Pike County Probate Judge Wes Allen pronounced James Douglas McWaters, Jr. and Megan Leigh Lemke husband and wife at the close of their wedding ceremony at the Pike County Courthouse Thursday afternoon.

“I’m a McWaters!” the bride said with a smile, but almost in surprise at the transformation.

McWaters and Lemke were among the five couples that chose Valentine’s Day to tie the knot in Pike County. Perhaps for the other couples their day of choice was the one day in the year that is set aside for lovers. But not for McWaters and Lemke.

“We had planned to get married on Friday, but they don’t do marriages on Friday so we had to change our plans,” Mrs. McWaters said. “We came to get our license and got married.”

The couple met when she took her horse to McWaters to be trained. Their love of horses brought them together and will continue to be a large part of their life together.

The couple said they are happiest when they are together and with their horses.

A Valentine’s Day wedding was not what they had planned, but it turned out to be the happiest day of their young lives. Just as a wedding day should be.

Weddings and adoptions are at the top of the happiest days list for the Pike County probate judge.

So, Thursday was a happy day for Allen, too, as he had to opportunity to perform Valentine’s Day weddings. He said his hopes are that the couples all left the courthouse to live happily ever after.

Darius Flowers and Tanisha Gillis had waited patiently for the judge to conduct their ceremony. He waited a little nervously.

Flowers proposed to Gillis in November. He said with a smile that, yes, he did get down on his knee and asked her to be his bride.

“I knew she would say, ‘Yes,’” he said with a quick glance at her.

The couple met when they both worked at Wendy’s in Troy. Harris said it wasn’t love at first sight. They liked each other but didn’t think it was love.

“After we stopped working at Wendy’s, we didn’t see each other for a long time,” Harris said. “But, when we ran into each other again, we started dating. And, here we are.”

There, at the Pike County Courthouse, Darius and Tanisha Gillis and the other couples began their lives together on Valentine’s Day 2013.

Probate Judge Wes Allen wished each couple all the best as they left the courthouse joined together as man and wife.