If you’re planning to get married at the Chilton County Courthouse on Valentine’s Day 2009, you might want to reconsider that idea.

This year, the annual holiday that celebrates love falls on Saturday, meaning the Courthouse will be closed from business. Therefore, Probate Judge Bobby Martin said those couples planning to get married Saturday need to plan ahead.

“You can’t just wake up in love on Valentine’s Day and go down to the courthouse to get married this year,” Martin said. “Our office is closed Saturday. Even if there was someone down here, we would not be able to issue marriage licenses because our computers are down on the weekend.”

One way a person can get married on Valentine’s Day is to go ahead and get a marriage license today and have a minister perform a ceremony tomorrow.

“If you want to get married this weekend, you will need to come (today) or wait until Tuesday,” Martin said.

In addition to the Valentine’s Day falling on the weekend, the Probate Office will also be closed on Monday due to Presidents’ Day. So if you decide to get married over the weekend, you will have to wait an extra day.

Martin said Valentine’s Day is usually one of their busiest days as far as issuing marriage licenses and performing marriage ceremonies. Last year, the Probate Office set a record with at least 12 marriage licenses issued, many of which held ceremonies on the second floor of the courthouse that day.

If you’re superstitious about today being Friday the 13th, you might want to wait a couple of days, but Martin said he still expects a pretty busy day today.