🫧 The bubble judge

Forget rice or rose petals—one Texas judge is making courthouse weddings pop.

Most courthouse weddings are short, official affairs. But Judge Adam Swartz at the North Dallas Government Center has one secret weapon for turning routine drab-to-fab: a $20 bubble gun.

How this bubbled up

When Swartz was first elected in 2022, he wanted to make the unions he officiated feel less like a paperwork pit stop, and more like a real celebration. He tapped into his theater background, added music (anything from Michael Bublé to Whitney Houston), and—his favorite —bubbles. Now, when he pronounces a couple married, the gavel lands just as the room fills with shimmer.

• A video of his bubble ritual went viral on Instagram, with one commenter declaring, “Judge Swartz with his bubble gun is an icon.” 
• Couples have started requesting him by name, sometimes planning their whole courthouse stop around snagging “the bubble judge.”

It’s not just for show: Swartz has presided over ~3,000 unions since joining the bench, sometimes doing five to eight in a single day—right alongside eviction cases and traffic disputes.

• For Swartz, the weddings aren’t just a lighthearted break, they’re the most meaningful part of his job. “If you’re talking about my day-to-day impact on the community and people’s lives,” he says, “this makes all the difference in the world.”
• Theatrics aside, he puts care into every ceremony, scrolling through couples’ photo albums on the courtroom’s big screen, welcoming guests, and even tearing up himself.

His goal? To make courthouse ‘I dos’ feel less like paperwork, more like a movie moment.

P.S. Thanks so much to subscriber Michelle W. for suggesting this story!