Elizabeth Oakes is the braintrust behind MarriageToGo.Com, a unique marriage licensing and wedding officiation service in Los Angeles, CA. She creates and conducts hundreds of civil and event weddings per year and writes from the trenches about weddings, marriage, and our changing culture.

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Look at what we have right now: lung transplant recipient weds

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August 11, 10:08 AM

by Elizabeth Oakes, Wedding Examiner

Carrie Shellhammer and her doctor Jeffrey Golden,
director of UCSF's lung transplant program
(photo by Lea Suzuki/SF Chronicle)

Happy Monday, and if you need something life-affirming to mull over this week after all the Olympic and 8/8/2008 hullaballoo, check out this article on Carrie Shellhammer’s wedding.

This story not only touches on the nature of love and marriage in the presence of life-threatening illness, but also the importance of organ donation, which you can read about here at "The Gift of a Lifetime" website.

We offer Carrie and her new husband Zachary Chown our congratulations and wish them a sweet and long life together (and so to you all.)

Elizabeth Oakes welcomes your feedback and ideas at weddingexaminer@gmail.com.

More wedding stories:

How To Invite Your Ex To Your Wedding (or not)

Here On a Domestic?: Great article on courtroom weddings

US News and World Report: Married Folks Still Healthiest

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Comments

Wedding weight loss

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November 30, 11:55 PM

Now that we’ve entered the feasting and holiday-wedding-proposal season, here’s the skinny about losing weight before your wedding date:First off, don’t be like the woman who visited my Weight Watchers meeting a couple years ago, the... Read More

CA Supreme Court justices consider Prop8 under threat of recall

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November 25, 9:54 AM

The California Supreme Court now has under consideration lawsuits challenging Proposition 8, the initiative to ban gay marriage in California via the ballot initiative process. A ruling is expected in the spring and disinformation and rhetoric... Read More

Spontaneous snow-art tribute to love and marriage

1 comment

November 20, 8:11 PM

There’s not much more to add to Dale Dougherty’s BoingBoing post about this lovely little work of snow art, except perhaps to note that this sort of spontaneous expression of love and excitement makes us old wedding pros remember why we do... Read More
Topics: Unusual Weddings , Weddings In Culture , Weddings , Fun Stuff

Wedding vendor lists: real recommendations or just paid advertising?

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November 19, 12:12 AM

I got a call today from a guy who claimed to represent a restaurant where I conduct weddings frequently, telling me about the venue’s new “preferred vendor guide,” a glossy magazine-style referral list his company was printing on the... Read More
Topics: wedding planning , Wedding Industry Practices

Connecticut new haven for gay marriage

2 comments

November 16, 10:20 PM

While Californians anxiously await a ruling from their state Supreme Court deciding whether or not the recent ballot initiative to end same-sex marriage rights will be upheld, gay couples in Connecticut tied the knot this week in the state’s first... Read More
Topics: same-sex weddings , Weddings In Culture , Marriage , Weddings and the Law , Gay Marriage

Turn your Thanksgiving dinner into a wedding feast!

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November 14, 10:52 PM

Do you have a wedding engagement to be thankful for this year? Why not make it official with a Thanksgiving wedding at home? Just like the dinner, it requires a little advance planning, but if you season it right you can have a family... Read More
Topics: wedding planning , Unusual Weddings , Wedding Customs and Traditions

Starter marriages and how to avoid them

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November 11, 4:02 PM

The internet is all a-flap about Peaches Geldof and Max Drummey’s marriage--are they divorcing? are they trying to save their three-month-old marriage?--but one wonders how such a crisis point could have been reached after such a short time. ... Read More
Topics: Weddings In Culture , Marriage , Celebrity Marriages

Battle royale: gay marriage protests continue in California

3 comments

November 8, 11:33 PM

If religious leaders who worked to pass a ban on gay marriage thought they would have the last word with this week’s election, they were sorely mistaken. Vigorous protests are taking place all over Los Angeles and San Francisco, calling out the... Read More

A sad day for gays in California, Arizona, and Florida

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November 5, 10:25 PM

....but not in Connecticut where same-sex marriages will begin next week, and Massachusetts now marries same-sex couples from out-of-state just like California used to, so gay weddings can continue for anyone who can scratch up the airfare. The... Read More
Topics: same-sex weddings , Weddings In Culture , Marriage , Weddings and the Law , Gay Marriage , Elections 2008