Why I Have No Pictures of the Courthouse :)

Here is the procedure for getting a marriage license in DC:

- both parties must go to the DC courthouse between 8:30 am and 5 pm
- both parties must present identification proving who they are
- identification must also show both parties are older than 16
- both parties must present the officiate's name
- the officiate must be registered to marry people in DC
- both parties sign the form
- there is a charge of $45 (or maybe $35? I don't quite remember)
- there is a 3 day waiting period
- someone must return in person to pick the certificate up

It is a process.

And it forced me to take some more time off from work, because how else would I make it into the DC courthouse before 5 pm?? That was frustrating. Ryan and I decided to head in one morning, because we figured that would take the least amount of time and I could go right to work afterward.

We got to the courthouse just as it started to rain. There was a long line out the door, since everyone had to go through security. As we waited, I noticed one particular rule on their sign: "NO UNAUTHORIZED CAMERAS" Uh oh ...

I slipped my unauthorized camera into the little change pouch in the center of my purse, which is how I got it into a Celtic Woman concert. (I didn't actually take any pictures, I just didn't want to have to go all the way back to the car!) Unfortunately, the government's Xray equipment is a bit more sophisticated than the security at the concert.

"Do you have a camera?" the security guard asked me.
What could I say? No? He already knew I had it! "Yes."

So they confiscated the camera and told me I could pick it up before we left by showing identification. "Some people try to take pictures of witnesses and things like that." Fair enough, but I'm just trying to get a marriage license, I swear! (I should also note that the only other time I tried to go into a courthouse, to pay a traffic ticket, I tried to bring in a knife ... )

After that excitement, getting the actual license was a piece of cake!

But I really did wish I had my camera. They must conduct weddings in that same room, because they had this old, sad awning thing as decoration. Paper signs were taped to the wall all around it: "You may not take pictures here. You can take pictures in a separate room after the ceremony!" How romantic ...

Ryan and I worried that our pastor might not be registered in DC - everything else was going right and that would be a huge problem - but she was. Someone else in the room had worse luck than us; she was frantically calling her pastor, trying to figure out why he wasn't on the list!

We signed the necessary documents and then went downstairs and paid our required fee in cash, no credit cards accepted. Various brochures in that room were translated into several languages, so I took a French one. Of course :)

And then there was the matter of getting my camera back at the end ... the exit/entrances are located at different places, so I had to push my way into the entrance through the stream of people coming out. I showed ID and they gave me back my camera. Then they immediately turned their attention back to the line of people coming in. So I did the only thing I could do: I walked back into the building, where I wasn't supposed to have the camera. Now, I went right out the exit afterward, but I could have just gone and did whatever I wanted with it!

There's a 3 day waiting period to get a marriage license, but only a brief waiting period before you can start taking pictures of witnesses, lol.