A Witty Title.

Well I've been contemplating recently the concept of weddings. Whether eloping can ever be a viable option. Before I start commenting on this, let me say, this has been inspired by a post on Haoran's Blog.

I'm sure if I tried I could think of some example, consisting of a bizarre sequence of events which would lead me to take eloping as a better option, but that's not the point here. The point is this generally (and by that I mean almost always to the extent that if your an exception I'd be shocked) I don't believe elopeing is ever right.

My reasoning works as follows. The important bits of a wedding, the critical bits, the bits that matter are....

1) It is honoring to god, of god, in gods sight, and through god that you are to wed

2) It is a commitment to your partner for better, for worse, for life.

3) It is a public declaration of your mutual commitment and desire to wed.

Anything else is tradition. There is a place for traditions, but to my mind what is far more important is that the wedding represents you. If you don't want to have it in a church building, have it outside. God is everywhere, and all of the above criteria can be satisfied without being in a church. If you want to have a small wedding, do so. There's no requirement for you to invite the entire universe. Just dont try to keep it a secret.. it is a declairation after all.

To my mind (at this point, an aside. I'm not in a relationship. I've never been in a relationship that went anywhere near getting married, so I really have no idea what I'm talking about).. That all said.. To my mind, Any excuse for elopeing can be nullified by stripping away all the expectations people have of weddings, and getting back to the bare bones. Provided you complete the stuff above whatever other changes you need to make to the wedding ceremony, go for it. Its your ceremony. And when you make these changes hopefully you can be resolving whatever the issue was that was driving you towards elopement.

So yeah, that all reads like im dictating the truth to you, but its just intended to express my position.. tell me im wrong... and tell me why.

CDG

Note: Eddited to fix a dead link.

So, Who am I. Never a simple question to answer. Hopefully if your here, you either know me irl, or i said something either insightfull, entertainnig or offensive on your blog and your wondering who I am.

My name is Matthew Aldridge. Im an Australian, 25(almost), and living within close driving distance of Sydney. I comute to sydney every day, where I work with computers.

I am a committed christian. I have been a firm believer in christ since I was old enough to understand christianity. I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent. I enjoy solving problems, and I am a reasonably logical thinker.

My hobies include Magic : The Gathering, Role Playing (Mostly D&D 3.5), Reading, Board Games, Computer Games.

To be honest, Im a bit of a geek. Or a nerd (Depending on which you believe is which. I'm the one who leaves his parents basement every so often to meet up with others)

So why am I telling you so much about myself? I feel that particularly over the internet, there is a considerable scope for misunderstanding. And the more you know about where someone is coming from, the less likely you are to do this. If you know what kind of background someone is coming from, its far easier to see what they are trying to say.

So. I finally did it. I finlly decided to jump on the "blog" bandwagon, to post my thoughts, feelings, and experiences up on the internet for the wider world to see.

What am I thinking? Ive seen so many people get burnt through blogs. Ive seen them cause no end of stress and hardship. So what. I see the benefit of them to.

But first, a few warnings. This blog is NOT for the faint hearted. I am making a commitment to myself here and now, which I can only hope I will have the integrity to keep. Short of a legal threat, I will not remove any post I make to this blog. I will not edit them for content (I may fix particularly bad spelling mistakes). Once there posted, thats how they will stay. I will leave this blog as a record of what I said at that time, no matter how much I may change my mind and disagree with what I previously said.

Consequently, you may find what I have to say shocking. You may find it offensive. You may disagree. Tough. It stays. If you cant handle that, then I suggest you dont read what I post here.

That sounds very harsh. What do I mean by the above? I mean that whatever I post, I expect you to read it in light of me. Of my character. I like to think im a person who dosent set out to be rude, to say offensive things, to hurt people. If something I have written reads that way, then I would hope the most likely interpretation would be some combination of me not writing what I am trying to say, and you not reading what I am trying to say. The internet is an incredible source of misunderstanding, misinterpretation and confusion. Please. Please. PLEASE. If something I write offends you, do the following.

1. Think about something else for a few minutes and the read it again.
2. Try not to be offended, and try to work out what I MEANT by the statement... even if it is not what the statement appears to say.
3. Send me an email, or a private message, or have a private conversation with me about the comment. Get me to explain what I meant by the comment.

If you just disagree with what I have to say, then by all means, debunk me. Argue with me, irl or in the comments. I love a good argument. If you think im wrong, tell me why.

If I agree with you, and I think something I have said should be retracted, I will make a comment to that effect in the comments. But I will leave the origional comment as is.

My aim throughout this blog is to be as honest as is feasible. Obviously im not going to broadcast my entire life to the entire internet. But I hope what I have to say here can be entretaining, thought provoking, and most of all usefull.