In a day of love, dozens of Florida couples join together for a group wedding in historic courthouse

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Thirteen Valentine’s Days later, Cher and Joey Wilson made a last-minute choice to finally get married.

The two have never been traditional, they said. They met in the ‘90s when Cher worked as a bartender at a classic rock bar, and Joey played his guitar on stage with his band. They dated, broke up, got married to other people and had kids — but that was a lifetime ago for them.

Now, the couple has spent thirteen years raising their family together in Louisiana, the past three in Florida — even wearing rings and changing last names.

Yet about two weeks ago, Cher, 52, surprised Joey, 51, by saying she signed up for an annual group wedding held by the Palm Beach County clerk’s office.

“The fact that it’s in this historical courthouse and the fact that this place that is like our paradise now is where we actually are able to live the rest of our lives, it was to me, it wasn’t any guess. It was a for-sure thing that it would be so memorable and special and cool too to be able to get married with all these people, and in West Palm, which is where we bought our little house together,” Cher Wilson said.

On Friday, Cher wore a white dress colored in florals and Joey wore his plaid flat cap and vest adorned by a red rose, and they held each other close as clerk Joe Abruzzo recited vows for them to speak to one another.

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“I promise to love and cherish you, to give you my strength, to help you in good times and bad, and to make our home of love and understanding. I will give you all of my trust and all of my tomorrows for all of my life,” the couples recited together.

Within ten minutes, the more than decadelong commitment to their love, their family, the band they are in together and the home they’ve created in West Palm Beach was celebrated in a moment surrounded by 30 other couples starting a new chapter, married.

To them, that moment was perfect.

All the 31 couples shared that moment in the front of the courtroom with Abruzzo leading their ceremony, with couples matching colors in red or black, or some with spectacularly elegant white gowns.

This is the 12th year that the clerk’s office has hosted this free group wedding, with multiple local florists or photographers volunteering to put together this once-every-year Valentines Day event. Group weddings also occurred in other parts of the state too, including in Miami.

“We have over 1,000 different statutory duties in our office, and this is by far the most fulfilling, exciting, and then you have the caveat of doing it on Valentine’s Day, the day of love, that you get to share this special moment with these couples and watch their passion,” Abruzzo said.

Couples rushed along the wooden floors covered with white and blue petals, down the original marble steps that have been in the county’s first courthouse since the beginning, and went on to their brunch plans or honeymoons ready to start a new chapter of their lives.