What Happens at a Mormon Wedding?

My husband and I were married in the Salt Lake City temple. Weddings in our faith (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints--most people call us the Mormon church) usually take place in a temple, and only faithful members of our church attend. So there are a lot of questions out there about what our weddings are really like and what we are doing inside the temple.

Our wedding ceremonies are simple. They take place in what we call "sealing rooms" (below is a pic of a sealing room in another temple).

Guests are seated prior to the marriage. The bride and groom come in together and sit together on a small couch on one end of the room. The sealer (the man who officiates over the wedding ceremony) speaks to the couple for a few minutes--he will often share advice about marriage and remind the couple of the sacredness of the covenants that they will be making.

Then he calls the couple up to the altar in the middle of the room. The groom escorts his bride to the altar, and the couple kneel across from each other as they are married. The ceremony is simple, sweet, and sacred.  The couple promise God that they will honor and love each other completely, and that they will follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. Once the sealing is complete, the bride and groom kiss across the altar, and if they want to, they exchange rings. Some couples opt to exchange rings outside of the temple instead. Either way is fine since the ring exchange is not part of the temple sealing. We chose to exchange our rings in the sealing room.

Sealing rooms have mirrors hanging on the walls on either side of the altar.

One way that our weddings are unique is that we are not married until death do us part. We are married for "time and all eternity"--in other words, for the rest of our lives, and forever and forever in heaven after death. We consider our temple marriages to be eternal. These mirrors symbolize that eternal connection. Since they face each other, their reflections bounce off each other. When you stand together and look into the mirrors, you see your reflections repeating endlessly (see the pic above) into eternity. For me it was a powerful moment to look into those mirrors with Trevor after we were sealed.

After that, the bride and groom usually stand at the front of the room, and as the guests leave, each one has a chance to congratulate them personally (and usually to hug them too). They go outside to wait for the happy couple to emerge from the temple for further celebrations.

In the temple, we dress all in white. This symbolizes purity and that we are all equal before God. Because of this, grooms don't wear their tuxes for the sealing ceremony. It's up to women whether or not they want to wear their wedding dress, but if they do, it needs to be truly white--not ivory or off-white, and it needs to have long sleeves (I've heard that many temples have sleeve insets they can loan you if you have short sleeves). I decided to be married in my temple dress instead of my wedding dress, mostly because I'm a romantic I guess. I knew I'd only wear my wedding dress a couple times in my life, but I'd wear my temple dress often, and I thought it would make my temple dress more special to me if I wore it during my marriage ceremony.

All of that is to say, the happy couple don't emerge immediately from the temple. I changed into my wedding dress and fixed up my hair a bit. Trevor changed into his tux. When we were ready, we came out to greet our friends and family. That's when wedding pictures start in our faith--the moment the newlyweds exit the temple. As they come out, their friends and family are there to cheer and celebrate their new marriage.

Everyone waiting for us outside

You may have noticed that there is no aisle in the sealing room. There is no processional at the start of the service. Sometimes people will still designate bridesmaids and groomsmen, flower girls and ring bearers. But they don't participate in the wedding ceremony. Their main role (at least in my opinion!) is to dress to match the wedding party and to look good in all the pictures. Sometimes they will stand in the receiving line at the wedding reception. But there isn't much for them to do--the title of bridesmaid or groomsman is really just symbolic more than anything.

Since between the two of us, Trevor and I have 5 sisters, 2 brothers, 2 brothers-in-law, and a niece and nephew, we decided that our family would be our wedding party. :)

Missing from the pic--my sister-in-law Kimber.

Of course our parents dressed to match too. :)

Sealing rooms are often not very big, and so often only close friends and family are invited to the actual sealing ceremony. We were married in a sealing room that could only seat 45, and between our extended families, we had more than enough people to fill it up (although we did manage to get a few friends in there too! :).

So in our culture, most wedding guests are invited just to attend the wedding reception. When a bride and groom have families in separate states like Trevor and I, usually the groom's family will host an open house and the bride's family will have a reception, so people in both states can celebrate with us.

