To easily register for the Valentine’s Day Ceremony online at the Clerk of Court’s website, click here.
After a two-year hiatus compliments, as usual, of Covid, the steps of the Flagler County courthouse will again be ablaze with wedding dresses and boutonnière and the jittery grins of couples about to seal lifelong vows with a kiss as Clerk of Court Tom Bexley brings back the tradition he started in 2018: the Valentine’s Day mass wedding.
“We’re getting back into the swing of things with a lot of things in our lives, so this seemed the logical next step,” Bexley said.”Everybody in my office enjoys doing it, a lot of people volunteer their time and their own money so it’s fun.”
Especially Toni Hollingsworth, a deputy clerk in the finance division who could likely pull off editing Brides magazine and lift sales the way her coordination of the event lifts spirits at the courthouse. Her personal touch is paid for with her own money.
The ceremony is scheduled for noon on Feb. 14–a Tuesday–on the plaza in front of the Kim Hammond Justice Center in Bunnell. The ceremony will be followed by cake and (non-alcoholic) drinks, the cakes typically prepared by the Clerk of Court’s staff.
The ceremony in past years has been limited to the first 25 couples that apply, which hasn’t been a problem. It has drawn about 16 couples each time, most of them getting married, some of them renewing their vows. All couples are welcome, including same-sex or non-binary couples (you might need to take advantage before the Supreme Court continues its steady slither back to the dark ages: the courthouse is still very much a say gay space for now).
Bexley officiates, first with the vow renewals, then with the newlyweds, and always with that speech of his. “That’s when I get to share my pearls of wisdom,” he says, noting that he’s on his second marriage, but in its 14th year, “so I must be doing something right.”
If the weather doesn’t cooperate–as it did not in 2020–then the ceremony is moved to the big courtroom on the first floor, giving it a more jovial feel than than its ordinary docket allows. The ceremony is usually accompanied by the sounds of a Flagler Youth Orchestra string quartet, and has been attended by many family members and friends of the lucky ones. It is likely that a judge or two will also be present.
As a bonus, the clerk also waives one of the fees that must be paid–the $30 ceremony fee– though the standard $87 license fee, required by law, is still applied. Couples receive a special Certificate of Marriage commemorating the day. Then there are those cupcakes.
The event is now anticipated every year. “We hear about it all the time out in the public. It was very popular,” Bexley said, with some couples saving the date just to be part of it. Two couples have signed up so far, though the clerk issued the announcement about it on Wednesday.
For more information, contact the Recording Department at 386-313-4360, Kim C. Hammond Justice Center (the Flagler County courthouse), 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Building #1, Bunnell, Florida.
To easily register for the Valentine’s Day Ceremony online at the Clerk of Court’s website, click here.
