Getting Our Marriage License

California or Bust. Since the majority of our rather large families live in or near California, it made more sense for us to be married there than in Florida where we live. We decided to make arrangements to arrive in Orange County on Friday, May 23, 2003. This turned out to be a huge mistake on my part. You see, I already purchased the tickets when I realized we would be arriving too late on Friday to get the license. And we planned the ceremony for Sunday, the 25th. It would have been a better idea to arrive in time to get to the courthouse, but we simply didn't think of it.

Here are pics of us driving to the faire grounds early Saturday morning. Sister Susan and sweet Lily Bell took us to meet Kim who would take us to the Chapel (see below).

Billie in car going to Chapel (Lily takes the picture)

Lily takes my picture.

Saying "I Do". Kim, our wedding planner, and I were stuck with figuring out how to get a license prior to the ceremony. We thought about changing our tickets to arrive earlier, but need I say, it was too expensive an option. Of course, we could have the ceremony without a license, but it wouldn't be legal. It would seem that we would have to either get married at the Miami courthouse either before or after our trip to California. Neither of us liked that option. But Kim rose to save the day. She found that we could get the license on Saturday, a day before the ceremony. There was a chapel in Riverside, CA in a little strip mall called the "I Do Wedding Chapel" that performs ceremonies. We were elated. (Here's Kim and I looking through wedding books at the chapel. Mike and I pose outside.)

There was one small hitch. We were only able to obtain a confidential marriage license, which has some stipulations that a regular license does not. Primarily, a confidential license will not show up on public record and can only be obtained by the couple or a court order. Also, you have to be married in the same county that you purchase the confidential license. Normally it wouldn't matter. You can get a marriage license in one county and be married anywhere in the state. We were very lucky to have the I Do Wedding Chapel in Riverside where the faire was. Not all counties provide this service.

The Chapel was really neat. You can have a Justice of the Peace type service (what you see here with us seated) or you can have a whole wedding. The hall behind where we're sitting leads to a larger room. In fact, there was a couple having a wedding that morning, which looked rather festive.

Not thinking about the license was not my only mistake. I also forgot my driver's license at Susan's when we left that morning and didn't realize it until we got to the Chapel. Of course, it's like the only thing you have to bring with you. We had to wait for Susan to get back home and then she had to come back out to the Chapel. Susan is an amazing woman for all the hours of schlepping. We can never thank her enough!! (Here's SuSu and a sleepy Lily in her jammies after delivering the most coveted driver's license).