WEDDINGS AT A LOW COST ARE PRICELESS.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
The price is right at the Wal-Mart of wedding chapels in Van Nuys, where a couple of the retailer's own employees got hitched Friday for the everyday low price of $108 - $70 for the marriage license and $38 for the ceremony. Throw in $20 for a supermarket wedding cake that Dan and Donna Angus picked up on the way to Donna's mother's Reseda house for the reception, and the couple tied the knot knot In cording, the interlacement of parts of one or more ropes, cords, or other pliable materials, commonly used to bind objects together. Knots have existed from the time humans first used vines and cordlike fibers to bind stone heads to wood in primitive axes, and were for less than $150. How's that for a Valentine's Day Valentine's Day: see Saint Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day Lovers' holiday celebrated on February 14, the feast day of St. Valentine, one of two 3rd-century Roman martyrs of the same name. St. special? Where can you beat a deal like that? Only at the Wal-Mart of wedding chapels - a 10-by-30-foot makeshift chapel with plastic flowers and folding chairs off the lobby at the county registrar's office in Van Nuys - where you stand in the same line to get marriage licenses and death certificates. OK, so it's not the Ritz-Carlton overlooking the Pacific Ocean, but no one's keeping stats on whether these Wal-Mart marriages last any longer than the Tiffany-style ones that cost an arm and a leg. Love's love, right? What's price got to do with it? The Ritz Ritz elegant and luxurious hotel opened in Paris in 1898 by César Ritz; hence, ‘ritzy, putting on the ritz.’ [Fr. Hist.: Wentworth, 429] See : Luxury or Wal-Mart - neither has a money-back guarantee on marriage. Dan's a retail manager at the Wal-Mart in West Hills, while his new wife, Donna, is a cashier CASHIER. An officer of a moneyed institution, who is entitled by virtue of his office to take care of the cash or money of such institution. 2. The cashier of a bank is usually entrusted with all the funds of the bank, its notes, bills, and other choses in at the store in Porter Ranch. Actually, she's not his new wife. They got hitched in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. a few years ago after getting tired of waiting for Donna's divorce papers to come through. ``The day my divorce was supposed to be final, the computers crashed in the San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. County offices,'' Donna said Friday while waiting for her 1 p.m. ceremony to start. ``I kept bugging them, but they said it would take a while to get me the official papers. We got tired of waiting and went to Vegas.'' But to make the union legal in the eyes of the state of California - because Donna wasn't technically divorced yet when she eloped to Vegas with Dan - they had to get married here. They chose the Wal-Mart of wedding chapels. Hey, they're no dummies. They're down-to-earth, working people. They've got better things to do with their money than invite a bunch of their freeloading friends to a $50-a-plate wedding reception. Dan and Donna already got the honeymoon out of the way a few weeks ago because they have to be back to work Monday. ``We went to the high country in the Sequoias. It was beautiful,'' Dan says, smiling as Irving Leemon walks into the chapel with the couple's marriage papers. Irving, along with Jeanne Strauber, who was assisting him, is a volunteer deputy commissioner sanctioned by the county to perform marriages. Before he retired in 1999, Irving worked 32 years for the city of Los Angeles
Now, he puts on a black robe and works gratis GRATIS. Without reward or consideration. 2. When a bailee undertakes to perform some act or work gratis, he is answerable for his gross negligence, if any loss should be sustained in consequence of it; but a distinction exists between non-feasance and for the county, marrying an average of 10 to 12 couples every Friday afternoon in the Wal-Mart of wedding chapels. ``I love it,'' he says. ``You meet so many wonderful people and get to be part of one of the most joyous joy·ous adj. Feeling or causing joy; joyful. See Synonyms at glad1. joy  ous·ly adv. days of their lives.'' At 1:05 p.m., Irving takes his place behind a wooden podium podium In architecture, a pedestal on a large scale. It may be any of various elements that form the base of a structure, such as the platform forming the floor and substructure of a Classical temple, a low wall supporting columns, or the structurally or decoratively that has a cardboard Valentine's Day heart tacked on it. He tells Dan and Donna to join hands. ``Please turn off your cell phones,'' Irving begins. ``I had one bride almost hit the groom once. He was slipping the ring on her finger when his cell phone went off. Man, was she mad at him.'' By 1:10 p.m., all of the vows and ``I do's'' had been spoken, and Dan and Donna kissed as the three members of their families in attendance applauded. ``Now I only need you to sign a couple of pieces of paper and you're official,'' Irving said, wishing them a long, happy life together. This is the moment it sometimes gets awkward. Once in a while - not often - the bride or groom will try to slip Irving or Jeanne money for performing the ceremony. They're not allowed to take it. Only the county of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. is allowed to take any money in the Wal-Mart of wedding chapels. ``I had one guy crumple crum·ple v. crum·pled, crum·pling, crum·ples v.tr. 1. To crush together or press into wrinkles; rumple. 2. To cause to collapse. v.intr. 1. up a $100 bill and leave it on the floor for me after he left,'' Irving said. ``I had to chase him down the street to give it back. I told him, 'Thanks, but I want to keep my job.''' By 1:20 p.m., the Angus wedding party was on its way to the supermarket to pick up the wedding cake. A young woman - out of breath and with a young man in tow - stuck her head in the chapel door. ``We're your 1:15,'' she said. ``Traffic was horrible. I hope we're not too late.'' Irving smiled, and waved them in. No one's ever too late to get married in the Wal-Mart of wedding chapels, where the price is right. Dennis McCarthy, (818) 713-3749 dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Irv Leemon performs marriages at the Van Nuys County Building in Van Nuys for only $70 for the license and $38 for the ceremony. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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