Forty couples gather at the Florida Botanical Garden in Largo on Valentine's Day 2009 for a wedding ceremony officiated by Pinellas County Clerk of the Court Ken Burke.
LARGO - Fifty couple will unite in marriage on Valentine's Day during a special ceremony at the Wedding Garden at the Florida Botanical Gardens.
Pinellas County Clerk of the Circuit Court Ken Burke will do the officiating at the 2 p.m. ceremony.
Burke announced on Friday that due to an overwhelming response, the 50-couple maximum has been reached, and the clerk's office has stopped taking reservations.
“We have to limit the number of couples that may participate. It is such a festive event, that understandably, many couples bring their friends and families to watch the one big ceremony,” Burke said in a press release. “Last year, 40 couples were wed in one ceremony in the Wedding Garden. With those 80 people, their friends and families and the Clerk’s Office employees needed to run the event, it filled the entire garden.”
This is the fourth year the Clerk’s Office is hosting this event.
The event will include wedding music by the Charmonizers barbershop quartet. Publix Super Markets, Walmart and AMC Theaters of Oldsmar will provide wedding cake, water and ice.
Art & Stone Orchids will sell orchids and arrangements in support of the Florida Botanical Gardens Foundation, which provides support for the Gardens through sales and donations. Orchids that will bloom each year on Valentine’s Day as a special reminder of these couples’ anniversary will be available for purchase.
Couples will receive a commemorative marriage certificate, which will be mailed within one week from the date of the ceremony with the official marriage certificate. The Clerk waived the normal $30 fee to perform the marriage. Standard marriage license fees still apply.
All couples should arrive at the Botanical Gardens by 1 p.m. on the day of the event with their marriage license and identification.
For more information regarding the process and locations to apply for a marriage license, contact Recording Services at 727-464-3008, or visit www.mypinellasclerk.org.
For more information about the Wedding Garden and/or the Florida Botanical Gardens, 12520 Ulmerton Road, Largo, FL 33774, visit www.flbg.org.
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