By
|
Tribune staff
Published: February 14, 2013
Updated: February 14, 2013 - 4:56 PM
Thirty couples were married at Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo today, despite overcast skies and a steady downpour that drove the ceremony indoors.
The mass wedding started seven years ago and is held in this scenic location every Valentine's Day.
Pinellas County's clerk of court, Ken Burke, officiated at the brief ceremony, which was free, though couples still had to pay for their marriage licenses.
"Our clerk's office does so many serious things, you know, with the criminal justice system and the civil justice system," he said. "So it's fun for us to have a change for a day."
Mass weddings have become annual traditions in communities across the country. Here, the only thing different this year was the weather: a nasty, driving rain that started about half an hour before the ceremony's scheduled 11 a.m. start.
As staff and volunteers scrambled to move it inside, the Charmonizers barbershop quartet serenaded the couples and their family members, who crowded into the facility's large, nondescript multipurpose room.
The couples were led to the front of the room and arranged in tight rows, where they exchanged vows and, in some cases, rings. They ran the gamut in terms of age. Some came dressed in full wedding regalia, while others were dressed casually.
Some, like Denise Tuttle, 50, and Brad Fletcher, 56, chose to get married at the gardens because of the scenery, and they were too optimistic to postpone the ceremony.
"I didn't think we were going to get the rain," she said.
A total of 39 couples had signed up to wed, but three canceled and there were six no-shows, according to the clerk's office.
university of texas UT Austin Lizzie Velasquez NFL Network att libya engadget
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.