[Bytor Peltor]

I've held this same belief and the wife and I have discussed it several times over the years!

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

as far as my father used to tell me (He was an Episcopal priest), if two people vow to each other to be each other's spouse, they are married in the eyes of "god" whether or not they are legally married in a civil sense. It does not, NOT, include the presence of a priest. That is just ceremony. He always told me people get married when they decide to give themselves to the other permanently, and that ussually happens WAY before the actual wedding ceremony.

civil marriage is an older institution than religious marriage, for marriage was and still is tied to the passage of inheritance, money, estates, and titles.