Were You Church Married?

[ThomWV]

My wife and I were married in the living room of my Step Father and Mother's house. My Step Father married us, he was a Notary. That was 27 years ago.

I guess our marriage was what one would now call a civil union. The State of Florida issued a license and when my Step Father notorized it we were married. The little gettogether of friends that night really meant nothing, the marriage was consumated to the state's satisfaction by the stamp of the Notary's seal.

So, tell me, were you married in a church or otherwise and how long have you lasted, or did you last?

[daveskilt]

1. 6 years ago in a temple

[Nite Owl]

2. We were married outside

by a pond. Jan.1, '73 and it was about 60 degrees and sunny that day. We had a rabbi but only because he was the only on who would come.

[flamingyouth]

3. We were married in a French restaurant

By a mail-order minister. On edit: this was in March 1993.

[Lars39]

11. So do the French call themselves "married" if the only ceremony

they go thru is the civil one? And do they call the union a marriage?

[eissa]

4. In a church almost 12 years ago

and the only thing that would threaten the "sanctity" of my marriage is one of his slutty co-workers :P

[Cleita]

5. Nope.

It was a tacky little non-denominational wedding chapel at Lake Tahoe, but it hardly qualified as a church.

[Mad Cow Doc]

6. yes

25 years. You call yours a civil union or did you mean a civil ceremony?

[Lars39]

7. I would have gladly gone to the courthouse,

but we were married in a church. Our pastor had us sign the paperwork beforehand. He signed it and basically said that officially we were married, the rest was just for show. :)

[Fleshdancer]

8. 6 years ago in a wedding center, married by a judge.

My union is very civil and that's how I prefer it. (for me)

[eyesroll]

9. Judge, in a hotel...

5.5 years ago, still civilly unionized.

[Kool Kitty]

10. Nope. My husband and I

were married by the mayor of Middletown, NJ, at City Hall. We've been married for what will be 24 years this June.

[KCDem]

12. yes, with my Dad officiating

We've only been married 6 years so far. I personally don't think the WHERE has anything to do with the HOW LONG of a marriage.

[Doctor_J]

13. Oh, yeah

wifey's fam is very Catholic, so we had the whole $$$ thing. In retrospect, it was nice, if not entirely neccessary, and has lasted 24 years and 9 months.

[Melsky]

14. in a 45 minute Latin mass

my knees went to sleep because I wasn't used to kneeling. I'm not religious at all, I usually say I am pagnostic. I did the whole thing solely for my husband.

[Another Bill C.]

15. Married a couple of times.

The first time was upstairs of a pizza parlor. Our witnesses didn't show up and the JP's wife was waiting for him to pick her up. We sent downstairs and asked a couple of customers to come up and be witnesses. Death did us part four years later.

The second time was in a restaurant on a Sunday. The place had no license for Sunday operation but we invited so many politicians, lawyers, and cops that no one would dare complain. It was one of the best parties ever. Death did us part ten years later.

[thinkingwoman]

16. nope

married 8 years ago last fall at a masquerade (sp?) ball we through for ourselves. We wrote our own vows and a friend was ordained on the internet 2 weeks before the ceremony so that we could have the ceremony officiated by someone we knew and cared about instead of hiring a judge.

It was my second marriage, my husband's first. We have a ridiculously good relationship.

[Pithlet]

17. I was married in the courthouse

8 months pregnant with my second born. This was 6 months ago, although my husband and I have been together almost five years.

[Semi_subversive]

18. I a wedding chapel

with a minister I hadn't met until the previous night.

[kittykitty]

19. Married 39 years ago in San Francisco City Hall by

Judge Joseph Karesh. He was a kind and wise man. We're still married.

[central scrutinizer]

20. married in our living room

cost a grand total of $35 (plus a $20 tip) to have the clerk from the Justice of the Peace come to our house and marry us. She brought her ten year old daughter along and she really enjoyed it.

