oh weddings

So Nick and I are trying to find someone to perform our wedding ceremony. We were in Cabo this weekend and met with one guy that is a definite No-Go.

I (embarrassingly) visit a destination wedding forum for people planning weddings in, among other places, Cabo. I did a search for "Cabo officiant." A lovely girl posted about her experience with Haven Boggs.

http://www.weddinghaven.us/cabo.html

From his website, I'd assume he performs weddings in Cabo. Most of the officiants in Cabo will do non-denominational or non-religious weddings. So I sent him and email:

Hi Haven,

We are getting married on blah blah blah blah. I was wondering if you had availability and am also wondering if you perform non religious ceremonies.

Thanks!

Bryn

Here is his response - you can't make this up!

Thank you for your request.
The answers are no and no.
I do not do non-religious weddings.
I am in the Houston area working at CPS as a family counselor.
God invented marriage. And God is love. My prayer for you two is that you love each other and you will find a way to put God's love at the center of your lives.

In so doing you can avoid numerous problems.

In Christ,
Harold Boggs
281-979-0996

I have a number of things I'd like to say to Mr. Boggs, but will refrain. And a quick shout out for working for CPS - I can be onboard with public service.......But, here are some of my issues:

1. Girl on the forum that recommended Boggs, didn't read the topic. LOCAL Officiants. Hello?! The guy lives in Houston.

2. A simple no and no would suffice. If he had left out the last 3 lines, he'd have never made it to brynashley.blogspot.com

3. Let's break this down a bit, shall we?

"God invented marriage." False - Marriage (or the idea of marriage) existed long before humans invented monotheism. Anthropologically, it's all about staking claim to offspring. "That kid is mine." Later, it was more like a business agreement between 2 families and oh by the way, the kids are getting married to seal the deal. There's the argument that all societies have "invented" their own form of marriage - suggesting that some higher power might be at work. I'm just saying that it's awfully bold to say that "God invented marriage."

"God is love." Sorta. I totally get where he's coming on this - a lot of good has been done in god's name. But I would also argue that a lot of bad has been done in his name as well (ironically, I got this note on 9/11).

"My prayer for you two is that you love each other..." check....oh, you're not done...

"...and you will find a way to put God's love at the center of your lives." There's love at the center of our lives. May or may not be god's.

"In so doing you can avoid numerous problems." Plenty of Christians get divorced (I'm assuming he is talking about divorce and not hell....which I'm sure he believes I will be visiting). I'm not saying we're perfect, but we do pretty well.

I have absolutely NO problem with people wanting to include god in their marriage. I've been to weddings with lots of prayers and hymns and have enjoyed every single one. I'm just saying, it doesn't happen to be what we are going for and this guy went a little too far. A little "judge-y" if you will.

Wonder how he feels about gay marriage. I should have told him I was a lesbian.