Are any of you already or going to be legally married before the wedding?
We are having a very intimate (only us and our best friend who will officiate- thanks MA for this option!) marriage on the beach where he confessed that he liked me. It will be on our 11th anniversary. Six months after that, we will have our wedding with family and friends. The wedding will have a religious ceremony.
With this legal marriage we can get a lease in our married names, he can be on my (better) insurance, our financial aid changes, and the name change process can start ahead of time.
Several of our friends also were married before their weddings and they all said it took some pressure off of the big day. Maybe this will hold true for us too!