SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Close to 1,600 couples decided to get married at the same time at the same place in Tijuana on Valentine’s Day, where in Mexico, the holiday is known as the day of love and friendship.
The mass wedding ceremony happened at the city’s Morelos Park.
For several years now, the City of Tijuana has organized the event to help “families that don’t have the economic resources or time off from work to plan out their weddings or celebrations.”
According to Angélica Félix Domínguez, who runs the city’s Office of Civil Registry, the event was totally free of charge.
Over the years, the event has taken on a carnival-like atmosphere with many couples wearing costumes and festive outfits instead of the traditional white dresses and tuxedos.
But according to Félix Domínguez, the nuptials are very much official and legitimate.
“Primarily we do this to bring judicial documentation to the couples, so their children will know exactly when their parents got married and became a union, and they are official in the eyes of the state.”
During the ceremony, four recently-arrived migrant couples in Tijuana took part as well as 60 foreign nationals.
“Foreigners must obtain a certificate that authenticates their signature from a public official in their country, but some did not have this, so we had to get the Migrant Affairs Office involved to get this paperwork,” said Félix Domínguez.
She also said, 39 same-sex couples got married, 13 more than last year, and that 84 senior-citizen couples also tied the knot Wednesday.
“We had been together for six years, but we wanted to take a more decisive step,” said Dalia Rico Ibarra, one of the seniors who said “I do” during the ceremony. “We had talked about getting married, but we didn’t have a date so we decided February 14 would be a good day to seal our love.”
Rico Ibarra and her husband Francisco Dehesa Reyes, met at a shelter for seniors, where they continue to live to this date.
“It’s been six years since she’s known me and has put up with me,” said Dehesa Reyes.
Both have grown children who live in the United States but could not attend the ceremony.
“Any age is a good age to get married, I asked her to marry me three years ago, but we were unsure of the date since then, so we decided Valentine’s Day would be a great day to finally do it and promise to never be apart. The ceremony was beautiful,” said Dehesa Reyes.