I Thee Wed...Again!

I like to believe that most people have a wedding checklist of all the things you have to do, should do, need to do, and maybe want to do. They do not miss a detail in those checklists in Bride's Magazine. My super MOH, Kendall Jones, made me an amazingly organized wedding binder full of checklists, photos, ideas, and tips just for my wedding. Not only did I have an organized color-coded & tabbed binder, but she also sent me her Guest List Excel Spreadsheet. This spreadsheet, ladies and gentlemen, was no ordinary spreadsheet! It was like GOLD! She had a tab for every shower, dinner, and luncheon, as well as the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. On each list was the following: invited guest(s) name, whether or not they were attending, how many attended, their address, and the gift they gave her. WOW! I mean she basically did all the hard parts for me, and all I had to do is fill in the binder and spreadsheets.

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So back to my checklists. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU AND YOUR FIANCE OBTAIN A MARRIAGE LICENSE BEFORE YOUR WEDDING. THE CHURCH DOES NOT/CANNOT DO IT FOR YOU. You are probably saying to yourself, "Duh, that's common knowledge!" Well yours truly did not know she had to get a marriage license. Luckily I found out around 6pm the night of my wedding...ha. There was no need to freak out about it because Rev. Hampton assured us that the most important thing was to be married in God's eyes, not the state of Arkansas. Of course I questioned all my bridesmaids as well as the MOB and MOG. They all knew about this crazy marriage license thing. Even the girls who were not married knew. Now keep in mind that I've been in a few weddings in the past year and I never ever ever heard one of them talk about getting a marriage license.

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Even without a marriage license Sam and I became Mr. and Mrs. Sam Sackett on August 15, 2009. So I thought. Apparently "legal documents" (ie; marriage licenses) cannot be backdated. We found out about this upon our arrival in Little Rock late Sunday night after our honeymoon. First thing Monday morning we had to go to the court house to get a marriage license. This tedious little document makes your marriage legal. Then we had to go back to Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church where Rev. Hampton re-married us, literally! I have the photos to prove I am not making this up. Back to the court house afterward to get the gold stamp and make this official. So I like to think of this day as just renewing our vows after 9 days of marriage. Mom was there to witness this blessed and 100% legal event and everyone at the church (and probably everyone reading this) got a good laugh out of it.It was one of the funniest learning experiences I've ever had. I hope everyone has learned a valuable lesson today.