

Can't wait for next year.  As long as I will have the fabulous commissioners I worked with this year.

VALENTINE'S DAY PART 2

Marty cooked most of our Valentine's Day dinner.  I made my world famous potato salad.  He made pulled pork, barbecue sauce, and cole slaw.  We were testing another recipe for Cook's Country. 

The pork is bone in with a dry rub.  The rubbed meat is wrapped up for 24 hours, then on the grill 3 to 4 hours, next it goes into the oven covered for 2 to 3 hours. When it comes out of the oven, it sits 30 minutes, then it is finally pulled.  The sauce is a vinegar catsup with lots of bite to it.  Marty of course added Tabassco.  We like hot as well as bite. Such a great meal.  And I remembered to take pictures.                                                                

Marty working with the dry rub.

Ready to be sealed for 24 hours.

                                                        Wrapped up and ready for a 24 hour rest.

Ready to come off the grill.  Look at the crust from the rub. After 4 hours of heavenly smells, the neighbors were hinting for a dinner invitation.

                      Now to get ready for the oven.  I was ready to eat it then.  The aroma was incredible!

Wrapped and ready to go in the oven for 2 to 3 hours.

Marty is starting the Barbecue sauce.  Notice the champagne glasses and the wine glass.  We have already had a fun day.

Paprika and onions sauteing for the sauce. Lots of paprika.

Marty is pulling the pork. I lost control and stole crusty pieces while he was busy.  Yum!

At the bone, the meat is the best.  Moist and tasty.

                                                               Ready to build the sandwich.

This is the meal.  We are ready for pulled pork sandwiches.  Toasted buns, Barbecue sauce on them, then pile on the pork, more sauce, and top with cole slaw.  Potato salad and wine, some do beer.  Oh, and lots and lots of napkins. 

VALENTINE'S DAY

Today I was at the Marriage Factory by 8:25. We opened for business at 9:00. We only had 23 appointments set up. The press release did not show up in the papers until yesterday; so many didn't know we were open on a Sunday. Consequently we didn't have as many walk ins as in years past. I think we did close to 30 ceremonies. Last year I did 25. So slower, but fun.

The staff have fund raisers through the year to have money to decorate for special holidays. We had mixed flower arrangements all over the lobby and at the clerks' desk. We had roses in the wedding rooms and at the information desk. Hearts were hung above the desks and balloons were everywhere. I was there at 8:25, I don't know how early the clerks got there to decorate today.

We had lots of press there, papers and TV. They followed us around, took pictures, interviewed couples, and were as unobtrusive as a TV camera person can be.

One of the volunteers (let us call her Mary Poppins as a young deli worker dubbed her.) is notorious for taking 45 minutes to an hour for one wedding. We had appointments set up every 15 minutes, she can't do the job. She was not asked to help today, but showed up anyway. When she saw the camera crews outside, she all but ran out to talk to them. All day she planted herself in front of reporters and talked and talked and talked. We are all terrified to watch the news tonight and read the papers tomorrow. Mary is strange.

When Mary Poppins did do a ceremony, it was forever. Still with the 45 minute schedule. She counsels them, she prays with them, she visits with them. We are a government agency, we don't pray. And we sure as hell don't counsel couples. We do marriage ceremonies. She was told to stop praying, to get the lead out and turn the room. She did stop praying, we think. But slow, slow, slow.

The clerks who worked today were great. Some had not worked the marriage desk in several months. They rotate in the two buildings and are cross trained for everything clerks in the county do. They were up to speed immediately. They got the job done in a beautiful way. As I tell them all the time, they are not paid nearly enough.

Well done Alameda County clerks .

VALENTINE'S DAY, Joe, you were missed.

Today is Valentine's Day. This is the one of the biggest days of the year for marriage commissioners. The county opened up on a Saturday and we married couples from 9:00 to 1:00. In reality, we let in the first ones at 8:40 and we were there until after 2:00. We had 40 appointments and we took walk ins also. I think we were the only county doing weddings today. We are always the only one who does walk ins. Two volunteers and several staff were doing the weddings. We had three rooms to marry in. We had a system and it was working. We marry those that are there.

The staff had a fundraiser to get money to decorate the wedding rooms. Roses all over the building, hearts,and garlands. White tulle was draped from the ceiling down to the floor. There were rose petals laying in the tulle. Tulle pew markers were in one room. The staff went all out. The public and I were stunned with the beauty of the rooms. Some couples thought they would just be married in an office.

I did for sure 18 weddings and probably 3 or 4 more. I lost track and not sure if I counted all the walk ins I did. The day was fabulous, exciting, and boy do my feet hurt. As soon as I did a wedding, they would hand me more paper work and point me to the next couple. I rarely went downstairs to get a couple. No breaks were calculated into the schedule. We just did weddings.

We had limos with large wedding parties. Brides in gorgeous long white dresses, bridesmaids in red, and the men in black. Lovely bouquets of red roses with crystal dew drops on them. Bouquets of gardenias that made the room smell like heaven. Little girls in red and white satin dresses dropped rose petals in front of the bride. We had brides in red velvet, in red satin, and brides in jeans.

And we had TV crews from all networks. They filmed any wedding party that did not object. Some were not comfortable with the cameras, others loved it. The crews were very respectful of the couples. They even removed their equipment from the room for the shy brides.

The only down note. Joe was not there to marry couples today. Joe, you were missed. And trust me I would have much rather worked with you than a nameless volunteer.

It was a lovely day, a fun day, and a perfect day. I didn't get the awful couple who were fighting ( the groom did not want to be there and hid in the bathroom for a loooonnng time). I had only happy happy couples.