'Marrying Man' returns to magistrate job

COVINGTON, Ky., Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A Kentucky man who became known as "The Marrying Man" after presiding over more than 20,000 weddings has been reappointed as a county magistrate.

Steve Hoffman, 53, who served as a Kenton County magistrate, a position that exclusively presides over weddings, from 1989 to 2002. He was returned to the position by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear to finish the term of Linda Scully, who resigned prior to the end of her term in 2012, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Wednesday.

Hoffman, who continued to marry couples as an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church after finishing his previous tenure as magistrate, said he takes his duties seriously.

"It all comes down to one thing when you're doing a wedding," Hoffman said. "You're trying to make a couple of people's dreams come true. By gosh, you'd better do it right."

"People are very excited on their wedding day and nervous," Hoffman said. "You've just got to get them to calm down. You have to have patience to make people calm. You've got to be there for them."