Judges wedded to just cause
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Once every three weeks, John Bryant spends his lunch break performing a "service" that sends him back to work with a special feeling.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
He marries people.
Louis Akana gives a hug and kiss to his new bride, Kahealani Lindsey Akana, while their daughter, Leila-Tiare, 2, finds a comfortable spot between them. The couple were married by Family Court Judge Mark Browning at Hawai'i Civil Marriages office.
"It's such a joyous occasion," said Bryant, a Family Court judge. He is one of 12 rotating judges contracted by Debbie "Chickie" Guillaume of Hawai'i Civil Marriages to perform weekday noon-time weddings in her second-floor office at 547 Halekauwila St. behind the Circuit Court building.
"In Family Court, we hear so many cases about families blowing up or in crisis. But with weddings, we're unifying families, so it's a happy time for judges. It puts things in perspective," Bryant said before going back to hear a case involving one family member seeking a restraining order against another.
Judges are paid a fee by Guillaume for each ceremony. Guillaume charges $60 per couple.
"Nobody's getting rich," Guillaume added, noting that others charge up to $200 for similar services. "For the judges, it's not the money that is making them feel good. This provides them with a lighter side and allows them to get their focal point again."
Bryant, who has been performing civil marriages since 1991, had his most recent turn on the Tuesday after Kuhio Day.
Louisa So Cap Galamgan and Phillip Kawaiolena Hatori were among the seven couples wedded that day between 11:45 a.m. and 1 p.m. She's 76; he's 80.
Galamgan explained that she and her new husband reside at a Punchbowl-area housing project that does not allow unmarried couples to live together.
"We had to get married," Hatori added. "We live together three years, but they going kick me out if not married."
It is the fourth marriage for the twice-widowed Hatori and the second for Galamgan, whose husband died three years ago. The couple had no plans for a celebration. "We on honeymoon already," Hatori said.
Ricky Tom, 27, and Miwa Asano, 28, plan to invite about 130 people to their "official" wedding at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental hotel in May that will cost a lot more than the $60 they spent on the civil ceremony.
"Miwa has to leave every three months to go back to Japan because she doesn't have a visitor's visa," Tom said. "We wanted to get married to do all the extra paperwork because you need a marriage license to proceed with immigration."
Asano owns a business in Japan, her husband said.
Family Court Judge Mark Browning took his turn and married five couples, including the former Kahealani Lindsey and Louis Akana of Kapolei. Lindsey is expecting the couple's second child soon, and their 22-month-old daughter, Leila-Tiare Akana, got to see her father put a wedding band on her mother's finger during a touching ceremony.
The lunch-time services are performed by commissioned personnel Monday through Friday. The judges are also available weekdays from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m., but those services are set by prepaid appointments.
"The judges I use are hand-picked, and no one does weddings on state time," said Guillaume, who has been a marriage coordinator for 18 years. "What they do is on their own time."
The former Debbie Lee, a Punahou graduate married to federal firefighter Joe Guillaume, started out coordinating civil marriages for judges at Circuit Court. She opened her own business at Restaurant Row five years ago and moved to her current location in 1998. She has had to double the price to pay for office space.
"I just didn't want questions about judges doing weddings on state property," Guillaume said about setting up her business on private property. "I think ours is unique because we do walk-in business at noon. It's first-come, first-serve.
"The ceremony takes 10-15 minutes, and we normally average two to three couples. The difference between civil and religious ceremonies is that the civil requires no counseling."
To be legally married, couples need to get a marriage license at the Department of Health building on Punchbowl Street. A license costs $50. "After that, they can go to whoever they want for the service," Guillaume said.
In 18 years, Guillaume estimates that she has processed 40,000 marriage certificates.
"I reap my rewards from seeing the people's faces as they leave the office and from the time I can spend with my family."
She has seen it all.
"We once had an 85-year-old man using a walker who fell asleep," Guillaume said. "We've had people get cold feet at the last minute and times when the groom didn't show up."
A homemade card in a picture frame on her desk shows two teddy bears and the words "love, honor and negotiate." "It was given to me by my husband," she said.
