Louisiana now has a "Covenant Marriage" which makes getting a divorce harder and is generally chosen only by religious people.

Louisiana's Covenant Marriage Law

My husband and I talked about changing our marriage to a covenant one but neither of us really see any need in it since we've been married for 19 years.

Marriages performed by civil servants such as a Justice of the Peace usually aren't religious in nature and therefore could be classified as a "civil union".

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

I've heard of these. It's something I think we would have considered; even though we've only been married for 4 months, I know that we're going to spend the rest of our lives together.

We had a good friend of ours marry us. It was a pretty mellow ceremony lasting all of 15 minutes (which is fortunate, 'cause much longer and we'd have been soaked by the huge downpour that followed). If society wanted to call our marriage a "civil union," I'd be OK with that as long as we maintained the same rights and privileges.

Oh, and 19 years is fantastic. Congratulations!

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When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

I have been trying to figure what I should say regarding this thread, and about the only thing viable to be said, is "Men don't "DO" that sort of thing????

???????????" How Feminist can it get.??????????????????

I think he should buy a dog....

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Only a liberal would know how hard it is to get a nicotine patch to stick to a monkey.

I don't want to rain on your parade but I was married for 20 years the first time.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

YABU'''' His parade got rained on in fifteen minutes. It's JUST NOT FAIR HEH HEH.

LOL

Too bad. I'm hopeful that it will work out well; she's a good woman. But I also know that things happen. I think that our having married later (I was 34, she 28) helped out as well.

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When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

I think it should work both ways. At least that way you get a choice. For professional reasons alot of women choose to keep their maiden name (especially journalists)Why couldn t a man not take his wives name? I think thats a real step forward rather than the awful tradition of hoping for a son to carry down the family name. As for those proud to carry their husbands names I would expect the husbands would take their wives names with such pride as well.

How about the Icelandic way ?
The son's last name is derived from the father's first name while the daughter's last name is derived from the mother's first name:
Father : Leifur
Mother: Kristin
Son : Björn Leifurson
Daughter : Asta Kristindottir

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"Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time"
Hillel the Elder