The Three Aspects of a Marriage:

1)   The real marriage is the heart-to-heart union, the love,  
       nurturing, the caring, the sharing, and the commitment 
       that comes out of that. 

2)   The second aspect is the public ceremony and celebration
        in which you publicly express your love and commitment
        to your partner and also where you seek and receive 
         the love and support of your family and friends.

3)    The third aspect is the legal commitment for which 
        most couples go to the state and obtain a marriage license.

     Who Will Marry Me and My Partner

If you choose to be technical about it, it is not the priest, minister, rabbi, or public official who marries you.   You and your partner actually marry each other.   The officiant is merely the witness.   Even the Roman Catholic Church acknowledges that it is the couple who administer the sacrament of marriage.   They say the  priest is simply the witness.

      Legal Sanctions Intentionally Avoided:

For a variety of reasons,  some couples have need and/or desire for a God-sanctified union that intentionally excludes the state's legal bindings.

For example, there are elderly couples who are (and have been for years)  in  heart-to-heart, God sanctioned marriages that are not legal marriages.   These people do not become legally married  because if they did, their social security, their pensions,  insurance,  and/or other financial benefits would be terminated  or significantly reduced.

There are also hundreds of thousands of couples who consider their private, personal commitment to each other to be just that -- private and personal.   They intentionally avoid becoming bound by the government's rules and regulations.   

      Prenuptial Agreements:

     What Is A Marriage License?

A marriage license is a pre-nuptial agreement.   It is the government's pre-nuptial agreement.   When you sign a marriage license, you are actually agreeing to be bound by the laws in a several-hundred-page, legal  document called  "Marriage and Family Law."   It was written by lawyers, it is administered by lawyers, and guess whose interest is first and foremost in that document.   Lawyers, of Course!   Let the signers beware!

      Marriages of the Heart:

You may also chose to hold a public declaration of your love without creating any legal contracts such as those created via your state's marriage license.

I will officiate your  "Marriage of the Heart,"   your  "Ceremonies of Commitment,"  or your spiritual union by whatever name you choose to call it.   You simply need to sign a statement acknowledging that the ceremony is an expression of your "Marriage of the Hearts" -- a union between you, your partner, and God only -- a union that specifically and intentionally denies any legal content or commitment.   

At your public ceremony, I will also need to openly express your intention that both your declaration of love and your ceremony represent a union between you, your partner, and God only;   that they have no legal standing in law;   that they are not intended to have any legal standing;   and that they expressly deny any legal standing.

Why is this important.   Your public statement of marriage could be construed to be a verbal contract, and to avoid any possibility of future arguing about who agreed to what,  we intentionally eliminate that as a possibility.