A poly wedding: My decision to marry my boyfriend while I’m legally married to my husband

Comments on A poly wedding: My decision to marry my boyfriend while I’m legally married to my husband

1. To the author: what about your other husband? You don’t really mention him at all. Will he be part of the ceremony, or is it completely separate from him?

   • Hi Jamie! My husband won’t be participating in the ceremony in any way, though I would certainly include him in some way if he had a desire for that, and that was something we discussed very early on. He did, however, volunteer to prepare the food for the reception, which is wonderful 🙂

     • yes. I wanted to see what the husband of 10 years thought about this?

       [NOTE FROM EDITORS: Click here for the husband’s perspective]

       If its truly polyamory I thought, ONE, you wouldn’t need to get married to an additional person you would just be closely connected to another couple who may be married or another individual who agree with things together while you are with someone or married to another individual. SECOND, I always thought if one person was to marry more than one it is called POLYGAMY no matter what. Yes people believe in their own things. How do you know your husband is agreeing with this decision? He may say it but is it a truthful honest answer? AND ARE YOU doing what you TRULY believe in yourself or confused? I enjoy the company with my fiance’s friends and my own friends that are married, in a relationship and together. We dont need to be married to each other but we can share the love for one another even thought it may be a much different kind of love than our spouses. We help each other, talk to each other when they’d like to, spend quality time with each other. We don’t need to be married to feel the love.

       • Does anyone really NEED to get married? Legal status aside (health insurance, immigration, tax, etc.), all marriages are about expressing your love for another person in front of all your friends and family.

         I was raised in a traditional Catholic household, believing stereotypical “normal” conventions. As an adult, it was a shock to realize there is a large population of people outside these norms. After the initial mind bend of realizing I was thinking about love the wrong way all these years, I’ve worked hard to open my mind and come to accept that love and happiness come in all shapes and sizes. Best wishes to you in this endeavor. I think it sounds wonderful.

       • Rosie1985, you are right that “polygamy” generally means more than two people who are married, but in the US at least, we usually reserve the word for people who are “legally married” to one another. Even more than that, polygamy usually refers (again, in the US) to religiously-based plural marriages, such as those of splinter Mormon sects. Technically, polygamy means multiple *mates*, (poly + gamy) and polyamory means multiple *loves* (poly + amory.) In practice, polyamory is a broader term than polygamy, because there are more ways to practice polyamory than polygamy. You might be interested to look at this quick reference table that I created that compares and contrasts polygamy and polyamory as currently practiced and understood in the US: http://blog.unchartedlove.com/about-love-outside-the-box/polyamory-vs-polygamy/

         Also, I’m sure you didn’t mean to call the OP’s husband of 10 years a liar, did you? He’s done a great job of answering the question of his involvement farther down the thread which should put your mind at ease as to whether he’s truly on board with this plan.

         Please keep in mind that just because you don’t understand something, doesn’t mean that the people who are doing it are confused. As far as I can tell, they’re not confused about a thing, and have spent quite a lot of time thinking this through. This is a thoughtful, deliberate, and joyous act for them, and I wish them well.

         I’m glad you have close friendships with other couples, with whom you don’t feel the need to get married. It’s great when people don’t need to be married to feel the love, as you say! It’s also great when people choose to demonstrate their love in front of their friends and family, and show the depth of commitment that they feel towards one another in a more tangible way. Yay for diversity (which is what Offbeat Bride is about, right?)

       • Polyamory simply means having the desire and capacity to engage in loving relationships with more than one partner simultaneously. There are a multitude of different ways that people form poly families and relationships, and none is any more “truly poly” than another. Some people have one live-in committed partner and other more casual relationships, some people have committed triads or quads who all live together, and plenty like me have two (or more) long-term, equally committed partners who they share a home and a life with. Technically, yes, “polygamy” means “multiple marriage.” We choose not to use that term because of its associations with patriarchal, religious polygamy.

         Regardless of whether we had decided to have this wedding, we would still be sharing our lives together in this way. The wedding isn’t a need, it’s a celebration of our love and commitment that we’re choosing to have. Our lives and our future would look the same with or without it, and we’re all quite certain of what we want.

         • All the best <3 (was going to try to put the infinity sign but it comes out as a question mark)

2. YESS! Thanks for sharing, Angi! It’s a question I’ve turned over in my mind many times in reference to my two partners as well, and I’m so glad that you shared your perspective. Congratulations on finding a plan that sounds so right for your family!

