I'm getting married. Really. I'm serious.

[thebaldguy]

After shacking up/living in sin with the same woman for 22+ years, we are getting married. We are going to Las Vegas this fall to get married, and will have a reception back home a few weeks later. We got engaged a few weeks ago but kept it a secret until this weekend. Only the folks that introduced us 24 years ago, my buddy and his wife knew. They thought the Vegas wedding idea was a scream.

We told everyone this weekend. Lots of people freaked out. Some couldn't believe it. We told one of my brother in laws that we were finally getting married. He wouldn't believe us. He laughed and said "Yeah right. Here, talk to your sister" and handed her the phone. One of her family members jokingly reminded me to seriously think about marriage before rushing into this. Our Moms freaked out the best. They thought we would never get married. We're bringing our Moms out to Vegas for the actual wedding. Surprisingly, lots of friends and family want to come as well which will be cool. I guess they want to make sure we actually finally get married!

I've been calling her my girlfriend for 24 years. It's funny to think about calling her my wife! This has been an unreal weekend so far.

[Vodka7]

Holy crap!  Congratulations, you two!

[MillCreek]

It's good not to rush into these things.  Congratulations.

[taurusowner]

Are you sure you wanna do this?  Maybe give it some time? 

Congrats man.  I mean it.

[Boomhauer]

Alright! Where are you thinking about getting married at in Vegas? The Venetian and the Bellagio (if they do weddings) would both be right classy...

[230RN]

So she finally decided to make an honest man out of you, huh?



















But, sincerely, congratulations to you both.

Terry, 230RN

[InfidelSerf]

Congratulations,
May I make a suggestion though, you two might want to consider KeyWest instead of LasVegas.
We got married on the beach there, the state charged $95 for the license.. and we paid a lady $250 to perform the ceremony which included a photographer and digital snaps of the occasion.
We really enjoyed our experience there.
Not that Las Vegas wouldn't be fun too.  (Especially since we are going to be moving there this fall)
If you do, rent a car and make the short trip over to Boulder City and enjoy that view of Lake Mead.
Good luck

[erictank]

Congrats! 

Man, and I thought it was weird making the transition from "...my girlfriend Lori" to "...my wife Lori" after THREE years of dating!

[Balog]

Congratulations!

If I may ask, why the decision to change things now? You've always been rather defiantly proud of your situation on here, so I'm quite curious what happened to change your mind.

[RevDisk]

Congrads!

[mellestad]

Congrats, good luck.

[thebaldguy]

Congratulations!

If I may ask, why the decision to change things now? You've always been rather defiantly proud of your situation on here, so I'm quite curious what happened to change your mind.

We have never felt that we needed the official approval of a religious organization/government of our relationship, but we have actually been talking about getting legally married for a few years now. We love each other a lot. We own cars, house, and rental property together. We have been talking about future planning for death/estate/will, life/death medical decisions, increased spousal social security death benefits, medical benefits, etc. and marriage is beneficial for that. I've never been against marriage, but I've had to defend my unmarried committed relationship too many times over the years.

Some people gave us a pretty hard time about the lack of commitment in our unmarried relationship over the years. The funny part of that is some of those folks ended up getting divorced.

Our tax guy said that we would have saved $62 last year if we were married. I though that was funny.

[taurusowner]

If you put stock in such things, in most religious senses of the idea of marriage, you two have already been married for some time.

[Monkeyleg]

I waited nine years and thought that was reasonable.

Does she know whether you wear boxers or briefs?

[thebaldguy]

I waited nine years and thought that was reasonable.

Does she know whether you wear boxers or briefs?

She actually doesn't know what I wear; we've been staying pure and saving ourselves for 24+ years for the wedding night.





I'm kidding. She knows. She's also went underwear shopping for me with my two sisters.

Talk about a buzzkill.

 

[red headed stranger]

I remember a while back on Penn Gillette's radio show he mentioned that him and his wife did not want to get married, but they did it for primarily legal reasons. 

They had a sit down with their lawyer to do estate planning and to discuss how to ensure their children were taken care of in case something happened to both of them.  They wanted to see what legal paperwork they could do to make sure they were afforded the same rights as a married couple.  In the end, them and the lawyer came to the conclusion that getting married was the only way to really do everything Penn and His wife wanted to do with their estate. 

[seeker_two]

Are you sure you know this woman well enough to marry her?.... 









j/k.  Congratulations and best wishes!!! 

[S. Williamson]

I personally give it three years, tops, before the two of you're in front of a judge.   

[280plus]

Congrats!

If your getting married in Vegas wouldn't Elvis be the perfect one to perform the ceremony? I tried to talk my wife into that but she wasn't having it.  

[thebaldguy]

Congrats!

If your getting married in Vegas wouldn't Elvis be the perfect one to perform the ceremony? I tried to talk my wife into that but she wasn't having it.  

Mine was the same way. She loved the idea of running away to Vegas to get married. She's pretty open minded (she has libertarian leanings like me) but she did specifically say "No Elvis for a minister!". Think fun with some dignity.

We are in the same boat as Penn and his wife. We have really never bugged each other about officially getting married. We love each other, and that's what is most important to us. The other stuff is just legal. I have a female manager that would give me a hard time about living with a woman. She would tell me that there was no commitment in our relationship. She recently told me that she is going through a divorce as she was unhappy and started cheating on her husband. I told her that she just gave up her rights to trash my relationship. She apologized and stated that she would not disrespect our relationship any more.

We laugh that our unmarried cohabitating relationship is illegal and a felony in some states as it violates sodomy laws. I love being with a wild woman outlaw! It's gonna be weird having a wife.

After we get married, God and the sex police won't be angry with us anymore.  

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

but she did specifically say "No Elvis for a minister!". Think fun with some dignity.

Elvis as bridesmaid?

[Monkeyleg]

At least Elvis would be quiet, given that he's dead and all.

[tyme]

Congratulations!

Some people gave us a pretty hard time about the lack of commitment in our unmarried relationship over the years. The funny part of that is some of those folks ended up getting divorced.

Those people can shove it.

Good for you.

"Lack of commitment?"  What do they think living together for 22 years means?

Penn Gillette...  In the end, them and the lawyer came to the conclusion that getting married was the only way to really do everything Penn and His wife wanted to do with their estate. 

Not surprised, but I find it absolutely disgusting that this is the case.

Legal rights of marriage need to be separated and put into form contracts available from all state governments.  I also think there ought to be a separate contract for child rearing that must be signed by everyone who's going to raise the child, binding those people for the child's life as a minor -- Heinlein-style -- completely separate from any marriage contract that might exist.  If someone then wants to have a spiritual or religious ceremony to recognize some sort of bond that transcends the legal minutiae, that's their business, but it should have no bearing on the legal repercussions.  That way the contract can be called a civil bond or something, and marriage goes back to be whatever the religion you're getting married under thinks "marriage" is.  No more quibbling over the meaning of "marriage" because the state would be completely out of that business.

[thebaldguy]

We both dropped the "we are getting married" bomb at work today with expected results. Lots of weird looks and disbelief. Some folks took some convincing.

My boss jokingly asked me if I'd thought this through. He then told me he went from girlfriend to wife in two years.

One of my girlfriend's co-workers exclaimed that she thought we were already married as we had been together so long. She always thought of me as her husband.

Suprisingly, a few folks asked if they could attend the wedding in Vegas. I didn't see that coming.

[Scout26]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BDhxl81B1o&


Congrats !!