Riverside County Clerk's Office Deputy Commissioner of Marriages Yvonne Cruz, who performed the ceremony, said Hartley and Marks' love was evident from the moment they walked in.
"When they came to my window, I spoke to her first and she says, 'I want to marry this man,'" Cruz recalled. "He puts his arm around her waist and says, 'I want to be with her for the rest of my life.' And she says, 'I want to be together forever.'"
Cruz, who has officiated thousands of marriages over the past seven years, including one two years ago for an 82- and 83-year-old, said Marks was "one of the most romantic grooms" she'd ever seen, at any age.
"She told us that he tells her he loves her at least three or four times a day," Cruz said.
During the time the couple was at the clerk's office, Cruz recounted how the groom gestured lovingly at his bride, put his arm around her, kept giving her pecks on the cheek and told her how much he loved her. "Little things that added up to one big picture that these two were incredibly, incredibly in love," she said.
Cruz helped Hartley and Marks fill out the paperwork and helped them from the main lobby to another room, where they exchanged vows. (Marks tried to kiss his bride a little too early, but who can blame him.)
"You see couples who come in and they're in love, but in their case it was just … the degree of their love, surpassed even their ages. It was just so beautiful. It had to be one of the most beautiful ceremonies I've ever officiated," Cruz said.
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