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Letter to the editor

Judge ties the knot 27 times

All is sweet at the courthouse with a mass wedding on Valentine's Day.

By Eileen Schulte, Times Staff Writer
Published February 15, 2008

Twenty-six couples embrace after they were married on the steps of the Pinellas County Courthouse on Valentine's Day. The $30 Clerk's fee to perform the marriage was waived as well as the $10 fee to purchase a wedding photo for couples who participated in the group wedding ceremony. Photo gallery: You may now kiss the bride
	[Jim Damaske | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Jim Damaske | Times] The Charmonizers barbershop quartet sing in the lobby of the Pinellas County Courthouse while Snezana "Suzy" and Pedro Padilla wait to get married. The Charmonizers volunteered their services to add music to the Valentine's Day group wedding. [Jim Damaske | Times] Majeedah Nelson, 28, feeds wedding cake to her husband-to-be, Army Specialist Marvin Griffin, 29, before they got married. The couple had arrived late for the group ceremony so Judge Jack St. Arnold married them in a courtroom. They had some cake while waiting for their ceremony.

CLEARWATER

I do. With those two little words, 27 couples were wed in the courtyard of the Clearwater Courthouse on Valentine's Day. Then there was lots of kissing.

At 2 p.m. Thursday, hundreds of people jammed 315 Court St. to witness the second annual mass wedding.

Forty couples had signed up for the nuptials. No word on why the 13 others didn't show up or if cold feet were involved.

Some brides wore flowing white gowns. A few wore jeans.

Some grooms wore tailored black tuxes. A few wore jeans.

Most wore smiles as they strolled over the courthouse steps strewn with synthetic rose petals.

"It's wonderful to see love in the air at the courthouse," said Myriam Irizarry, chief deputy in the Pinellas County Clerk's Office.

Much of the time, the people she sees at the courthouse aren't in a good mood. They're there for jury duty, to pay traffic tickets, file small claims cases and the like.

But Thursday was so much more romantic.

The ceremony was performed by Circuit Court Judge Jack St. Arnold. As a former divorce court judge, he has ended hundreds of marriages.

"This is better," said St. Arnold, now a probate magistrate.

The county staff got into the spirit of the occasion. Most wore red and decorated the courthouse with bouquets of flowers.

Ray and Kathy Donohoo, 69 and 57 respectively, were having a great time.

The couple met at a Valentine's Day ballroom dance five years ago. It's the second marriage for both.

"He's the love of my life," Kathy Donohoo said of her new husband, a square dance caller.

She said "everybody thought he could never be caught" but they were wrong.

She is sure the couple will do the do-si-do for the rest of their lives.

How can she be so confident?

"Show her," she said.

She had him reach into his jacket pocket. Out came a pair of fuzzy red handcuffs she had bought for the occasion.

"He's not getting away," she said, laughing.

Eileen Schulte can be reached at schulte@sptimes.com or 727 445-4153.

By the numbers

40 couples signed up to get married.

27 showed up.

$93.50 cost of a marriage license.

$61 cost for those who complete a premarital counseling course.

0 blood tests required.

1 couple said they will honeymoon in the Bahamas.

1 couple said they will honeymoon on Honeymoon Island.

1 bride used handcuffs to get her groom there.

1 bride wore a black leather jacket.

1 couple arrived in a white stretch limo.

[Last modified February 14, 2008, 21:36:23]