COURT OF LOVE
Perfect day to celebrate love in Berks
It happened in a flash. Erik Conklin and Jackie Bauman were driving through Exeter Township one day about five years ago, Erik behind the wheel and Jackie in the passenger seat, in the thralls of a game of Pokemon Go. Erik turned and smiled at Jackie.
“I remember I thought, ‘He has a nice smile,'” Jackie said. Just like that, she was smitten. The pair had been friends for quite some time, meeting through Jackie's sister who played on a hockey team with Erik. They would run into each other at parties, chatting and bonding over shared interests.
The two started hanging out more and more as friends, often in a quest to track down virtual Pokemon.
After that day in the car, the one where Jackie realized she might want a little more than friendship, she sent a text to Erik. She wrote that “there was something in the air.”
“He was like, ‘What are you talking about?'” Jackie recalled.
She sent a second message, this time skipping the ambiguity and instead going for a more direct approach. She wrote that she was “catching feelings” for him.
Turns out, those feelings were mutual.
On Feb. 14, in a small courtroom in West Reading, Jackie and Erik made it official. The Sinking Spring couple stood in front of Berks County District Judge Eric J. Taylor and vowed to love each other forever.
It was one of 10 Valentine's Day wedding ceremonies that Taylor was scheduled to officiate.
A day of love
Taylor said he can't take credit for the idea of spending Valentine's Day doing nothing but wedding ceremonies.
He said he heard about a few years back from District Judge Tonya Butler, who did something similar. Taylor thought it would be a great way to spend a holiday centered around love.
So two years ago he decided to make Valentine's Day wedding day at his office. After pausing
the new tradition last year — a mix of COVID and the holiday falling on a Sunday threw a wrench in things — he revived it for 2022.
Taylor said he likes the idea because it allows him to interact with people in a much different way than his job as a judge normally allows.
“Most people who come to see a judge it’s not of their choosing,” he said. “It’s not pleasant. Generally, people aren’t thrilled to see judges.”
That’s one of the reasons Taylor is open to officiating weddings, something that judges can choose whether or not they want to do. He said he likes the idea of being able to celebrate love — particularly on Valentine’s Day — instead of meting out punishments or making decisions that upset people.
“It’s one of the few times people are happy to see me,” he said. “It’s not setting bail, I’m not sending someone to jail.”
The right time
Erik and Jackie were most certainly happy to see the judge.
While they seemed, understandably, a bit nervous as they stood and joined him in front of a red backdrop and a heart-shaped wreath, they said they knew it was the right moment to be wed.
“We just decided it was the right time,” Jackie, 28, said, adding that she was excited to be Erik’s wife.
The 29-year-old Erik said he, too, was excited, as well as relieved that everything worked out. He had been anxious ever since the couple got their marriage license in December to get to the big day.
They didn’t pick Valentine’s Day on purpose, Erik said. While Jackie said it was nice to get married on the day of love, the date just happened to be a day that was available for a ceremony.
“It will be an easy anniversary to remember,” Erik said with laugh.
The ceremony itself was brief, but sweet.
Jackie wore a red dress emblazoned with white flowers. Erik wore grey slacks and a red, plaid dress shirt with a red and blue striped tie.
They stood looking into each other’s eyes, vowing to love each other, to be honest, to respect each other and to stand by each other through whatever may come. As Taylor, a red carnation surrounded by baby’s breath on the left breast of his black robe, pronounced them man and wife, they lowered their masks for a kiss.
A few moments later, Erik shared what he loves about his new bride.
“I love Jackie’s personality and sense of humor,” he said, saying she always laughs at his jokes.
Jackie said much the same, pointing towards Erik’s humor as something she cherishes — along with that smile, of course.
Erik and Jackie said they didn’t have big plans for the rest of Valentine’s Day. They said they’d go home, have something to eat and maybe play some video games — pretty much just return to their normal lives.
“We’re just going to keep doing what we do,” Jackie said. “The only thing different is my last name will be Conklin now.”
An online romance turns real
Trisha Jayn Williams didn’t really pay much mind to the first direct message Daquane Williams sent to her through social media.
“I thought it was just another guy hitting me up,” the 21-year-old said.
Daquane said he sent that message after being struck by Trisha’s profile. He was intrigued by her sense of style, captured by the way she carried herself.
His initial efforts to reach out and get to know her weren’t quite as successful as he hoped they would be.
“At first she seemed a little interested, not not really interested,” he said.
But Daquane forged on, unrelenting. And, eventually, his efforts paid off.
Trisha realized that Daquane wasn’t just some guy. He was a gentleman, someone who seemed to genuinely want to build a relationship.
He was someone she could she herself with.
So when Daquane, who lived in Philadelphia at the time, asked Trisha, who was living in New York, to meet for an in-person date, she agreed. The pair met at a haunted house midway between their homes.
“I knew she’d be scared,” Daquane said of his spooky pick for their first date. “I knew she’d be next to me and would have to engage with me. And she was, she was so scared.”
Trisha, who learned of Daquane’s master plan later, said it was pretty clever. It was her first time ever going to a haunted house, she said, and while she was frightened, she was also enamored with the man who stood by her side through the experience.
“That was it,” she said. The two started dating, and within four or five months moved in together. The couple now lives in Pottstown.
They have a 21-monthold daughter, Kiyomi, who wore a frilly pink dress with red hearts as she watched Daquane and Trisha say their vows Mondays.
Trisha wore a white, strapless dress. Daunte donned black slacks, a white dress shirt, and black Jimmy Choo loafers covered in silver sparkles.
Daquane asked Trisha to marry him about a month ago. The 22-year-old has joined the Air Force and wanted to tie the not before he headed out for basic training.
The couple got their marriage license last month, but couldn’t find a judge to wed them in Pottstown. So Trisha started calling around.
The 15th call was the charm, as she found Taylor had a Valentine’s Day slot open.
“It was corny, but it’s memorable,” Trisha said of the holiday nuptials.
Trisha and Daunte said they didn’t have much else planned for the rest of the day, saying they’d probably go out to eat. Last year Daunte pulled out all of the stops for Valentine’s Day, he said, so he knew there was no way to top it this time around.
Trisha didn’t seem to mind, saying she was just happy to spend time at home with her best friend.
When asked what made them such a good couple, about what they most love about each other, Daunte and Trisha were, tellingly, on the same page.
“I like that he takes care of me, he protects me,” Trisha said.
“I would say the same thing about her,” Daunte said.