This session was shot by GMP associate photographer Jennifer

Jeanette and Christopher are the first of my couples to ever get married, not in the clerk’s office, but in a courtroom by a judge. It was so cool to learn that this was even possible and I’ll share how they did it here in this post!

Jeanette & Christopher worked with Gracie May Photography associate photographer Jennifer for their Orange County Courthouse wedding in Orlando. They’re a very sweet couple who met in the Air Force which was a big part of the judge they chose to do their courtroom civil ceremony in the courthouse.

Jennifer met them at the courthouse an hour before their appointment to do their Mr & Mrs photography session which is the opposite way we usually do things but due to scheduling logistics, it was necessary to flip the session and ceremony around. After this, they headed inside where they were able to head straight to their assigned courtroom and avoid waiting in the marriage office.

Out of over 200 courthouse weddings I’ve done, this was the first taking place in a courtroom and it took some time to get my head around how this might work for others who want to do the same thing. Here’s what I learned about getting married by a judge in a courtroom at the Orlando courthouse:

It’s a bit of work to arrange this, but the steps are to look through the 9th Circuit Court Judges here and if you find someone you like, email their judicial assistant and inquire about whether they would be willing to officiate your marriage. It might help to tell them a bit about yourselves and why you’d like to get married in their courtroom.

Jeanette and Christopher chose a particular judge because of her status as a Veteran (like them). Unfortunately, she broke her leg and they had another judge, Judge Mark Miller, and he was so kind and excited to be marrying them. I’m sure it was a wonderful break from his usual job and we so appreciate how special Judge Miller made this experience for Jeanette and Christopher.