TUCSON, Ariz. -- Weddings continue at the Pima County Justice Court, but not in a traditional way.
The process is simple -- you can get married online -- from home. The Zoom ceremony takes about 15 minutes, and guests from around the world can see it all.
Cameron and Myriam Warren say they planned to have the wedding in March, but then COVID-19 happened.
“So it’s been you know a little bit disappointing having everything ready and then canceling it very last minute like that,” Cameron told KGUN9.
However, they found a way to make things official by having a Zoom wedding.
Judge Kendrick Wilson, with the Pima County Justice Court says they offer virtual wedding Monday through Friday.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. Congratulations,” said Judge Wilson during the Zoom wedding..
Judge Wilson says they’ve officiated more than 100 weddings since may.
“People are able to have family members from all over the country and actually all over the world join, when in reality in the days before the pandemic they probably wouldn’t have flown all the way to Tucson for a very brief wedding ceremony,” he added.
One person attended Cameron and Myriam’s Zoom wedding from Alaska, and two others from Rio Rico!
Another benefit of Zoom weddings is couples and their families don’t have to wait in line.
Though Judge Wilson says technology can sometimes be an issue.
“And invariably it is always the family member or guest that appears to be most important for the couple that has technical difficulty,” he added.
So they encourage people to practice before the ceremony.
“But you know if their parents, for example, miss it, we’ll do it again,” said the Judge.
The Warren's plan on having an in-person reception next October, and by then they should be used to the name change!
“It’s Velarde-Soto,” said the new bride.
“It’s not...it’s Velarde Warren…” said the groom.
“Oh yeah, well I haven’t signed the thing yet!” replied the bride while laughing.
They were able to sign the marriage license, which they will need to send to the Pima County Justice Court to finalize the marriage.
“It’s no replacement for what we wanted, but we are going to have that experience eventually and this is you know... this is definitely what I would call a positive experience,” said Cameron.
“It was about us getting together in the end so it didn’t really matter in the end where it happened as long as we were getting married. In the end we had our family and our friends to support us,” added Myriam.
