Licensed to Wed

B and I headed to the court house on Friday late afternoon to get our marriage license. I anticipated somewhat of a battle. After all, you're at the court house to get something and B was only in town for one day and what with all the rules, well, you get the picture.

B and I rolled in, past the crossing guard ("Off to get married, kids?"), through the metal detectors and secuirty ("Hang a right for marriage licenses!"), and down the hall past a few bystanders ("You guys here to get married?"). It was like being in a Disney movie; all we needed was a soundtrack, chirping birds, and a lighthearted skip to round out the experience.

We headed into the office (Windows 15 & 16, please) and quickly got our forms.

We moved to the table to begin filling them out (with the classic tethered-to-the-table pens) when B discreetly pointed to the guy behind us in line wearing the BOOZEFEST shirt. Classic. His wife-to-be had on the largest t-shirt I'd ever seen, but perhaps she was just trying to compete with the loudest.

Forms complete, we headed back to the window, presented our IDs, picked out the color of our certificate (Oatmeal, in case you care to know), and then waited while she processed us. It was then that the teen bride (I swear she was 16 if she was a day) rolled in with her plastic daisies and entourage of people. We could only hear snippets about garters (which were not visible from my view of her white sundress) and the groom was no where to be found. It got to be so crazy that even the license lady (nice as she was) got tickled. For the record, we later found the groom out in the parking lot moving stuff around in the car. I'd still pay to hear their story.

From now on, I'm considering taking lunch at the wedding windows of the court house. Everyone is happy (or so you hope), and everyone is kind. I told the lady that she had the best job in the place and she said, "I love it. There aren't many jobs where you can tell people 'God bless you' every day in the workplace." I didn't point out to her that she worked in a government office and that she likely fell into the category of forbidden Christian-based well-wishing, just smiled at her little printed cutouts that said, "Jesus Loves You" and "God Bless!"

The picture above is B signing the license. I have another one where he looks very serious, as if this "taking a wife" nonsense is quite the serious, and cumbersome, business. I'll save that one for another day...

As we left, the lady asked us our wedding date.

Me: "May 9th!"
Lady: "Y'all are cutting it close on the 30-day window for the license, aren't you?"
Me: "Well, we've got 29 days, and if it gets pushed back from that then there's going to be more trouble than an expired license."

Come to think of it, maybe that's why B looked so worried...