Buckhead castle plays Cupid to couples

Just before 10 a.m. on Valentine’s Day, couples arrived at the big old building with the “Castle For Rent” sign out front. They’d paid $100 for an assembly line wedding at Rhodes Hall, the 105-year-old mansion on Peachtree Street and the schedule was tight.

What kind of couples dream to marry in 15 minute intervals?

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Jason Getz/jgetz@ajc.com

Stanley Johnson and Christie Koerwer of Buford laugh as chaplain Jeremiah O’Keefe-West marries them.

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Plenty, when it’s a day of romance and a site prettier than the courthouse: in 24 hours, the mansion filled its 25 slots, then added 16 to a waiting list. Brides in high heels and cowboy boots; grooms in tuxedos and jeans. One party snuck the be-gowned bride in to hide her from her soon-to-be husband. Other couples’ kids crawled all over as each said “I will.” One pair renewed their vows after 43 years — “They don’t need new rings, they need medals,” chaplain Jeremiah O’Keefe-West uttered. Another had a sign language interpreter. Yet another eloped — no friends, no family, no plans to tell their parents.

It went so smoothly that Rhodes Hall, headquarters of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, will probably hold speed weddings again, and commitment ceremonies, too.

Stanley Johnson and his partner of three years, Christie “not-for-long”-Koerwer, called it perfect, “More about us than all the other stuff attached to weddings,” Koerwer said. He’s an architect, she works in construction sales; the Buford couple wanted to support the Georgia Trust’s preservation mission and had long planned to get married, anyway. They just needed the time to do it and a noon time slot seemed perfect — except that the line moved ahead of schedule.

• 11:30 a.m. Johnson, 57, and Koerwer, 46, arrive, he in a jacket and tie, she in a new white dress off the sale rack, her grandmother’s old brooch, a bracelet with blue accents and a wide white hat she intended to return afterward—borrowed.
• 11:40 a.m. They walk up to the pre-ceremony holding area, trailed by Koerwer’s two sons, one who brought his girlfriend.
• 11:43 a.m. Koerwer’s brooch falls off. Rhodes Hall workers in red and black fuss to fix it. “Is this everyone?” someone asks, and ushers them into a room where a wedding has just finished.
• 11:44 a.m. All three guests settle into chairs. O’Keefe-West tells the bride and groom to face each other and hold hands. “Dearly beloved,” he begins.
• 11:45 a.m. Their marriage began, in reality, when they made a commitment to each other, O’Keefe-West says. They should not expect the husband to wear a halo, nor the wife to wear angel wings. “The little things are the big things,” he warns. Do not just marry the right partner — be the right partner.
• 11:47 a.m. They say a prayer, an “I will,” then another. “Love never fails,” O’Keefe-West tells the room.
• 11:49 a.m. “And with all that I have and all that I am, I honor you,” the couple vows.
• 11:50 a.m. The couple kisses once, then three more times for the camera. The chaplain signs off on the certificate.
• 11:51 a.m. The husband and wife head outside for photos. The brooch falls off. Koerwer — or is it Johnson? — decides to keep the hat after all. “Everything just seemed to fall in place,” Koerwer said, “like it was supposed to be.”
• 11:55 a.m. Another wedding is ready to begin.