Leanne Tucker and Jeremie Lauga of Bel Alton are married by Charles County Clerk Wendy Neal on Valentine’s Day in La Plata.
La Plata, MD – Hope springs eternal, especially on Valentine’s Day.
For 10 special couples, Tuesday, Feb. 14 was more than just another day at the Charles County Court House in La Plata. It was, after all, the day for lovers and these guys took it seriously. So seriously, in fact, they go married on Valentine’s Day.
Two years ago, Charles County Clerk of the Circuit Court Sherry Hancock was getting so many requests for weddings that the courts began constructing a small chapel in district court just for that purpose. It was very busy on Tuesday.
“We generally get anywhere from 10 to 15 weddings roughly, every year,” clerk Wendy Neal noted.
For Jeremie Lauga and Leanna Tucker of Bel Alton, the day was special for many reasons. “We thought about it for a while,” Lauga admitted.
“It’s a world of things,” Tucker added. “It’s our anniversary. We we’ve been putting off burying our grandmother so that we could be married when we buried her. It would mean a lot to her,” she explained.
“Coincidentally, my grandparents got married on Valentine’s Day, too,” Lauga said.
The day wasn’t a long, thought-out affair for Patrice Braxton and Michael White, retired Air Force, of Waldorf. “It was more of a spur of the moment,” White stated.
“We were planning our wedding for July but that fell through,” he added. “So we said, what the heck and went for a Justice of the Peace on Valentine’s Day.”
The tiny chapel was crammed full for the White wedding and the limo was waiting for them in the parking lot.
One witness for the Lauga -Tucker wedding said that two years ago Hancock came into the courthouse to marry couple in the midst of a snowstorm.
“The courthouse was closed because of a snowstorm, but she came in and married four couples,” he said.
When it comes to Valentine’s Day and marriage, folks around here are serious about that.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com