[wryter2000]

21. Married by a minister

We were married by a minister underneath some redwoods. We had a religious (Episcopal) service. We've been married almost 25 years, but that's because of us, not the type of service we had.

[skippysmom]

22. Catholic wedding

Mostly to please my Catholic parents. It was a long ceremony, but it think it turned out beautifully.

We got married in July 2002, so we've been married a little over 1 1/2 years.

[rbnyc]

23. We were married at Stony Brook University Hospital.

We'd planned on being married in my husband's parents' back yard. You can't have everything.

;-)

EDIT: P.S. We were married by a judge.

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. In church, by father-in-law the minister, ten years and going strong :)

[boobooday]

25. Viva Las Vegas!

We got married in Las Vegas 17 years ago. It was six in the morning, and we'd driven all night from LA to get there.

It cost forty bucks. It's lasted almost 20 years. Such a deal!

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[Qutzupalotl]

26. Courthouse.

[x-g.o.p.er]

27. Married in a Lutheran Church...

by a Lutheran minister, with a Lutheran family nodding in sober approval (Lutherans are not allowed to show any happiness in church--only serious and sober reflection---and lots of guilt and general uptightness).

I'm no longer a Lutheran (way too sobering), but my wife and I are still happily married after almost 15 years.

[DAGDA56]

28. not exactly...

it was in her mother's house by a female Methodist minister...the odd thing was the divorce...since she was a previously divorced Protestant, the Catholic Church I loosly belong to says it didn't count! No harm, no foul, and I can get married again with the Church's blessing!

[guitar man]

29. Courthouse,Creek County Oklahoma

In blue jeans,two police officers for witnesses. We had a beat up '77 Mercury and about 20 bucks in our pockets when we walked out. 12 years and going strong!

[Greylady]

33. Same here...

At the courthouse in our bluejeans. We had a Z28 and bills up the butt. That was 25 years ago. We are still very much in love and have long ago given up on living beyond our means (older and wiser and all that.....)

[proud patriot]

30. Yes .. Unitarian

:hi:

[shanti]

31. neither of my 2 marriages

was in a church. first time, in the home of a preacher, second time in tahoe.

[napi21]

32. YEEEOOWWW, I'm old! Married in church 40 years ago.

Catholic church too! I don't think it matters much where you were married, and a lot has changed since then. It was a big deal, but not so much anymore.

[madmax]

34. Unitarian Church in Florida

Twenty years ago. The Church by the Sea - beautiful church. :hi:

[IconoclastIlene]

35. Protestant, and Jew married by the Mayor, who is a Catholic.

America the Beautiful!!!! Where else in the world can this happen? May freedom ring from sea to shining sea.

17 Happy Years with one beautiful child.

We were married in my parents' home.

Madame B.

[marigold20]

36. Courthouse, 33 years ago

We were wandering the halls, with our marriage license, when a Judge's scout nabbed us. I think it cost about 10.00. Witnesses were my Mom and Dad and one of my brothers. He had a foot injury at work earlier in the day - stood there bleeding on the carpet. I nearly fainted from nerves and I can't imagine how I would have tolerated a big wedding.

[Walt Starr]

37. We were married on a sailboat a few miles off the coast of

Key West Florida.

A Lutheran minister performed a Pagan Handfasting ceremony for us.

[Retrograde]

38. In my parents' backyard

by a JP, much to the scandal of most of my family and neighbors. I felt it would be hypocritical to get married in a church as I had not set foot in one for several years, and my husband-to-be wasn't Catholic. Plus, after living on my own for a couple of years by that time, I was not going to go through the RCC's mandatory "pre-Cana" rights, which were aimed (at least in my parents' parish) at 18-year olds who had never left home.

They all said it wouldn't last. It's been almost 30 years now.

