450-plus Couples Renew Vows on Siesta Key Beach

For 15-plus years, couples flocked to to renew wedding vows, committing their eternal love for each other.

This year, it was the first time that couples got to do it on the official No. 1 Beach in America, and the last time that Judge Becky Titus would officiate with her lawyer husband, Elliot Metcalfe. Metcalfe announced Titus will retire at the end of this year and the two expect to enjoy life outside of the judicial system.

About 450 couples registered for the event, which included a certificate, and additional couples participated as well.

Couples lined up for photo opportunties on the beach; some wives dressed in veils or their old wedding dress, and other couples took the opportunity to have a sunset picnic.

Sarasota native Ron Horton has been here all his life and has been married to Beverly Horton since 1993, but this is the first time the two have been to the ceremony. What finally convinced him to come?

"She told me to," Ron Horton said laughing.

Is that the secret to a secret marriage?

Horton nodded yes as he continued to chuckle.

"He says 'Yes Dear' a lot," Beverly Horton added.

Horton said one of her patients at a cardiologist office told her about the event and she wanted to come down.

The couple have been an item since 1985. So what makes Sarasota a good place to fall in love?

"I don't know what to tell you my friend, it's paradise," Ron Horton said. "It really is."

It was also Norma and Irvin Osterloh's first time at the ceremony through their 47 years of marriage. The Wisconsin snowbirds wanted to come to support their friends they knew in Ohio, who also have been together 46 and 47 years.

"Valentine's Day and the fact that we're here vacationing together was an opportunity not to pass up," Norma Osterloh said.

So what's the secret for having a happy marriage for so long?

"Have a blast," Irvin Osterloh said.