Retired minister Headley performs marriages for 20 years at Jefferson County Courthouse

Ron Allen Headley has never been seen on “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” 
   
“I’ve never had anything too crazy happen,” he said.
   
Headley, who for 20 years has been a minister-in-residence of sorts at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham, has never put smelling salts to a swooning bride or helped a jittery groom get over cold feet. And though his business card promises his services “any time, any place,” he’s never jumped out of an airplane or worked under water.
   
“Occasionally I’ve had people want me to do [the wedding] at midnight or something, but I’ve never been asked to do that sort of thing you see on TV,” Headley said. 
   
Known as “the marrying man,” he got his nickname simply from doing his job, doing it well and doing it often. “Somehow they got to calling me that down at the courthouse,” Headley said. “I don’t know how it started.”
   
A hint at the how and why of this particular title can be found in the number of weddings he has performed in his years of knot-tying — so many he can’t remember. 
   
Headley, 64, lives in Pinson with his wife, June. He currently attends First Baptist Church, Palmerdale, in Birmingham Baptist Association. There his participation in the church choir allows his arms a little rest — something they haven’t had in a long time. The Samford University graduate devoted 40 years to music ministry, keeping time from church to church and occasionally denomination to denomination. The pages Headley has asked folks to turn to have been in “The Baptist Hymnal,” Methodist and even Lutheran songbooks — but when asked his allegiance, he answers, “I’m a Baptist minister.”
   
And when asked if he’ll marry you, the answer is always “yes.”
   
It’s a ministry for Headley — a chance to be a Christian voice in a secular place of marriage. He said he came to the courthouse two decades ago when he heard a job was available for a minister to officiate marriages that took place there. “Judges can do the marriages, but only when they have time,” he said. “I don’t have an office at the courthouse, but I have a couple of rooms I can use, and I’m there to do weddings all the time.”
   
The weddings take place inside or outside at Linn Park, located adjacent to the courthouse. They happen at all times of day, rain or shine. 
   
Carolyn King, a receptionist at the courthouse, sees Headley walk in and out past her desk, performing up to 20 weddings a day.
   
“He’s an amazing man — we all love him,” she said. “For him, it isn’t a job; it’s all about the people (whom he marries).”
   
Headley laughed. “I enjoy it and I get my exercise.”
   
Despite national culture becoming ever more secular, he contends a sacramental veil still covers Southern nuptials.  
   
“Occasionally I’ll have someone that doesn’t want me to read anything from the Bible or have a prayer, and I respect their wishes and don’t do it even though I disagree with them,” Headley said. “But even though we live in a society now that is so anti-religious, I really don’t see that in marriage.”
   
What he does see is chicken fingers and meatballs where he once saw peanuts and mints. 
   
“The big difference is the reception. I mean, it’s a meal now,” Headley said, laughing. “They’ve got all sorts of goodies these days.”
   
Though he considers himself semiretired to the extent he no longer serves a church in an official capacity, Headley plans to continue performing weddings and sampling receptions for as long as there is a need. He has a reputation to keep and a record on the line — even if he can’t quite recall what the record is.