Wedding Blog

Our ceremony was like a dream. It was so amazing to hear every word my Myrtle was saying, and knowing that she so painstakingly crafted our ceremony with words from her heart. And boy, it was nothing we could EVER have submitted to her and said, “Here. Read this.” She and I had originally sat down and wrote the backbone for what was to eventually become the most important 20 minutes of Mr. Peng and my life thus far. She took that copy and ran with it, virtually changing every part to be so incredibly personal to us, It really took my breath away. I was marrying the most compassionate man I knew, and being married by the most compassionate woman I knew. Life couldn’t have been better than at that moment! (It’s all been downhill from there, you know. Kidding)

It was windy… I looked like a lion. Rawr.

But there was one aspect of this perfect match between officiant and couple that I just couldn’t believe ’til I saw it:

Would our marriage be legal?

Myrtle was ordained online through the Universal Life Church. I had heard countless brides talk about how they were having a friend get ordained there, and presiding over their ceremonies, but I couldn’t seem to come across a married gal that ever came back and said, “Yes! We used the ULC, and it worked!” I probably wasn’t looking hard enough, and was too lazy to ask.  But there I was. I had a feeling everything was going to be fine, but I really wouldn’t believe it until I saw that hard copy of our marriage certificate in our hands.

This was the moment I started to cry. Myrtle was speaking to me directly and I didn’t want to screw her up and make her start crying, so I refused to look at her while she spoke to me.

I’m happy to report, IT WORKED! We did hit one hiccup, though, and for a while, I didn’t think it worked. Our marriage license didn’t arrive in the time frame it was promised, so I figured something was amiss. About three weeks after the wedding, the county called to let us know that our license was incomplete. We had failed to fill in the box that asks for the official title of the person solemnizing the marriage. Since she was an online ordained minister, we figured she didn’t really have a title, so we skipped it. But, apparently you’re NOT supposed to skip this box, ordained online or otherwise. So if a friend is marrying you, be sure to fill this in the “Official Title” box:

Dep Com Civ Mar

This is probably is short for something meaningful, but I’m too lazy to look it up. Deputy Commercial Civil Marriage? Department of Commerce Civilization March? Your guess is as good as mine. The County Clerk filled it in for us after calling us about it, but it did delay the processing about a month.

You want physical evidence? Here you go:

I don’t know why I felt the need to put my dirty ass in this picture… and yet… there I am.

Fellow online ordained brides, let everyone know what state you got married in, and reassure everyone out there that online ordination works! Or, maybe in your case, failed miserably?

The Penguins got married in California, and ULC worked for us!