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Pasco Couples Get Married In Group Valentine's Ceremony

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: February 18, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Flowers wilt, jewelry sits in a box. Chocolate disappears in days, unless you count its "lifetime on the hips".

On Saturday, several West Pasco couples gave each other a Valentine's Day gift meant to last a lifetime - each other, as they said their "I do's" at a group wedding ceremony in Starkey Wilderness Park.

More than 100 well-wishers gathered along the boardwalk near the gazebo where Pasco County Clerk Paula O'Neil presided over the 10 a.m. ceremony.

"I wanted to start some new traditions," said O'Neil, who was elected county clerk and comptroller in November. One was to adopt a Valentine's Day practice that has proven popular across the country. The County Clerk's Office is not only the agency that issues wedding licenses, but performs ceremonies practically on a daily basis.

O'Neil offered to suspend the usual $30 fee the office charges to perform wedding ceremonies to couples that would like to take their vows en masse on Valentine's Day.

"It's a romantic day anyway," O'Neil said, why not make it more so for couples who were planning on getting married. She was hoping this would be the first year of what will become an annual tradition for her office.

The offer of a free Valentine's Day wedding got a good response. Eight couples signed up for the ceremony in West Pasco, which was the first of two Valentine's Day group weddings O'Neil officiated. Six more couples signed up for a second ceremony at 1 p.m. in the county seat, Dade City.

The couples that chose to make this a Valentine's Day to remember varied in age, background. Some dressed in traditional formal wedding garb, others chose more casual, individualized styles. Their reasons for choosing to get married in this manner varied, as well.

Steven Lewin and Alexandra Sinsabaugh, one of the youngest of the couples, came with a traditional bride and groom look, him in a dark suit, her in a white dress and veil. They had been together a year and a half, Lewin said.

The couple has a child together, and Lewin added they were in a hurry to get married. When they heard about the Valentine's Day wedding offer, they figured it was both romantic and practical.

Sinsabaugh added that she considered whether she wanted to share her big day with seven other brides.

"I kind of had mixed feelings about it," she said, "but, I thought, the more the merrier.

Raymond Rourke and Janice Gilchrist, on the other hand, have been together 32 years, and were just now taking the plunge.

"You have to be sure the shoe fits," Gilchrist said.

For about a year now, Rourke said, they had been thinking that they weren't getting any younger, and they ought to get married to add legal security to their relationship. When they saw the Valentine's Day offer, they figured the time was ripe.

O'Neil has been so busy since taking over as county clerk after Jed Pittman had held the post for three decades, she didn't realize until a few days before the ceremony that even though she'd done weddings before, these were the first couples she was marrying since taking office. On Saturday, as she got to the last few lines before declaring them husband and wife, she got noticeably choked up.

"I was doing OK until I saw them looking lovingly into each other's eyes," she said afterward, laughing as she vowed to hold it together later in Dade City.

Klint Lowry can be reached at 727-815-1067 or klowry@suncoastnews.com.

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