Wedding Customs & Traditions Forum

Getting Married before the Wedding?

I read somewhere recently that someone suggested getting legally married prior to their wedding.  I remember the reasoning being that the bride and groom could worry less about the legal, formal angle and can fully enjoy the social, celebratory, (and sometimes religious) angle.  In this context, I believe the speaker was talking about getting married sometime the week before, almost like a preparation for the wedding.  If this path is taken, something cool like a copy of the marriage certificate could be framed and on show at the ceremony.

This got me thinking about what happened if you did this earlier than "the week before the wedding".   What if the couple did this a month before, three months before, a year before...

And, out of curiosity, I wondered what all of you think of this.  Some questions to help get you stimulated for a fun answer/debate/discussion:

Good idea?  Bad idea?  Tactless or logical?  Circumstances where it would be appropriate?  What affect would a legal marraige have on a traditional, religious, or social wedding ceremony?  What if the couple kept it a secret between them, and what if they announced it?

Re: Getting Married before the Wedding?

  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_customs-traditions_getting-married-before-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:36Discussion:040eb94a-390d-43e7-8e7f-f3de406f2bc2Post:d0ea4efe-8d74-49c2-9478-c181efda72b5">Re: Getting Married before the Wedding?</a>:
    [QUOTE]In Response to Re: Getting Married before the Wedding? : My point is if one doesn't care about the government (or the church) recognizing it, then they would never get the license.<strong> If one truly didn't give a rat's ass about the legal side, they would not care about making it legal. (e.g. common law marriage).</strong> If one doesn't care about the government, then why are they making it legal? Because, I think saying "I don't care about the government recognizing it" and then getting a license from the government makes one hypocritical. I judge that.
    Posted by redheadfsu[/QUOTE]

    Not every state recognizes common law marriage.  I want the state to recognize our union, but we believe that the legal and spiritual should not be mutually exclusive.

     My mom got married to my step dad in Dec. '91 but they don't even celebrate that day half the time because the celebrate the day they fell in love instead.

    I think people on here have to agree to disagree.  Browbeating people on here for the way they choose to celebrate THEIR day is wrong.  How would you feel if others told you the way you got married was crap and were rude to you?!?
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