It was just before midnight on Thursday and dozens of couples waited on the stairs of the court in the Bexar district in San Antonio. In the cowboy hats and jackets there were men and women in classic wedding dresses and veils.
They were there to get married.
At 12:01 on the day of St. Valentine’s Day, regional official Lucy Adam-Clark began to serve a short collective ceremony. Based on their conclusion, 125 couples were kissed for the first time as marital partners on the health of friends and relatives.
Then, to the sound of “finally” from Etta James, the couples took their collective first dance.
The couples were among the first to go to the town halls across the country to marry Valentine’s Day, which this year gave a special attraction when it fell on Friday.
“It was really good experience to be there with all others and being surrounded by a bunch of people who are also in love,” said Nadia Martin, 29, who married Callaway Jones, 27 years old, at a group wedding around midnight.
For some, a date that is of particular meaning.
“It was the very first Valentine I have ever had in my whole life,” said Melanie Ehrenborg Ordaz, 35 years old, 39, which she married at a group wedding in San Antonio. “Last year was our first Valentine’s Day, so this year it was like not just going all the way.”
The number of weddings took place every year in the Manhattan Marriage Office, where 75 ceremonies were expected on Friday, from 2022 to 2024 increased by 22 percent.
“It’s New York.” We love New York! “Lauren Oceguer said, 28 years old, who left Phoenix with Jose Oceguer, 34 years to marry Valentine’s Day in the center of Manhattan – wedding dresses, tuxedo and family in the curtain.
In San Antonio, the district official offers four group ceremonies on the stairs in the Valentine’s Day, the first beginning after midnight. Last year, 337 couples exchanged there and were even more expected on Friday.
In Chicago, despite Friday’s forecast, which demands a chance for flooding and a high temperature of only 24 degrees, the Cook County District Court was preparing for Valentine’s volume.
The court carries out about 60 weddings in a typical week, but around Christmas and Valentine’s Day, this number is growing to 200 to 300. When Valentine landed on Friday this year, the court expected even more.
In order to adapt to the increase, six judges were ready to show the ceremonies twice as much as on a typical day, said Diann K. Marsalek. The ceremonies are carried out in offices and courtrooms, some of which were decorated on the Valentine’s Day.
Judge Marsalek said that couples are attracted by flexibility and easy wedding of the court.
“They can start celebrating immediately,” she said.
San Francisco was also preparing for a flood of Hrdlíček. Diane Rea, an urban official, said that more than 250 meetings were planned on Friday, while the ceremonies were carried out in eight locations on the four floors of the town hall. (A typical working day brings about 28 wedding meetings.) Mayor Daniel Luria was supposed to be among 25 city officials.
Mrs. Rea said she expected “joyful chaos”.
“It’s definitely not an intimate moment if you do it on one of these days,” Mrs. Rea said. However, she added: “It is fun to be among many people who do the same for the same reason. Especially at the moment we long for these feelings. ”
This was the case in Lower Manhattan on Friday morning, when dozens of couples were sorted to say “I do.”
The meetings were reserved for solid weeks, said Michael McSweeney, who has been an urban official since 2009. 225 meetings were planned via New York City, he said.
Among them was Jessica Goulart, 38 years, and Gilan Salehi (35 years) who booked a Slot in Manhattan on Manhattan on Friday, their sixth anniversary as a couple. They knew they wanted to marry Valentine’s Day and set a reminder of the calendar for the day when it opened on the city’s reservation website.
“We grew up here, we fell in love here, we thought it would be a magical moment,” Mrs. Goulart said. (Saving money at a rich wedding was also plus, recognized.)
At about 10 o’clock the couple emerged from the depths of the state office of Louis J. Lefkowitz, in which Manhattan’s marriage office was placed, and was welcomed by family and friends who encouraged and blowing bubbles. “It was beautiful and very fast!” Mrs. Goulart said before placing a kiss on Mr. Salehi.
Kelly Willinger (37 years) and Arthur Siddhart (31) decided to marry a civic ceremony at Manhattan on Valentine, partly because it was comfortable: Mrs. Willinger, assistant at the Charter School in Harlem, is gone for school holidays next week. The couple plans to have a bigger wedding later in Indonesia, where Mr. Siddharta’s family lives.
“That’s just for us,” Mrs. Willinger said.
For the time being, they have sealed their promises by signing the New York Move: Division Hot Dog.
