For some it is the need to be documented, before the actual wedding celebration someplace else, for others it is the convenience and low price, whatever the reasons, many come here to this small county chapel in Santa Clara to tie the knot. "We see diversity of culture, age, maturity, and motive" says Karen Casarella, one of a dozen or so employees, that officiate ceremonies at "ten minute" intervals, four days a week.
"I used to be in tax collections. This is much better," says Julie Hughes, an officiant who's been performing weddings for the county for nearly seven years.
And no matter the discounted price, the ceremony is given it's due reverence. Some bring flower girls, and music, gang members line up with tattooed foreheads, baggy pants and bandannas, Casarella says once she performed a ceremony at Santa Teresa Hospital, with a terminally ill patient, with IV tubes covered by his street clothes. "He died a few days later". Once, Hughes recalls seeing a familiar look in a woman's eyes as she stood at the altar, she leaned in and asked, 'you're having contractions now aren't you?" "Yep" the woman replied. Hughes, calmly sped up the service.
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