Unhappily Ever After in Georgia Town

For decades, this town has appreciated the beauty of the 45-minute blood test.

With a name redolent of matrimonial promise, Ringgold first pitched itself as a marriage mecca during World War II, using speedy lab results as a lure for time-pressed servicemen and their brides.

Through the years, Ringgold’s reputation grew, attracting couples from across Georgia and much of the Southeast -- and even some from across the Atlantic -- who found the conveniently clustered courthouse, blood lab and chapels hard to beat.

Even a few celebrities, including country music stars Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton, tied the knot here.

But the happy marriage of town and industry may be on the rocks.

Residents say Ringgold’s livelihood might be threatened by a state law that took effect July 1, eliminating the blood-test requirement for marriage licenses and thus rendering moot one of the historical underpinnings of the area’s wedding economy.

Tammy Cole, vice president of the Catoosa County Chamber of Commerce, says that although the law may cut into revenues, she believes people will still want to wed in Ringgold.

“A lot of people come here because their family members got married here,” she says, adding that Ringgold is still a charming place. Besides, Cole added, people may not care or may not find out about the law anyway.

The Howells, 30-year-old Michael and 24-year-old Kendra, drove three hours from Noonan, Ga., on Friday to be married.

“It’s convenient as ever, no headache, especially for everybody who doesn’t want to go through a major planning ordeal,” says Michael Howell. And, he pointed out, Ringgold -- located near Chattanooga National Forest -- is “absolutely gorgeous. It’s an old town, great setting.”

Near the Tennessee line with a population of 2,400, Ringgold is named after a U.S. Army major, Samuel Ringgold, who was killed during the Mexican War.

The law was introduced by GOP state Sen. Don Thomas of Dalton, who said it would save Georgia an estimated $300,000 per year in costs associated with handling blood tests that check couples for syphilis, rubella and sickle-cell anemia. The tests are antiquated, said the lawmaker, who also is a physician; many other states already have eliminated them.

“You just don’t get any results back except false positives on syphilis,” Thomas said, plus “you have people fainting from having a needle stick and drawing blood.”

There were 2,250 marriages last year in Catoosa County, and newlyweds, Cole said, generated an estimated $686,000 in revenue.

Helen Boyd, owner of the Ringgold Wedding Chapel -- a Methodist church built in 1845, burned during the Civil War and finally rebuilt in 1925 -- says she is worried about business and has taken action by reducing her rates from $100 to $75. The fee includes a pastor, silk flowers, punch, cake, mints, nuts, an 8-by-10 photo, taped music, changing rooms for the bride and groom and use of an 1890-vintage pump organ.

In one respect, Boyd said, the law might actually help her attract more walk-in business that she had been losing to nearby competition.

Before July 1, she would tell couples who stopped by her chapel that they needed to obtain a license from the courthouse, which would take about 10 minutes, and then get a quick blood test at nearby Andco Labs. Then they could come back to her chapel, and she would have the on-call minister there within the hour.

However, sometimes they never made it back.

About 10 years ago, the lab opened its own Chapel of the Bells in the same building, with a pastor who charged only $60 to perform a marriage service. Many couples who wandered into Boyd’s church-like chapel in jeans or shorts realized that the lab’s simple setting would do just fine, and it was cheaper.

Andco Labs closed when the law took effect. The Chapel of the Bells remains open, but Pastor Herman Kapherr says his business has slowed to a trickle. “The bottom fell out of it,” Kapherr said from behind a counter in front of an empty lobby.

Still, Boyd and Kapherr hope convenience and the town’s reputation will prevail to help keep their chapels in business.

But they face additional, if understated, competition.

While Probate Judge Greg Grayson has instructed his clerks to inform license-seeking couples about both wedding chapels, he also can perform their ceremony that very day at no charge, except for gratuities.

According to law, the judge may marry couples as long as the ceremonies are performed during off-duty hours, which Grayson has weekdays from noon to 1 p.m. and after 4:30 p.m.

The judge performs ceremonies on a small “wedding carpet” in his office. The tips -- averaging about $20 to $25 per wedding -- are nice, he said, and he sometimes uses them to take his clerks out to lunch.

Grayson said he doesn’t promote his service much because it is time-consuming. Plus he is concerned about the effect the new law might have on the town’s wedding industry; a decrease in business, he said, likely would mean closing one of the two wedding chapels.

Boyd is hopeful that some of the recent newspaper and radio interviews she’s done will help bring couples to her chapel.

Kapherr, married in the Ringgold courthouse in 1967, said he plans to open an air- and water-purification business to help pay the bills if the chapel closes. But he would miss the wedding business, he said, because he wants to help couples take marriage more seriously. Even with weddings that are simple, fast and casual, he usually offers advice and prayers during the services.

“It’s not a show. It’s not a mini-Las Vegas to me,” Kapherr said. “Marriage will change your life.”

How the new law will change life in Ringgold remains to be seen.