While February and June were at one time the two most popular months for couples in Chilton County to get married, September seems to be the busiest month of 2015 so far.

“It used to be that most people wanted to either get married around Valentine’s Day or in June, but we have been incredibly busy this month,” Chief Clerk for the Chilton County Probate Office Mary Miles said. “There have been days where we have had a line of people waiting to get a marriage license.”

Miles said the probate office averages between 20 and 30 marriage licenses each month, but there were more than 40 licenses issued during September.

“At one time you knew what was going to be the busy months for marriages, but now it seems that has changed,” clerk Edith Hammock said. “September has definitely become a busy month for weddings.”

On Wednesday, Jalyn Gibson and Wes Presley stopped by the Chilton County Probate Office to apply for their marriage license.

The couple plans to marry Oct. 17.

“We decided to get married in October because we are having an outdoor wedding, and we thought the weather would be better than it would be in the summertime,” Gibson said.

In February, the Chilton County Probate Office stopped performing wedding ceremonies for couples applying for marriage licenses due to confusion about a ruling on same-sex marriages.

Miles said there were a few months after the office stopped performing marriage ceremonies that marriage license applications decreased, but it has steadily picked back up.

“We now have more couples getting their marriage licenses, and we give couples recommendations for where they can have a ceremony performed if they want it,” Miles said. “We used to get a lot more calls from people asking if we performed marriage ceremonies, but now we don’t get as many calls.”

Southern Sweets Catering Owner Joan Spies said she has also seen an increase this fall for couples wanting to get married.

“It used to be that most people wanted to get married in June, but now it seems that October has replaced June for weddings,” Spies said.

Southern Sweets offers catering options for weddings including wedding cakes.

“I have three weddings lined up for October,” Spies said. “I didn’t take on any weddings in September, but I have several coming up.”

Jemison Florist and Gift Shop owner Jonna Jones said June used to be the busiest month for her with weddings, but this year it quickly changed to September.

“I’m not sure if it had to do with the weather, but we had several weddings we did and most of them were outside,” Jones said. “We have several lined up for October and November, and we used to not have that many in the fall.”

Barbara Minor with Country Lane Too catering in Clanton said she worked four weddings on Sept. 26.

“This year has been unreal,” Minor said. “The fall has turned into our busiest time for weddings.”

Minor estimated that 90 percent of the weddings she has worked recently have been outdoors.

“I think the weather plays a factor for couples who are deciding when to get married,” Minor said. “They don’t want to get married when it is so hot outside.”