Clinton News-Record, 1987-02-18, Page 36Page 12 Showcase '57
Memories Are Forever
Photographs capture
the joy of your
wedding and keep
the celebration
fresh for years.
• weddings
• family portraits
• video
• framing
0
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Karen Sturdy, justice of the peace for Huron County, has peformed about 200 civil mar-
riage ceremonies since 1980 in this courtroom at the Huron County Court House in Goderich.
(photo by Lou -Ann Hope)
What are you
doing this Friday'
By LOU -ANN HOPE
The time is 2 p.m It is a bright and
sunny Friday afternoon and you and your
fiance are standing quietly together in a
room located on the second floor of a pro-
minent Goderich building. Nearby are a
few family members and close friends.
Before you stands a woman clad in a
black robe and holding a small, black
book. Suddenly, the stillness of the room
is broken by her voice. a
"We have come together today in the
presence of these witnesses to unite this
man and this woman in matrimony, an
institution encouraged by the laws of our
country to foster the happiness, welfare
and propagation of mankind," the woman
says.
She is Karen Sturdy, justice of the
peace for Huron County, and those words
are the beginning of your marriage
ceremony currently taking place in Court
Room 2 of the Huron County Courthouse.
Sturdy estimates that she has married
about 200 couples since she began to per-
form civil wedding cermonies in 1980.
"There were not that many when I
started but it gradually escalated."
Unlike the traditional church wedding
where the couple has a choice between
having their wedding bans announced in
the church for the required three weeks
or buying a marriage license ($35) and
paying for the marriage registration
($35), couples being married in a civil
ceremony have no choice. They must
purchase a marriage license and pay the
registration fee.
"Canada is not like the. United States
where you can get a marriage license one
minute and be married the next," Sturdy
says. "After getting a marriage license
(for which you require proof of legal age
-18- or parental consent and proof of ab-
solute divorce) there is a three day
waiting period before it can be used and
J
•
the license is only good for thmo-r hs.
If it's not used before it expire , it ha to
be renewed."
A second difference between civil
ceremonies and church weddings is p
marital instruction. Many churches re-
quire couples to have some form of pre-
marital counselling before they can be
married in the church. With civil
ceremonies, there is no instruction.
And while wedding rehearsals are com-
monly held the night prior to the church
weddings, there is no practice run-
through for a civil ceremony.
Another difference between a church
wedding and civil ceremony is the time
element. Church weddings are often
booked months in advance and are usual-
ly held Friday evenings or on Saturdays.
Not so with civil ceremonies.
"Although justices of the peace in the
larger cities, such as London, Toronto
and Kitchener, might perform
ceremonies any day of the week at any
time, I only perform marriages on Fri-
day afternoons because it is a good day
for me," Sturdy says.
She requires people to book in advance.
In booking a wedding she sets one hour
aside although the actual service takes
only
edfor 10 minutes.photographs. The extra time is allow -
She does recall one time when she was
awakened at midnight by a caller who
wanted her to perform a wedding.
"He had it in his head that he wanted
to be married within the next couple of
hours. I told him to take an aspirin and
call me the next day if he still wanted to
get married. I never heard from him
again," she recalls.
Sturdy says she has also been asked to
perform wedding ceremonies at cottages
and in people's backyards. However,
e
ceremonies in Huron County take place
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