‘Easy as Vegas’: Once crowded Columbus court now offers only ‘emergency’ weddings
One of the first things you have to do, to get married in Georgia, is prove you’re not married already.
You also must document your age and identity, but most couples know that much about each other, by the time they arrive at the Muscogee County probate judge’s office on the sixth floor of the Columbus Government Center, to get a marriage license and have a judge conduct the ceremony.
Probate Judge Marc D’Antonio recalled one groom who slipped some paperwork through the window there to a clerk, telling her she would need the documentation.
When his pregnant fiancé saw this and asked about it, he had to tell her he’d been married before.
He had neglected to mention that. Perhaps, like papers through a window, it had slipped his mind.
When it came time for the bride to say “I do,” in D’Antonio’s tiny courtroom, she told the groom, “You’re lucky I still do.”
Whether such drama from the quiet past will return to the stormy present remains to be seen, during the COVID-19 outbreak that has prompted Georgia to declare a judicial emergency, ending the long procession of weddings that once brought crowds to Columbus’ probate court.
D’Antonio alone has performed up to 32 in a single day, on Valentine’s Day 2014.
“The staff organized the office where they literally were coming in this door to get married and walking out that door to go get their certified copies,” the judge said, pointing to an entrance and exit on each side of the courtroom. “So I literally had folks going in one door and out the other.”
The office commonly has a crush of weddings every time Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday, as it did this year, he said. Checking the tally from this past Feb. 14, D’Antonio found the total to be about 30, though Associate Probate Judge David Siegel, who joined the office in 2018, now performs most of the ceremonies.
“We were probably averaging between 100 and 120 weddings per month, before the pandemic,” the judge said. His office issued about 2,100 licenses in 2019, and performed 1,200 to 1,500 ceremonies, he said.
A typical week would average 25 weddings, about five a day, the judge said. But nothing’s typical these days, thanks to the coronavirus. Now the court is issuing marriage licenses only by appointment, and conducts only “emergency” weddings.
Emergency
What’s an “emergency”?
“Either you are terminally ill or you have a very compelling other reason related to immigration status or something like that, to justify an emergency,” D’Antonio said.
One of the emergency weddings D’Antonio conducted involved a couple who had been together for years and had planned a wedding this summer in the groom’s native England. He was not a citizen of the United States.
He was to fly home this month, but travel restrictions left him stuck in the States, so the couple married here to ensure he could remain in the country legally, the judge said.
Though the courts have been restricted to conducting only “essential functions,” during the judicial emergency, marriage is counted among those crucial services, D’Antonio said, “because it impacts very basic fundamental rights, including property and inheritance, access to insurance, hospital visitation, and emergency medical consent.”
Those healthcare issues are why couples need emergency marriages when one becomes terminally ill.
“Since the beginning of April, we’ve issued two marriage licenses, and I’ve performed two ceremonies,” the judge said.
D’Antonio suspended issuing marriage licenses except in emergencies when the Government Center was closed to the public April 6, but resumed the service by appointment when the building reopened May 18.
Those seeking appointments may leave a message at 706-225-4750 or email probatelicense@columbusga.org. Applicants must have a ceremony scheduled no fewer than three days ahead, with an official lined up to perform it. They can fill out most of the application information online, the judge said.
More information is on the probate court website, www.columbusga.gov/probate.
The office already was conducting other business online, D’Antonio said: “We’ve been doing a lot of the estate work electronically already.”
But sometimes families settling an estate after a death have to come in, because they’re not represented by an attorney who can file the documents online.
“We’re going to do this very, very slowly, because I don’t want anyone getting sick,” he said. “So initially we’re going to limit appointments to one license and one estate appointment per hour. We’ll revisit that as time goes on.”
Wedding ceremonies will remain emergency-only: “We won’t be resuming marriage ceremonies in May at all. This is an evolving situation and we’ll keep looking at what we can do.”
Come June, he expects to conduct ceremonies by appointment, but without the guests that sometimes added 30 or more people to a single wedding party.
“My plan would be to limit the ceremony to the couple themselves, but I have become much better at video-conferencing, and live-streaming and all those other technologies, and I’m willing to embrace virtual weddings, so to speak,” he said.
The couple will have to be present, but friends and family may have to watch the ceremony online.
Missing it
For a probate judge, whose duties include dealing with families after a death and with those seeking a loved one’s involuntary psychiatric commitment, weddings are a nice change of pace.
“It’s one of the happier things I do,” said D’Antonio, who became probate judge in 2013. “This is an important function, and it saddens me that I haven’t been able to keep the volume going.”
It had its quirky moments, too. “It’s not unheard of for folks to come in here and apply for a marriage license and a weapons carry license at the same time, or probate mama’s estate and get the marriage license,” the judge said.
Some couples get all dressed up, but not in formal wear. “On Halloween, you’re going to have folks get married in costume….. I specifically remember folks dressed as aliens.”
This year some thought getting married on May 4 was an emergency, he said: “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but if you’re a very big ‘Star Wars’ fan, you might want to get married on May 4. ‘May the Fourth be with you.’ In fact I believe we did have folks dressed as ‘Star Wars’ characters…. It was 2018, when May 4 fell on a Friday.”
Being the man who has married so many people has earned the judge a place in their hearts, and sometimes in their bedrooms, too.
“I’ve had folks come up to me at restaurants and say, ‘You married us.’ I had one say ‘A picture of you is on my bedside.’ I guess it was a marriage picture.”
That’s what he gets for offering quick service at high volume.
“We were as easy as Vegas,” he said. “As long as you were getting married in Muscogee County, you could get your marriage license issued in Muscogee County, even if you were residents of other states.”
The license costs $56 — $16 for those who’ve had premarital counseling — with a $10 fee for the certified copies couples need to prove they married. The vows typically can be exchanged in about five minutes, though D’Antonio acknowledges he takes longer: “I talk too much.”
Some courts don’t allow walk-in weddings, so people drove to Columbus for the convenience.
“In Fulton County, the judge up there was doing weddings only one time a week, on Fridays, so I’ve had people drive from Fulton County….. I’ve had folks drive from Texas, when their significant other was here at Fort Benning.”
Soldiers graduating from training at Benning typically boosted the wedding tally, as they were moving on to other assignments, and wanted the Army to help pay for the newlyweds’ moving expenses, D’Antonio said.
Denying the military that service during the pandemic troubles him. “I’ve often said that one of the reasons it was very important for us to continue to perform weddings was that I feel Columbus is a military town,” he said.
“I have no doubt that I’m creating hardship for couples…. Hopefully someday we’ll get back to being as open as we were then.”
Until that day comes, he has to play it safe, he said:
“No one wants COVID-19 disease as a wedding present.”