They Do : At the County Courthouse, Love Means Never Having to Dress by the Rules
June is the month of romance--even at the Los Angeles County Courthouse.
Each day this month, scores of couples have dropped in to tie the knot. Some planned the event for weeks; others decided on a whim. The surroundings are drab and many of the outfits weren’t hatched in bridal magazines. But in the Marriage License Division, everything--including the clothing--takes on a rosy glow. Even the fanny packs, boots and ankle socks, micro-mini dresses and Navy bell-bottoms.
On a recent afternoon, Angela Soreano was the most official-looking bride in the room. She clutched a bouquet that “we both bought,” she explained. Her ivory satin dress, trimmed with lace and seed pearls, was made by a professional seamstress. The groom, Herb Brand, sported a spiffy gray suit, maroon-striped shirt and maroon-patterned tie--an outfit the couple bought together at a men’s clothing store.
The only indication that attorney Dan Koryn was about to be married was the boutonniere in the pocket of his rumpled business shirt. It was a present from his bride, Sabrina Farr, who arrived directly from work in a khaki-silk suit, white lace teddy and white pumps. Her sister, Angela, who had been asked that morning to be a witness, threw together a chic brown-and-white sun dress, white socks and rose-beige sneakers “especially for the occasion--and for the hot, sweaty drive from Oxnard.”
There was nothing unplanned about Patricia Ramirez’s white dress, which had a row of fluffy little chiffon clusters down the front. “I went shopping all over for it,” she said. Her groom, Ramon Herman, wore his Navy summer whites. And they were both nervous. “You only do this once in a lifetime,” Herman explained, adding that the day was carefully chosen. “It’s the one-year anniversary of when I asked her to marry me.”
Not every groom seemed as sure of the day or the deed. One man slipped away from his bride to ask deputy marriage commissioner Valerie Black: “Am I allowed to get cold feet?”
Apparently not. “You should have worn thicker socks,” she told him.