Employees to Help Meet Overflowing Demand for V-Day Weddings
Nadia Moshirian, a legislative policy advisor, conducted one of her first wedding ceremonies at the County Administation Center last week. Moshirian normally works in the Office of Strategy and Intergovernmental Affairs but will volunteer for the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk's office on Valentine's Day to keep up with heavy demand for marriage licenses and wedding ceremonies.
Brides in white dresses, clutching bouquets. Excited families and friends gathered nearby. Limousines idling out front.
It’s hard to miss these sights when you work at the County Administration Center, where thousands of couples come to wed each year.
Working next door to the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk’s marriage room, County employees Nadia Moshirian and Caroline Smith often hear bursts of applause. The legislative policy advisors in the Office of Strategy and Intergovernmental Affairs sometimes poke their heads in the marriage room to see what’s going on.
Moshirian and Smith are among the more than 20 employees who will leave their regular jobs behind on Friday—Valentine’s Day—and don black robes to help meet the heavy demand expected for ARCC’s wedding services. Moshirian and Smith are specially trained to be able to marry couples on this famously amorous day.
Part of what drew them to the duty, they say, is the jubilant atmosphere in the marriage room, especially on Valentine’s Day.
“Everyone is in love, and there’s a happy mood throughout the day,” Moshirian said. “That’s when the real romantics show up.”
Turnout is expected to be huge at the four ARCC locations that offer marriage licenses and ceremonies: San Marcos, El Cajon, Chula Vista and downtown San Diego. As of Tuesday, all but three pre-reserved time slots for a license or ceremonies were booked, said Jennifer Pechan, ARCC’s Assistant Division Chief for Marriages. But couples can come into the CAC on a walk-in basis anytime Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pechan said her office can’t predict how many eager couples they may see that day. Having ample resources is key.
“We’re always over prepared,” she said. “Having the folks from outside (our department) is always a blessing, so if we have one of those unbelievable days, it really makes a difference. Even if they’re only able to give us a couple hours it’s really helpful.”
In addition to acting as commissioners and marrying couples Friday, other volunteers from both inside and outside the ARCC’s office will perform other duties, including acting as witnesses, processing license applications, escorting couples and guests to ceremonies and taking photographs.
After agreeing to volunteer, Moshirian and Smith first received a copy of the ceremony script. They immediately began reading through it and practicing, using co-workers and each other as stand-in couples. At home, they practiced in front of friends, family and even their dogs. Smith said her chocolate Labs had short attention spans.
Moshirian and Smith then observed full-time ARCC wedding commissioners performing ceremonies, watching their different styles and learning logistical details, such as at what point couples should pivot to face each other and when to hand them the rings. The duo was ecstatic to put their new skills to the test last week as they officiated their first few real weddings. They performed like such pros that one would never know they were rookies, gushing afterwards about the experience.
What’s special is “just to be part of people’s happiness (in this way), and seeing how happy people are,” Smith said.
So how did this all come together? Weeks ago, Smith and Moshirian were standing in line at the CAC’s first floor coffee cart next to Pechan. They started talking and half-jokingly offered to help out with weddings if the ARCC ever needed it. Lo and behold, their chance came week before last when their boss, Strategy and Intergovernmental Affairs Director Geoff Patnoe, received an email from Pechan seeking volunteers for Valentine’s Day. Patnoe was very supportive so the two got in touch with Pechan.
Smith said she loves how different officiating weddings is from her day-to-day job. As a legislative policy advisor, she spends most of her time working with County departments, and tracking policy and politics in Sacramento and Washington, DC. They don’t often work with the public.
Not only are they working with the public in this role, but they are presiding over a couple’s most intimate of moments. They feel a responsibility to not only get it right, but to make sure the couples don’t feel like a number.
As Moshirian officiated her second wedding ever last week, she read each word carefully and made eye contact with both the bride and groom.
They may be complete strangers, but “you look at their expressions and you get in the moment with them,” she said. “You feel that emotion that they’re feeling.”
For more information on the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk and its wedding services, visit the department’s website.
Caroline Smith, also a legislative policy advisor in the Office of Strategy and Intergovernmental Affairs, officiated a wedding ceremony last week to prepare for what is expected to be a huge day for the ARCC Friday.
