Alexandria’s Clerk of Court Greg Parks will officiate “Halloweddings” on Friday, Oct. 31, in Old Town.
For the first time, Parks and his staff will perform the weddings in 18th-century costumes in the ballroom of Gadsby’s Tavern Museum (138 N. Royal Street). He wants the happy couples to dress up however they want — as Lydia Deets and Beetlejuice, Gomez and Morticia Addams, even Ken and Barbie. The ceremonies take about 20 minutes to perform, and reservations are available between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Parks was inspired by Prince William County Clerk of Court Jaqueline Smith’s annual Valentine’s Day wedding ceremonies.
“It was a low-cost alternative for people to have a nice celebration for their wedding,” Parks told ALXnow. “I normally do weddings on Fridays, and then it occurred to me about a month ago that, hey, this year Halloween is on a Friday.”
Parks then reached out to the museum and booked the ballroom.
“We really leverage one of the historical crown jewels of Alexandria, the Gadsby’s ballroom,” Parks said. “George and Martha Washington danced there, and I’m hoping that people will get excited and want to take part.”
While Halloween won’t fall on Friday again for several years, Parks says he wants to make this a tradition for his office. He also said he’s interested in doing a Valentine’s Day wedding event in Alexandria, like in Prince William County.
“I would have loved to have done this for my own wedding,” Parks said. “So often, people think of the courthouse wedding as the bare minimum. The idea here is just to have a nice time, have a fun time, have an unforgettable wedding, really, to make this special for people.”
It costs $50 for each ceremony. The full flier for the event is below.
