Patrick Magness and Brenda Carey are all smiles after Judge Paul Raleeh (center) married them in his court just before 11 a.m. ... on 11-11-11, of course.

Today is Veteran’s Day and first we want to thank all of our veterans for their service to our country.

But today is also 11-11-11, bringing this singular date sequence into the global limelight with an abundance of auspicious numerological significance that, frankly, we just don’t have time to discuss in this forum.

Today is also a day of love at Justice of the Peace courtrooms.

Collin County’s Justice of the Peace courtrooms turned out to be much more than what you’d call business as usual on 11-11-11.
Judge Paul Raleeh in McKinney had 18 wedding scheduled in his Precinct 1 office as of Friday morning, including one at 11:00, 11:11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 1:11 p.m. 

There was still room for some walk-ins by the time the first couples started coming in at around 10 a.m.

“Today is a record for our office,” Judge Raleeh said. “In my fourth term of office, this wedding schedule beats anything I’ve ever seen. There were a lot of folks who wanted the 11:11 a.m. slot for their wedding, too. This tops last year’s 10-10-10 wedding push.”

In Plano, Judge Johnny Lewis of Pct. 3-1 had 16 weddings scheduled.

In Farmersville, Judge Terry Douglas had six weddings slated at his Precinct 2 office.

Meanwhile, back in Plano, Judge John Payton of Precinct 3-2 set up two group weddings at 11 a.m. and 11:11 a.m., plus others to follow throughout the day for about 17 or 18 couples.

Brenda Terrell, his court coordinator, said one bride decided at the last minute that there were simply too many 11’s at one time, so she settled for a 10:59 ceremony.

All told, the county’s JP’s hitched about 60 couples, hopefully preventing most of the grooms from forgetting those crucial future anniversary celebrations.  

See you next year on 12-12-12… at 12:12.

View Past Features