A New Year and a New Life--as Husband, Wife

He was a 19-year-old Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, she an 18-year-old freshman in college in Colorado. Having gone together since the seventh grade in Denver, here they were on New Year’s Eve at the Los Angeles County Courthouse getting married.

Theodore Wynne and Shelly Stryker said they planned to let their parents know what they had done sometime today. In the meantime, they held hands, she giggled slightly and in just two minutes for a grand price of $63.25 the casually attired couple had been declared man and wife by Deputy Civil Marriage Commissioner Paul Amesquita Jr.

They kissed rather shyly. But then in the hall outside with the formalities over, they gave each other a big hug.

The marriage, witnessed by Wynne’s brother and sister-in-law and that couple’s baby, was one of 128 performed quickly and smoothly, but with touches of good humor, emotion and joy, Thursday by the county staff.

Holiday Time Popular for Marriages

For various reasons, explained Iris Spencer, who supervises the marriage license section at the courthouse, people like to get married at holiday time--and particularly New Year’s Eve. With a few it’s tax advantages, she said, but for most it seems to be a joyously auspicious moment--the turn of a new year--and a date for an anniversary they feel they are sure to always remember.

On a usual day, there are 50 to 55 marriages performed at the license section.

Unlike last year when it closed at 5, the marriage section was open until 8 p.m. Two hours before the deadline, about 20 couples were waiting for the quick ceremony. An hour before, there were four or five, and the last couple--carpenter Moises Maciel and presswoman Carol Atencio, both 22 of Wilmington--came through the door at 7:53 p.m.

They quickly paid their fee, and the staff jumped to type the license. Three minutes later, they were before the deputy commissioner, dressed in a black judicial robe.

“We won’t turn anyone down tonight, just as long as they are here by the time the door is locked,” said Marc-Etiene Angelucci, who serves as office assistant, general expediter and, when necessary, as the certified witness of the ceremonies. “The staff sometimes pretends to gripe, but actually we’re all pretty excited when there’s a crush.”

“We want to start the new year off right,” said Atencio, the happy bride fancily clothed in a formal white gown.

But this was the exception. Many were married in jeans. Many couples came to the courthouse alone. Only one couple all night backed out at the last minute--”No not in jeans,” said Maria Franco, 22, a teaching assistant from Lima, Peru. She and fiance Robert Nichols said they still planned a church wedding next week.

For Wei-Liang Lu, 33, a Downey architect, and Jai-lee Chenoy, 30, a Long Beach computer architect, it was neither a sudden act nor an informal occasion. Well-dressed, they brought an expensive camera with them and earnestly asked witnesses to take a series of formal pictures of themselves and Commissioner Amesquita.

The ceremonies may have been abbreviated, but Amesquita and Spencer, alternating in performing them, were careful to take time with each to say a kind word. “Congratulations and much happiness,” Spencer told Martin Garcia, 21, of Guadalajara, Mexico, and his bride Nicolaza Gonzalez, 20, of Puebla, Mexico, after it was over. “Happy New Year!”