FROM THE bENCH
Unique Wedding Ceremonies in the Atlanta Community
Keeping with the Valentine’s
season, the Editorial Board of the
Atlanta Lawyer reached out to sev-
eral metro-Atlanta judges for their
reflections on officiating weddings.
Large Wedding
Judge Jeryl Rosh (former DeKalb
County Probate Court) recounted
officiating the marriage of two
young attorneys–one Catholic,
and one Jewish–at a large wedding.
They only wanted to be married
and did not care about the details.
1818 Weddings in
Gwinnett County
Judge Christopher A. Ballar (Pro-
bate Court of Gwinnett County)
provided the details of two mass
weddings he and Chief Judge
Kristina Hammer Blum (Magis-
trate Court of Gwinnett County)
planned and officiated in Gwinnett
County:
Having been established in 1818,
the number 18 has a special sig-
nificance for Gwinnett County.
The county hosted a free special
bicentennial-themed “Two Be-
come One” mass wedding cer-
emony in Lawrenceville. The
ceremony took place at 1:18 p.m.
Thursday 1/18/18 at the Gwinnett
County Historic courthouse. The
free mass wedding is one of sev-
eral special events planned for this
year to commemorate Gwinnett’s
200th birthday. The significance
of doing it at that specific time and
on Thursday is hidden in the date
itself—it appears as 1-18-18 if you
write it out numerically.
“They only wanted to be
married and did not care
about the details.”
12/13/14 Weddings
The next time the calendar will
show such a unique, sequential
date won’t come around until the
22nd century, because there are
only 12 months in a year. Couples
who wanted to tie the knot on the
last sequential date of this century,
12/13/14, were able to exchange
vows and celebrate with friends
and family.
Gwinnett County Magistrate Judge
Kristina Blum and Gwinnett Pro-
bate Judge Christopher Ballar
planned a free mass wedding at
the Pinckneyville Park Commu-
nity Recreation Center in Berke-
ley Lake. The service took place
at 10:11 a.m. so the couples could
say they were married at 10:11 on
12/13/14.
The center transformed into a
beautiful wedding venue with
rooms decorated in a variety of
themes: the Crystal Room, the
Holiday Red Room, the Woodland
Room, the Winter Wonderland,
the Shabby Chic Room and the
Traditional Romance Ballroom.
Special photo opportunities for
brides, grooms and their fami-
lies were available throughout the
venue.
Chief Judge Beryl Anderson (Mag-
istrate Court of DeKalb County)
10
February 2018