   (I do hope to see the wedding porn on Offbeat Bride next year!)

   Also great to see more posts about poly – I’ve recently written two for Offbeat Home. Keep it up!

   • Thank you! I will definitely have to check out your posts on Offbeat Home. And I will certainly submit my wedding to Offbeat Bride after it happens 🙂

3. Good for you for looking at this in both a personal and socially-realistic way. I’m 31, also intelligent, and a female, and have never seen a problem with polyamory and polygamy as long as all parties are aware of the situation and are consenting adults. …also as long as it’s not a controlling thing as some craptastic people have been known to do.

   Then again, some people use a single marriage to control a person, so there’s that.

   While some rules/laws about insurance policies and state/federal benefits might need to be ironed out regarding a person having more than one spouse, even if it means charging a slightly higher premium for covering more than 1-2 adults or having the primary insured pick one spouse (ugh) for coverage, this is something that can be a THING. Don’t worry about what others say about your relationships, and just continue putting the conversation out there. It’s mostly awkward for people to consider only because this country has heard mostly the crappy, cult-type stories of polygamy, not the ones like yours about people who actually love each other.

   • Thank you!

4. Congratulations on your engagement!!

   • Thanks! 🙂

5. I am admittedly not very knowledgeable about poly-amorous relationships, so I had a question, or two. I was wondering if your current husband would also be a part of the ceremony, and what he thinks about the wedding. I’m sure he must be for it since ya’ll live together, I just wondered about the dynamics. This sounds fantastic and I wish you all the luck in the world 🙂

   • Thanks! 🙂 I answered your question on another comment above, but my husband won’t be participating in the ceremony, but he will be preparing the food for the reception. He is totally supportive 🙂

6. I hesitate to ask this, mostly because I don’t know how to ask it without sounding judgemental or offensive when I really don’t mean to be, so I’ll just ask throw it out there and accept any lumps that come my way.

   I’ve been reading about polyamorous relationships on here for a while. In fact, other than the occasional talk show topic on “two gays and a girl” having a baby together, this is probably the place I’ve learned the most about what the lifestyle is. This is definitely the place that I learned the term for it. Even with all the open talk and thoughtful blog posts, I am wondering how polyamorous relationships actual work over time. I’m not asking about the actual mechanics of the situation, of course, but the longevity and the workability of it. How many of these marriages survive the idea into reality? Is the survival rate of such unions higher than the average of a “legal” marriage? Lower?

   Other than religiously-bound — such as offshoot Mormon sects, etc. — is there any data that such a family unit survives over the long haul? For definition purposes, let’s say fifteen years. How many polyamorous relationships last beyond what one might generally consider a “success”? Are such family units followed/studied?

   I have no doubt whatsoever that love and commitment begin such relationships. I mean, I assume for everyone, regardless of one’s relationship definition, no one enters a marriage with idea that it will dissolve. I have to believe that everyone has faith in the sanctity or their own relationship and lifelong potential of their family units. In our (read: USA) society, legal relationship definitions have statistical data that follows. Is that true of polys, also? Are there any polys who read this blog who have been involved in 15+-year relationships? How about with children?

   It’s none of my business, really. I’m just curious.

   • I have a friend who has been married to her husband and wife for… hmm. Must be at least 13 or 14 years, since I’ve known all of them around 11 years, and they’ve always been married. They have two children, some secondary partners, and are all, as far as I can tell, still quite in love with one another.

     I also know a childfree, married poly couple who have been married 20 years, and together close to 25. I’m pretty sure that’s a success by anyone’s definition. 🙂

   • I can’t answer all your questions, but I can say that if you want some insight into how polyamory works for families in the longer term, you should check our archive on Offbeat Families: http://offbeatfamilies.com/tag/polyamory

   • I’m not sure if any studies have been done about the longevity of relationships, though I do know plenty of poly families who have been together for many years. There have been some studies done in recent years about children in poly families, though, with very positive results. I don’t have any links handy right this second, but google Elizabeth Sheff if you’re interested, she’s been the primary person behind those studies.

     • Her book should be coming out in November, I believe. The Polyamorist Next Door is the working title if I remember correctly.

