Wedding Memories Rekindled by Party at Old Courthouse

Manuel and Edilia Feliz entered the Old Orange County Courthouse on Sunday just as they did in 1941. Only this time, negotiating the steep courthouse steps during a heat wave took its toll on the elderly couple, married for 53 years.

“I remember coming here to get our marriage license in, let’s see, when was it?” Manuel Feliz said. “Oh, yeah! It was in May, 1941.”

“Yes,” said his wife, Edilia, who wore her original, white brocade wedding dress. “And, we got married June 22, 1941, right before World War II.”

The Santa Ana couple was among 150 people taking part in Sunday’s “Legalizing Love” program, sponsored by the Old Courthouse Museum Society. It recognized couples who got their marriage licenses at the historic, three-story building from 1901 to 1964.

The courthouse, the oldest in Southern California, was built in 1901 and stood as the center of the county’s judicial affairs until 1968, when most of the court operations were moved to a new, 11-story complex.

All court activity at the old facility ceased in 1979. The building underwent a $4.5-million renovation in the early 1980s and reopened in 1987 as a county museum and historical center.

“We knew that a lot of people who got their marriage license have never returned to the old courthouse because it’s been closed for so long,” said Elynore M. Barton, Old Courthouse Museum Society president. “But now that it’s been renovated, we wanted to invite those who got their marriage licenses here so they could reminisce about the old days.”

Those who attended got to drink champagne, eat a sumptuous wedding cake and have their pictures taken for $2. About 30 couples, including Manuel and Edilia Feliz, also renewed their wedding vows in a brief ceremony officiated by Orange County Clerk Gary L. Granville.

“We have our original wedding pictures,” beamed Edilia Feliz. “You want to see?”

She handed a reporter an old black-and-white photograph. It depicted a strikingly handsome pair: She looked elegant in her white dress with veil, holding a bouquet of white lilies. He looked dashing in a black tuxedo.

“You know how much I paid for that dress?” she asked. “Fifty dollars. I bought the dress in Los Angeles at, at . . . let me see. Give me a minute. I’ll remember it. Oh, yeah, La Ideal Department Store! That’s La Eye-Dee-All.

“We were married at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church right here in Santa Ana,” she said.

The couple had said their vows three times before: first at their wedding, then at their silver wedding anniversary and again three years ago at their golden anniversary. They have two children, three grandchildren and a 2-year-old great-grandchild.

When Gene and Carol Bilau of Orange got their wedding license in 1964, the Beatles were taking the U.S. music scene by storm.

“I was in the Navy,” recalled Gene Bilau, 51. “We got married that year on July 4th. It’s easy remembering your wedding anniversary on July 4th.”

He and his wife, who will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this year, were told of Sunday’s program and decided to attend because “it sounded like a neat idea,” he said.

But they didn’t remember the courthouse.

“We were talking about that,” Bilau said. “I couldn’t remember, and Carol said she couldn’t remember either.”

Carol Bilau brought along their wedding album to share with others.

“They didn’t use color photos then; they’re in black and white,” she said.

Homes were cheaper then too, her husband said. He recalled that the couple paid $18,300 for their first home in Orange.

“And, we only paid $2 for a marriage license,” Bilau said.

A far cry from today’s Orange County marriage license fee of $62, said Granville.