THE QUESTION: How many marriage licenses are taken out in Anne Arundel County? And how many of them result in weddings performed by court clerks?
THE ANSWER: Marriage licenses are issued by the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court. In 2004, the office issued 4,056 marriage licenses.
Of those, clerks performed 1,224 weddings, according to the clerk's office. The weddings are done during business hours in the small chapel in the historic section of the courthouse. They are civil ceremonies, and they can be -- and have been -- personalized.
In January 2005, the office issued 218 licenses and performed 82 ceremonies. In February -- and a February bump in the number is common because of Valentine's Day -- clerks issued 249 licenses and performed 94 wedding ceremonies.
The clerk's office has 106 clerks handling everything from civil and criminal cases to land records, but only six -- the elected clerk of the court and the highest ranking officials below him -- perform weddings.
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