Our receptions and open houses are pretty laid back. The sealing is simple, and it is also the most important part of the wedding celebrations, since it is the actual wedding! Receptions and open houses are relatively simple too so as to not upstage the sealing. We kept ours really simple--basically just a chance for people to come say hello and congratulations, and grab a bite to eat while they were there. Some receptions are more elaborate. My sister Kristie had hers at a reception hall, so hers featured all the traditional dances--the first dance, the daddy daughter dance, whatever other dances there are. :) It's up to the bride and groom's taste of course, and I guess Trevor and I are just simple people. The biggest thing we did is cut our cake in front of everyone. We fed each other with forks and were sooooo careful not get cake on our clothes. We were teased a bit for not mashing it in each other's faces, but what can I say? That's not our style. :)

Recently our church released a great Youtube video that explains more about our wedding ceremonies. Here is it if you want to check it out:

I am grateful that through temple sealings, families can be together forever. I truly believe that families are central to God's plan for us in this life and in the life to come (heaven). I know that Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice opens the way for us to return to live with God and to be with our families eternally. I am so grateful for Him and His love for all of us. I bear testimony of Him in His holy name, Jesus Christ, amen.

Serenity of Snow

I hate snow. It's pretty to look at, but it's cold, it's hard to drive in, and it's wet and messy. I'm okay with snow for Christmas, but the rest of the year, no thanks!

Molly loves snow. Always has, since she was a puppy. I usually take her on a walk sometime in the evening after my workday. Yesterday though snow has pouring down and I figured we'd stay inside. Molly begged so cutely though that we ended up going on a walk out in the midst of the storm. We stayed out there for 40 minutes! Every time we started heading home she would desperately pull on the leash in a different direction, and I indulged her.

But you know what, I actually enjoyed the snow last night. Everything seemed so peaceful and serene blanketed in snow. The world was so quiet, since everyone was at home snuggled up by their fireplaces.

Maybe I need to give snow a break.

Must Love Dogs

Time for an unpopular opinion post (although probably everyone who actually reads my blog will agree).

I got a little furbaby just a few weeks before I met my husband. I love her to bits. I've always been a huge animal lover and left to my own devices, I'd probably have a million of them.

Just look at that sweet little face!

My husband is not an animal lover. If left to his own devices, we would never own a pet ever. So Molly was an issue when we became engaged. We had some serious talks about whether or not to keep her. The thought of giving her up ripped me in half (and ultimately Trevor decided we could keep her), but I considered it because as much as I love her, I believe getting married is more important than having a dog.

As much as I love Molly, I love my husband more.

You wouldn't think that this would be a controversial opinion (and I know among my few blog readers, it is not) but holy cow, it can be. As we were working through our different opinions on pets, I thought, "We can't be the only couple that disagree on this" and off I went to consult the wisdom of Google. You'd be surprised how many posts there are out there urging people to prioritize pets over significant others. So many advice sites where people described situations similar to mine and were advised to end their relationship with the human, and in some cases, even their marriages, because their fur babies should come first.

I am writing this because just today I came across such a post--a married woman with two dogs and a husband that can't stand them. She asked for advice in resolving the situation. Overwhelmingly, people were advising her to divorce him and go find an animal lover instead. What the heck? I normally don't post out in the webs to random strangers, but I wrote in encouraging her to try to work through this difference. See a counselor, take a marriage class, try to take the other person's perspective. See if you can compromise! Some people don't like animals, and there is nothing wrong with that. It doesn't make them bad people.

I mean I love dogs, and I've always been taught that pets are for life. You keep them until their dying day and do your best to give them a good, happy life. But MARRIAGE IS FOREVER. Marriage is a much more serious commitment than adopting an animal. You do not dump your husband because he's not getting along with your dogs. How could anyone really consider that? But apparently it's not uncommon. How have we reached a point where people commit more to their pets than to their marriages?

I know everyone is not like that... Just... Argh. I hope my post to this lady today made a little difference. It probably didn't, but I had to try.