Those sure are some fancy pieces of non-legally-binding hardware!
As much as many of us try to apply the transitive property to all parts of our lives, sometimes it just doesn’t work. Individual state laws, for example, are a fun little labyrinth of bureaucratic incompatibility. This usually causes problems when it comes to things like parking permits in a new city, open container laws and transporting fireworks across state lines (not that any of us would ever do that, officer), but these tricky little obscure regulations can also throw a wrench into the simplest wedding ceremony arrangements. What we’re saying is, it’s worth it to make sure you’ve determined what the laws are before you fly the whole family out to Hawaii.
Here in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, for example, it is entirely and legally possible to get a one-day license to perform marriages. This is totally great for those couples that aren’t interested in a religious ceremony, or would prefer that a close family member or friend married them. This is not so great if that same couple wants to have their ceremony in some cute coastal town in Maine, where single-day licenses simply don’t fly (we assume this has something to do with the transient and unpredictable nature of the lobster-harvesting season). Even though Maine used to be part of Massachusetts, you can’t take your best friend and his single-day license from Concord to Kennebunk and still expect to be legally married. And the inability to perform a legal marriage would kind of take a bit of the meaning out of the whole day, don’t you think?
So between looking at all those examples of floral arrangements and comparing fonts for your menus, make sure you schedule some time to check out the laws of wherever you’re having your ceremony – or you could end up throwing the most expensive illegal party of your life.
Then again, if you need a backup plan, there’s always Vegas. It may be tacky, but at least it’s the legal kind of tacky! Even if you’re marrying someone 35 years younger.
Reception Gossip