We did go to Niagara Falls the day before the wedding, since we had some time to kill due to New York's 3-day waiting period. Getting the license was fun: "Let's see: you're from here, you're from Alabama, you got your blood tests done in Michigan and you don't know where you're going to be living? OK - you got $3?"


linda

[remfan]

39. Got married on a sternwheeler - by a judge

and divorced 14 years later. A civil union and a civil divorce.

[starroute]

40. Married in my parents' living room

By Judge Dan Kelly, a Reform Democrat who had been known as the Conscience of the New York State Legislature until they kicked him upstairs. Coming up on 35 years this June.

[Malva Zebrina]

41. married by a justice of the peace

on the banks of the Raritan River in NJ with five children, two of mine and three of his, attending twenty one years ago.

The first marriage was also a civil ceremony and an elopement.

IN the first instance, the priest in the Catholic church, when we went to try to marry in that church to satisfy the "sanctity of marriage", called my husband , who was brought up protestant an "animal" because he did not attend church every Sunday. That did it! It infuriated him and no church wedding. You see, in those times, the latter part of the fifties, the Catholic church still frowned upon it's members marrying outside of that religion. I mean it. To marry a Protestant was a hypocrisy and there needed to be a whole of "education" going on in order to be married under the eyes of the god.

We had two wonderful children brought up not in that church at all. They are loving and kind people wihtout the teachings of that church. I taught them to accept others, but not to be hypocrits by embracing a religion that would tell them others, because of their religious beliefs ,are not as "good". I also taught them to think for themselves. To quesion everything. To wonder about what is being passed offed as truth. and they have as far as I know.

The second marriage has been wonderful.

[Missy Vixen]

42. Weren't married in a church

Couldn't afford the inflated "rental fees" the churches around here charge anyone who isn't officially part of their congregation. (I had an argument with one of the pastors whose church we talked about renting for our occasion. He wanted $750.00 for one hour, musicians were extra, as were janitorial fees. We also would be paying an additional $40.00 per hour for having the church opened and locked again by one of their personnel. I asked the pastor why he could run an obviously for-profit rental service when the church and the ground beneath it was funded by taxpayers.)

We even went for the rent-a-pastor because our pastor refused to do weddings on Saturday evenings.

We got married in a local park; the park has a huge gazebo, and at that time, had no electrical plugs. <G> As a result, the music was via boombox. We were also the first people to ever get married in that park; we drive by there several weekends per month in the spring, summer and fall, and there are weddings there all the time now!

We've been married ten years.

Julie

[mike_c]

43. drive through marriage window in Las Vegas...

...couldn't find one with an Elvis impersonator though. We bought a new pair of fuzzy dice to spiff the Oldsmobile up for the event, and the "official" chastised the Mrs. for giggling at the absurdity of it all.

[Jack from Charlotte]

44. The grounds of The Governor's Mansion in Columbia, SC...

In the gardens behind one of the 3 antebelum homes there called The Boyleston house.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

45. had a big fat italian Hoboken church wedding ...so far its lasted 33 years

did the whole pre-canan thing before the church would marry us

[ewagner]

46. Eloped

Ceremony performed by a JP in Crown Point Indiana.

When we became active in a church about 7 years later, the Minister offered to have our wedding "blessed by the church". We agreed. Small low-key service that coincided with our faith.

On edit: 29 Years on March 7th

[seabeyond]

47. courthouse

in pensicola.......

[MattBaggins]

48. JotP Faaborg Denmark

had a small family and friends get together a week later in a small rent a hall. Didn't feel I didn't need some guy telling me he says it's OK for me to start sleeping with my wife.

[arewethereyet]

49. church, 25 years last April

and you were "as" married as we were. the church part is just another way to get the notary aspect done.

[Ilsa]

50. Married in a church 11 years ago.

It stuck. It would have stuck anyway.

[dawn]

51. No. Married on a nice little hotel patio by a Justice of the Peace.

We're coming up on two years in June!

[Marymarg]

52. In a church

and we are still together after 26 years.