Wedding Traditions: Engagement

The concept of the engagement can be traced back to the Fourth Council of the Lateran in the year 1215, when Pope Innocent III declared a longer waiting period between betrothal and marriage. Since we're we're not religious, you'll know that we plan to skip the recommendations of bishop from 800 years ago.

In today's Western culture, it's very common for couples to become engaged and remain that way for a long time—perhaps not setting a time frame for having a wedding. We applaud anyone's decision to do it in whatever way makes sense to them.

For us, it meant being married as soon as we could. For logistical reasons, we settled on the Summer of 2005 since Elaine wouldn't be finished getting her degree in Ohio until May 2005. We'd get married in May 2005 if it weren't for the desire to have a few solid extra months of planning to get the wedding done right, the way we want it. If it weren't for that, we'd probably be married now!