They celebrate a collective wedding in a Florida museum on Valentine’s Day

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Shackeem Frankson is your typical portly prison guard, but when he spun around Monday to exchange wedding vows with longtime girlfriend Sarah Horton, he had to make a He paused to wipe away the tear that slipped down his cheek.

But needn’t worry: The eight other couples also exchanging their own vows at a massive Valentine’s Day wedding outside one of Florida’s most iconic mansions were probably too busy to notice.

“It’s okay to be emotional today,” Frankson said, as his girlfriend smiled at his showing his emotions, following the ceremony arranged by Palm Beach County Clerk of the Court Joseph Abruzzo and his staff.

Fittingly, the group ceremony took place on the South Lawn of Whitehall, the 75-room, 100,000-square-foot (9,290-square-meter) mansion that oil and rail magnate Henry Flagler built as a wedding present for his third wife, Mary Lily. Kenan Flagler.

The Flagler family wintered here beginning in 1902, and it is now the centerpiece of the Flagler Museum. Historians say it cost $4 million (110 million today) to build. It usually costs $15,000 to get married there, but on this day there was only $86 to pay for the license.

It was a bright and sunny morning, albeit cold for South Florida (17 degrees Celsius, 62 degrees Fahrenheit), when the couples gathered in front of the gates of the two-story neoclassical mansion, its white columns facing the crowd. The brides, all dressed in white, stood next to their grooms, most dressed in dark suits or tuxedos. Long-stemmed red roses were presented to the women and rose buds to the men at the ceremony.

The future wife Diana García was waiting with her fiancé, the manager of a store Sergio Mena, the moment to complete their two-month marriage commitment. They met in high school regarding twelve years ago, but only started dating two years ago. They have a one year old son.

Garcia — now Diana Mena — signed up the couple following seeing the ad on the clerk’s website. “It would be great” to get married on Valentine’s Day in such a historic place.

“It’s a special place, and it’s not in the courthouse,” said Diana Mena, a domestic worker.

For Frankson and the former Miss Horton, who was waiting nearby, the ceremony ended a five-year engagement. They met online seven years ago.

Sarah Frankson, account manager, said she had heard from the local TV news that the clerk’s office was looking for couples for the ceremony, so she signed them up and they were chosen. They had started planning a wedding a couple of years ago, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and they put it on the back burner until this opportunity arose.

The only drawback is that family members were not allowed in, but they might view the ceremony on Facebook and many had plans for meals and receptions followingward.