A special opportunity on Valentine’s Day this year, thanks to the Minnesota Judicial Branch.

They offered free weddings! Requests came in at seven courthouses in the state.

WDIO stopped by the Duluth one, to see who was excited to get hitched.

Sara and Richard Amundson met 20 years ago. The Duluth couple loves doing things spur of the moment.

So when they heard about the free weddings, they thought, why not? But they didn’t decide for sure until the morning of.

“I thought it keen that it was on Valentine’s Day, so I would never forget my anniversary. And I was woken up this morning by Sara. And she said, are we doing this thing today? I cleared the sandman from my eyes and said, darn right,” Richard said.

Sara added, “I told my boss, I’m going to go get married today. I’m taking the day off. And he’s like, what? Congratulations!”

Both were grateful to Judge Eric Hylden, who married them. Sara’s friend was also able to make it in time to be a witness.

Another couple we met, Jim and Kaleigh Stracek, have been dating since they were 15. They had a photographer there to capture the moment, and had reservations in Proctor afterwards.

Jim said, “It’s Valentine’s Day, so very memorable and really romantic. A day you can’t forget.”