Orange County courthouse holds special group wedding ceremony on Valentine’s Day

ORLANDO, Fla. — Love songs rang out in the Orange County courthouse while couples lined up to vow their lives to each other. For the first time, the courthouse held a group wedding ceremony in the rotunda on Thursday afternoon for a special Valentine’s Day service.

Clerk Tiffany Moore Russell said she wanted to make it a special days for couples and make it a different experience for them.

“I think it was cool for them to look up and have folks on the second and third, fourth level looking down on them and their wedding,” Russell said. “I thought it was a great way for them to have a group ceremony, especially on Valentine’s Day.”

The room was filled with laughter and joy as 16 couples tied the knot surrounded by friends and family

Maria and Evan Marcano, both 24 years old, said they were together for seven years. She said they decided to get married because Valentine’s Day is “the love day” and they are just excited to start their future.

“We’re going to make a family and just keep working and we’re going to [stay] together for life,” Maria Marcano said.

Brooke Barnhizer and Vinny Rapisarda, both 34 years old, have been together for four years. Rapisarda said the ceremony was beyond his expectations.

“The whole ceremony I thought it was going to be really small, but they put it on really well,” he said.

Barnhizer said they were just planning on getting marriage licenses, but made the spur-of-the-moment decision on Monday to be involved in the ceremony and sign up.

“I saw on the website that they were having a special group ceremony and we kind of thought it would be kind of crazy, over the top a little, and something different,” she said. “We just kind of were like ‘let’s do it.’”

Kenneth Sandon, 37, said he and Andrea Hernandez, 29, chose to get married because of the meaning behind the date itself.

“I think today is one of the best days to really show how you feel about a person, not only between me and my new wife, but around the country,” he said.