Maybe you don't need to get married anymore. It's just a piece of paper, right? What could a marriage ceremony really do to change how much you care for each other? The world has developed a negative belief about marriage because so many people (usually when they were kids) got burned by divorce. So if divorce hurts so much then maybe marriage isn't the best decision for a couple.

I do believe the marriage ceremony should adapt and change, get more creative, more meaningful for our time and our culture. I would love to hear creative ideas from couples on what they would do completely different than a traditional marriage.

However, this does not mean I believe that marriage should be eliminated. Susan Tabbert wrote an excellent post titled, "Are you auditioning for the role of the spouse? Why cohabitation doesn't work", and Susan is correct. Cohabitation has proven unsuccessful for couples because marriage does mean something. It's a powerful, spiritual, and legal experience that creates a bond and intimate connection like no other kind of relationship can accomplish.

The things people will go through, however, simply make me laugh. Read what a woman in Scotland did to avoid getting married:

Although Helen McCarthy refused to marry Steve Jukes, she had his surname tattooed round her wedding ring finger as a mark of commitment. "If I was married, I could take off my ring on a night out with the girls, but this will be permanent," she told him.

So what does this woman do if their "relationship" doesn't work out? That tattoo seems more serious to me than signing a piece of paper.

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© Copyright 2007 Smalley Relationship Center

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