Tying the Knot Is No 9-to-5 Job for County Courthouse Officials

The simple wedding plans of Launa Smith and Jesus Davila were progressing right on schedule Monday until the couple walked through the doors of the Los Angeles County Courthouse.

Then, at about 3 p.m., fate took a hand.

“When we got here we found out Jesus forgot his ID,” Smith said. “We had to go home and get it.”

So it was that Smith, 22, and Davila, 25, became part of matrimonial history in Los Angeles: the first couple joined under the county’s new extended-hour marriage program.

From now on, couples being married downtown no longer must arrive by 5 p.m. New weekday hours are from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For Smith and Davila, the extended hours meant important convenience--and unexpected fanfare. A cluster of television cameras recorded the event.

“This was supposed to have been a secret,” Smith giggled, standing beside her new husband in a lacy white gown. “But now my whole family’s going to know.”

To most couples, the first night of the new program was merely wedlock as usual as they exchanged vows and headed out into the rush-hour traffic. But courthouse officials expressed pleasure at the evening’s turnout: a stream of half a dozen new partnerships in the first hour alone.

George Cosand, chief of the civil processing unit, said he thinks the extended-hour service soon may accommodate 90 or 100 couples a week, making up for the courthouse’s discontinued Saturday service.

Couples who file for a license after 5 p.m. must pay an additional $5, bringing the cost for the license to $40, Cosand said.

“We did a survey . . . and found people had difficulty getting here during their work hours,” he said. “This appeared to be the best solution.”

“But it’s hard to predict” how couples will take to the new hours, Cosand acknowledged, with matrimonial good humor. “Giving licenses, you know, we don’t get a lot of repeat business.”

Like Frederico Ramirez and Cecilia Cabrera, both 24, who became No. 4 in the after-hour parade, most couples dressed casually for the occasion. Ramirez wore a yellow open-neck shirt; his new bride donned gray slacks and red flats.

Ramirez had just left work in Vernon, where he drives a delivery truck for a bakery.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do it before 5,” he said.

At least one couple--Mario Quintana, 42, and Romona Barron, 44--were surprised to make it to the courthouse on time. Quintana, clad in a red sport shirt, and his bride, who wore a black-and-white checked top, exchanged vows in Spanish before Deputy Marriage Commissioner Sally Chavez.

Then, turning toward the door and the new life ahead of them, they confessed that they had not heard of the new program.

“We didn’t know anything about it,” Quintana said. “We just came on down.”