AUGUSTA, Ga (WJBF)- Valentine’s Day is the day of love! What better day to marry your soulmate?
They’re going to the courthouse and they’re gonna get married. 8 couples took advantage of the Richmond County Civil and Magistrate Court’s offer to perform the ceremony for free on Valentine’s Day.
“Valentine’s Day is the day we picked because there was a four day weekend. We had Monday and Friday off of work,” said Garrett Smith, one of the grooms.
Garrett and his new wife Nicole Smith are both in the Army. While they picked Valentine’s Day for convenience, there is also a bigger reason they didn’t want to wait.
“Since we’re both getting stationed in different places next, we want to– there’s a system in the Army that will try to get married couples stationed together. And so, we would like to enroll now as soon as possible so that we can try and be co-located again,” Garrett explained.
The couple met when they were stationed in Korea 4 years ago. They became friends and maintained that friendship, then things became romantic a year ago. They both feel lucky to have found their person.
“I think he just loves me unconditionally and is my biggest fan, my biggest supporter. I think, in our line of work, it’s very stressful all the time, but he understands it completely. And so, when I go home, like he’s the person I can lean on in any situation,” Nicole said.
“I can’t believe you just took that. That was like the greatest answer in the world. I can’t top that,” laughed Garrett.
This is the 4th year the Richmond County Civil and Magistrate Court has offered free marriage ceremonies on Valentine’s Day. But it’s something Chief Judge Carletta Sims Brown looks forward to.
“To see the excitement of the couples, to see the gratitude by them to be here and to finally be making the commitment to each other,” she said.
This year, the ceremonies almost didn’t happen. The hurricane and snow storms cause a backlog of rescheduled cases, plus the new ones coming in.
“Our staff was slammed and resets and the massive amount of new filings that are coming in. But when one couple said, ‘Are you all doing the weddings this year now?’ ‘Yeah, we’re going to do it this year,'” said Judge Sims Brown.
Frederick and Rebecca Dickerson also took advantage of the free ceremonies. The couple has been together for more than 20 years and have 4 children. They said they value each other and after so long, it was just time to tie the knot.
“Just being there. She’s real dependable,” Frederick said about what he loves about Rebecca.
“Yeah. He’s real dependable. I can depend on him to do anything. All I gotta do is just ask and he’ll do it,” Rebecca agreed.
Even after all this time you only have to look at them to see how in love they still are.
“I’m just happy we were able to do it. I love you,” said Frederick.
“I love you too,” Rebecca replied.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Frederick said as he kissed his new wife.
If you want to get married and you missed the chance on Valentine’s Day, they will be doing some more ceremonies in the future. Just go to the Civil and Magistrate Court’s website to find out when the next date is.
