New Jersey Couple Is Married In Women’s Bathroom — Only Place Wedding Could Go On As Planned
They had the marriage license in hand, along with a gathering of family and friends to witness them say their sacred vows. Then suddenly something happened that brought Brian and Maria Shultz’s planned courthouse wedding to a screeching halt.
If Brian and Maria didn’t get married right then and there inside a New Jersey courthouse bathroom, they would have flushed away their nuptials for another 45 days. It would take that long to have another marriage license issued for a future wedding, according to Fox News.
While gathering for the wedding, Brian’s mother, who was also Maria’s future mother-in-law, fell ill inside the women’s bathroom at the courthouse. An ambulance was called when an asthma attack suddenly came over the woman, but there was no way she could make it back into the judge’s chambers to witness her son get married.
Police officers administered oxygen to the mother at the Monmouth County Courthouse while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. According to the Sheriff’s Office Facebook Page, the couple was “clearly upset” when learning the mom wasn’t going to be able to be at that wedding. That would mean they’d have to postpone their day until she could be there to see them tie the knot.
This might be the oddest place ever for a wedding. https://t.co/B7suXOv6BI
— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) January 25, 2018
It wasn’t as if they could get married the next day or even just a few days later, as they would need a new license to do so and that takes 45 days to process. Seeing the couple so forlorn sparked an idea for Officer Leonard Maxfield.
After getting the judge’s OK, Maxfield suggested they get married in the bathroom, which would solve all their immediate problems. Brian’s mother would be there and the marriage could go on as planned.
https://www.facebook.com/MonmouthCountySheriffsOffice/videos/1430776960382660/
As CBS News reports, the couple had to change the venue from the Judge’s chamber to the bathroom, but the deed they were there to do was done.
While it wasn’t the wedding setting the Shultz couple had planned for, it was a solution that would nix the wait for another 45 days. And after all, it only entailed moving the bride, groom, and their guests down the hallway just a bit to where Brian’s mother waited for the ambulance to arrive.
The police Facebook page noted that “[t]he future Mr. and Mrs. were on board and so was the Hon. Judge Katie Gummer who performed the rather unusual ceremony.” A later post indicated that the mom was doing well and so was the bride and groom.
The post also noted that Mr. and Mrs. Shultz “were touched that Sheriff’s Officers and the Hon. Judge Gummer went out of the way to make their day memorable and special.”
