WEST PALM BEACH — Mark Aranda knew exactly who he wanted to marry and how he was going to marry her.

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The Palm Beach Post
Couples say "I Do" in a Valentine's Day group wedding in West Palm Beach
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He grew up just a few streets away from his bride, Karin Phillips, and was even born at the same hospital as her, but the two didn’t cross paths until about 10 years ago. They have been in love ever since.

Aranda was watching the news one morning when he saw an item about a group wedding conducted by the Palm Beach County Clerk's Office — and on Valentine's Day, no less. As soon as he heard about it, he had no doubt that this was how he wanted to marry his bride.

And so Mark and Karin joined 23 other couples at the 1916 historic Palm Beach County Courthouse on Tuesday. Each walked arm and arm down the aisle as a pianist played “Here Comes the Bride” under the soaring ceiling of the main courtroom at the courthouse.

“How much sweeter can it get?” Karin said.

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Newlyweds Joann Landrau and Clifton Maloney, center, both of Wellinton, smile after Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Joe Abruzzo officiated a Valentine's Day group wedding ceremony for multiple couples at the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum in downtown West Palm Beach, Fla., on February 14, 2023.
Newlyweds Joann Landrau and Clifton Maloney, center, both of Wellinton, smile after Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Joe Abruzzo officiated a Valentine's Day group wedding ceremony for multiple couples at the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum in downtown West Palm Beach, Fla., on February 14, 2023.© THOMAS CORDY/THE PALM BEACH POST

The clerk's office has offered the group wedding on the most romantic day of the year for the past 10 years, and County Clerk Joe Abruzzo himself officiated. The couples' friends and families played the part of giving the couples away by simultaneously proclaiming “We will” when Abruzzo asked them to help keep the couples’ bonds strong.