A few months ago, my brother-in-law, Ed, who is a Justice of the Peace, with his office in the Courthouse, came to my office and asked me if I'd like to stand in as a witness to a Proxy Marriage that was going to happen in a few minutes. I wasn't quite sure what a Proxy marriage was, but I was willing to witness one! He had also asked another courthouse employee from the Clerk of Court's office, and we both stood in the Judge's chambers as witnesses, along with a friend of the couple that the groom had brought with him to stand in for the bride. The groom was stationed with the military in North Dakota, and his bride to be was overseas in the military. He was on the cell phone with the bride, and put her on speaker phone when the ceremony was about to begin. Ed read the vows and the bride and groom repeated them...he in the court room and she overseas. Ed made a light hearted comment about kissing over the cell phone after he pronounced them husband and wife, but then he prayed for the couple and asked God's blessing over their marriage. It was a neat experience, but I am glad Alex and I were both at our own!
After talking with the Clerk of Court employee, I learned a little more about the procedure of being able to be married by proxy. They each have to have 2 or 3 forms of identification and divorce papers if previously married, and there are 4 other states that will perform proxy weddings: California, Colorado, Kansas and Texas. Montana is the only State to perform double proxy weddings, though, crazy as it is!
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