I do!

By: Emily Hoffman

Emily Hoffman Mark and Melody Silva exchange vows at Municipal Judge Larry Butcher’s law office on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. Butcher performed four wedding ceremonies on Valentine’s Day.

It’s Valentine’s Day. Mark and Melody Silva are smiling. Mark’s daughter is smiling. Melody’s mother is smiling. Their friend, clicking pictures in the background, is smiling. That’s they way it should be at a wedding.

The Holt couple is getting married for the second time. They first tied the knot in 1996 at The Little White Chapel in Las Vegas. They split up in 2005, but it didn’t even take six months for them to decide that it was a mistake.

“Now it’s better than ever,” Melody said. “It’s almost like everything happens for a reason.”

This time they exchanged their “I dos” in Kearney at Municipal Judge Larry Butcher’s law office. They wanted to make their love official again, and doing it in Kearney seemed like a good idea.

“We just wanted to do it here in town,” Melody said. “We thought it would be nice and more cozy.”

Why Valentine’s Day, why not Groundhog Day or Lincoln’s birthday?

“Valentine’s Day sounded like the right time,” Melody said. “We thought it sounded perfect. We can celebrate Valentine’s Day and our anniversary all in one.”

Butcher said the Silvas weren’t the only ones tying the knot on Valentine’s Day. They were couple number four. Butcher said he’d never officiated more than three weddings on one day.

“I’ve never done any on Valentine’s Day,” he said.

That all changed when he stared getting phone calls with requests for his services on the big day of love. Butcher starting performing weddings in 1999. He’s done about 75 so far. When he first stared marrying people, he’d get requests from all over. Now he limits those requests to more local folks: Holt, Kearney and a few from Excelsior Springs and into the surrounding countryside.

It got to be too much, all the requests and weddings. He’s got clients and city matters to attend to in addition to helping people exchange rings. And Butcher doesn’t charge for the service. By law, he can’t.

Now the pace is good for Butcher. He’s got the system down. He no longer performs the ceremonies at City Hall. That got to be disruptive. Weddings often were performed during the lunch hour when many people stroll in to pay bills and conduct business.

Now he has a little room for weddings in his office off Platte Clay Way. He has his wedding book with the ceremony typed out. He doesn’t stumble while performing the ceremony to the Silvas, who are still smiling.

After the couple exchange rings and the groom kisses the bride, papers are signed. It’s official again. No longer are Mark Silvia and Melody Silva single people. If their two smiles are any indication, they’re happy about the change.

Kearney Editor Emily Hoffman can be reached at 628-6010 or ehoffman@kearneycourier.com.