Be the First Couple to Marry in 2016

Photo: Cook County Clerk David Orr weds Ricca Rivera and Fernando Chaidez. They were the first couple to apply for a marriage license in 2014.

An annual tradition for more than 20 years, some lucky couple who scores the first marriage license to be issued in Cook County in 2016 will be treated to dinner, a show, a swanky room at a fine hotel, flowers and photography, courtesy of Cook County Clerk David Orr.

Watch the first couple to be married in 2014

Couples are invited to line up at the Clerk’s downtown Vital Records office, located in the lower level of the Daley Center, 50 W. Washington St. The Vital Records office opens at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 4.

See couples who married at the Bridgeview Courthouse in 2015.

The first couple to apply for a license who agrees to be married immediately, will be joined in holy matrimony in Clerk Orr’s fifth floor office at 69 W. Washington St. A judge will waive the 24-hour waiting period.

The lucky couple who obtains the first marriage license of the year will also receive an array of gifts valued at over $800 donated by local businesses, including the Palmer House Hilton, Lettuce Entertain You, iO Improv Comedy, Bryan Doctor Fine Art Photography and LaSalle Flowers. Clerk Orr will also pay the marriage license fee.