An exchange of flowers, candy or heart-shaped cards might be enough for most people on Valentine`s Day, but not for 51 couples at the Du Page County Courthouse or a lot of other couples throughout the area Friday.
They exchanged wedding vows.
”It`s doubly special,” said Tom Ryan, 22, who waited his turn to wed Lisa Prescott, 22. ”You can never forget your anniversary when it`s on Valentine`s Day. Not that I would forget it anyway.”
Du Page County judges perform weddings every Friday afternoon in conference rooms on the first floor of the courthouse, 505 N. County Farm Rd., Wheaton. A normal Friday sees 25 to 30 weddings, court officials said.
But for this Valentine`s Day Friday, reservations had been coming in since early January.
When the number approached 90, the reservations were halted, and court officials began arranging for five judges, instead of the normal three, to be on hand.
Perhaps bearing out the adage that the path of true love is not always smooth, there were 37 no-shows. But there were the 51 couples who seemed certain.
So, what`s it like getting married on Valentine`s Day?
”Hectic,” said Ellen Ryan, 30. ”Panicky.”
”It was great,” said Kari Teraslinna, 37, her husband of five or 10 minutes. He wore a dark suit, and she wore a long white dress and a pin that belonged to her grandmother. They were on their way out the door to a big family party at their home in Naperville.
Both are engineers for Bell Laboratories in Naperville, and they had been engaged for three years.
”I travel a lot,” Ryan explained.
Tim Hazard, 32, and Michele North, 35, of Bartlett had been engaged
”forever,” she said.
”Well, for a year officially,” North added.
They picked Friday for their wedding day last week because it was Valentine`s Day, ”a romantic day of the year,” she said.
On the other hand, there was Frank Kovar, 36, of Westmont, a house painter and a native of Czechoslovakia who came to the United States 11 years ago. He was married Friday to Monica Umlaufova, 25, a Czech who has been in this country for only a year and doesn`t speak English.
”She doesn`t know it`s Valentine`s Day. We don`t celebrate that in Czechoslovakia,” her new husband said.
Friday was an especially hectic day for newlyweds Sandy Brown and Randy Luciani, who married in the Rolling Meadows branch of the Cook County Circuit Court.
First, Brown`s hair appointment took an hour longer than expected. Then, Luciani couldn`t find a cleaners to press the shirt he was going to wear. On top of that, he hadn`t remembered to pick up the wedding bands from his Chicago jeweler and had to send a friend on a mad dash.
Then, en route to the ceremony, to be performed by a Des Plaines judge they had selected for the ceremony, the couple realized they had left their marriage license at home.
”Our judge had to catch a plane,” explained Luciani, 36. ”He had to leave.”
But on Valentine`s Day those in love are not to be denied. So the couple, along with several others, took their marital vows at the courthouse.
One couple in Cook County was reaffirming vows after 26 years of marriage. Another, an 18-year-old high school student and his 19-year-old girlfriend, explained that they settled on a civil ceremony because their families are spread out throughout the United States.
And Lori Jean Kron got married while cradling her 12-day-old daughter. Kron and her beloved, David Deacon, chose Friday because of the romance associated with the day. They said it will be their only wedding ceremony.
Musician Tom Broeske, 34, and industrial designer Mimi Hadawi, 26, won`t have a church wedding either. In fact, the mere prospect of such a major undertaking was the reason the couple waited as long as they did, they said.
Many in the area, of course, were marrying for the second time. After all, a lot of marriages end in divorce these days.
Quipped a sheriff`s deputy at the Skokie courthouse: ”Come back next week and we`ll divorce you. The same courtroom is used in divorce cases.”
