Bob Marley’s “Is this love?” played on the courtroom speakers.

All rose when the judge entered, and remained standing for the bride.

On Friday, Valentine’s Day, Deschutes County Circuit Court Judge Ray Crutchley presided over “Cupid’s Docket.” He married eight couples in his courtroom, a far cry from the day before, which was dominated by child support and parental rights cases.

“Just as two very different threads woven in opposite directions can form a beautiful tapestry, so can your two lives merge together to form a very beautiful marriage,” Crutchley told newlyweds Julio Rivas and Tracy Hart. “To make your marriage work will take love. Love should be the core of your marriage, love is the reason you are here.”

Rivas, 52, and Hart, 53, met 40 years ago in California, she the sister of his best friend. Life took them in different directions and around five years ago, they reconnected via Facebook.

So why marry when dating is working out?

“It’s about commitment,” Rivas said. “For us, everything we do, we base it on each other. We make decisions together. Our relationship — we keep it very tight. I don’t do anything she’s not OK with. We want to become one.”

Crutchley beamed as he posed with families and shook hands after each wedding ceremony.

“We talk a lot about building community, and what better way to build community than by building families?” he said during a break between services.

Weddings, adoption ceremonies and drug court graduations are the rare uplifting court events. Full caseloads mean judges rarely get to perform marriages on the clock.

Several months ago, Crutchley and other Deschutes County Circuit judges worked to clear his Feb. 14 docket so he could perform marriages throughout the day. Seven couples signed up. Another came to the courthouse to pick up a marriage license and decided to add on the free service.

“It’s a service to the community. Part of what we do is we encourage people to come to the courthouse and have access to the courthouse, and this is another way to do that,” Crutchley said.

Crutchley’s courtroom-turned-wedding chapel was transformed by a staffer who had gone to Michael’s craft store. Courtroom F was decorated with a runner with red and pink hearts sprinkled around and other festive accoutrements.

Crutchley wore a red stole over his usual black robe. The brides wore white, and blue, and black.

Pharmacy technician Jessica Lang was handed an heirloom ring by the groom, Bradley Jeffers, owner of fish store Aquatopia.

The couple’s wedding was the closest to a traditional wedding, with about 20 guests, many wearing their Sunday best.

Justin Polit, there for a friend’s wedding, cracked wise with a Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office corrections deputy, who’d been enlisted to take a group photo.

“As long as you don’t tell me to turn to the left and turn to the right,” Polit said.

Jaysen and Haley Brown, both 26, had intended to one day hold a small ceremony, maybe near a lake, where their families could come together and “mud around” and have fun.

But the La Pine couple didn’t think that day would be Valentine’s Day 2020. They’d come to the courthouse to pick up their marriage license but while in line, they noticed the commotion in Crutchley’s courtroom and asked if they could get added to the list. The judge obliged.

“She’s perfect,” Jaysen Brown said of his new wife. “I couldn’t find anyone better.”

Victor Malave Jr. and Rebecca Cuisik met in recovery for drug addiction three years ago. Each credited the other with keeping both drug-free.

After their ceremony, the newlyweds were headed for a Honeymoon in Lincoln City.

“He’s been an absolute miracle in my life,” Cuisik said.

Ellie Voorhies started the day as “Ellie Oliver.” One of the reasons she wanted to marry her new husband, Martin, was to lose the “Oliver.” She didn’t want to elaborate.

Ellie met Martin while caring for him as a certified nursing assistant as he recovered from chest surgery.

She was given away by another man she worked for as caregiver, Richard Smith, her “adopted father.”

The couple has been together 15 years.

“Finally,” Smith interjected from the gallery when Crutchley declared the couple man and wife.

“We saw it on the news and it was free, so it just made financial sense,” Ellie Voorhies said. “This was much more than we were expecting.”

It was the third wedding for Aaron Coon and second for his bride, Josephine Dickerson. He’s 93. She’s 90.

In 2007, Dickerson was working as a cafe hostess at the independent living facility where Coon was living. One day, Coon’s order of coffee was late in arriving so he fetched the carafe himself.

“She told me, you’re going to get me fired!” he said.

Today, the couple live in their own home in Redmond.

“It’s always a good time to be married,” Coon said.

Dickerson’s son-in-law walked her down the aisle as the wedding march played.

“I’m so nervous,” she said.