     • FYI, it’s Elisabeth Sheff, with an s, not a z, and the book is excellent. 🙂 As an academic book it’s a bit pricey, but you can also find quite a bit of her writing on her website in the Journal Articles and Book Chapters tab:
       http://elisabethsheff.com/

   • Given that polygamy is illegal in most places, and polyamory is fairly rare, and largely misunderstood or unknown, there’s not going to be much or any data about longevity (a lot of folks have come to the conclusion that poly relationships don’t last without any data at all, of course). That said, I’d make a couple of points.

     (1) I think that most people who decide to get married are doing it because they’re in it for the long haul. Divorce statistics are just that – statistics. The only way that the statistic is relevant to deciding to get married is how to seat my divorced parents at the ceremony/reception. If the lifelong likelihood of a two person marriage ending in divorce is 50%, should I look at my marriage as a coin toss for ’till death do us part? So even if the length of a poly relationship is shorter, on average, than the general population, should that matter to an individual making the decision that’s best to them and their partner(s)?

     (2) It has been my experience that conversations about any aspect of poly life tend to lead to the sort of question that you have presented. I absolutely take your curiosity in good faith, but as you recognized, it’s easy for the question to sound offensive or judgmental. I’d respectfully offer a couple of things to keep in mind as to why the question might lead to offense, divorced (pun intended) from the actual stereotype itself:

     (A) It’s not the job of every poly (or genderqueer, or pagan, or [insert nontraditional choice here]) individual to be an expert on their group, or to constantly make themselves available for questioning. A lot of the times people are cool to answer questions. Other times, we stay in the closet because it can be exhausting to be expected to be a walking dictionary on all things [poly/queer/pagan/etc]. Even if you don’t face outright hostility, you often end up in a position where you have to defend not just your choice, but your entire group, its history, and anyone who has ever been associate with your group. It’s like the XKCD comic where the guy does the math problem and someone says “you’re bad at math,” and the girl does the same problem and someone says “girls are bad at math.”

     And (B), the topic of the post wasn’t “I’m afraid to get married because [lots of people believe that] poly relationships don’t last as long as traditional pairings.” The topic was “I’ve decided to get married even though I have mixed feelings about conforming/nonconforming to traditions.” (I hope the OP forgives any error in paraphrasing there). And that’s a fascinating topic that deserves to be discussed on its own merits.

     • I ran out of time on editing while I was debating leaving up the second half of that comment, so I’ll leave it up to the mods as to whether it meets the “no-drama” policy. But as I said, I took your question in good faith, and meant my response to be in good faith also.

       • We seemed to have crossed comments. Thank you for following up. I appreciate it very much.

     • Thank you for your … um, whatever it was you tried to achieve there. I thought I was clear that my questions were not meant to be judgemental or offensive. To be fair to your comments, I may have opened myself up to the “us vs them” response you delivered by even suggesting that I struggled with how to ask my questions, but I still don’t believe any of my questions were offensive or inappropriate, even after rereading them. The post itself was written rather open-endedly and a comments section is available below it, so I expect feedback was meant to be open also. Not just a place to praise, but also a place to learn. The point of a forum, I think, is to be an open space where one is free to ask. Generally speaking, knowledge quells bias. Plus, such limits as fear-based self-censorship sort of kills the idea of a freely-conversing comments section.

       My whole point of asking my questions is that people (many people) wonder about polyamorous relationships. I thought by asking what is on my mind (and I assume minds of many curious people who read this blog), the topic could be openly discussed as a fully accepting lifestyle precisely so people WON’T make rash judgments and assign expectations based on their own “moral code”. Otherwise, the post becomes just titillating and titillation assigns subjective judgments in and of itself.

       I did not mean to imply–nor do I think I did– that I thought one single polyamorous voice would speak for all. But I hoped to hear from a variety of experienced voices. Just as I feel qualified to offer up my experiences as a single mom, or a talk show guest, or any number of other cottage corners that describe my life. I certainly wouldn’t be speaking for everyone, but if I wrote a blog post about being a single mom, I would expect the comments section to be a discussion and would welcome any questions posted as follow-up. And in answering the curious, it is highly unlikely that anyone would expect my answers to be the final word or even representative of the majority. I’d just be another voice that represents the subject of being a single mom.

       Look, sometimes people become so sensitive to the questions that they forget about the opportunity it represents to spread knowledge and acceptance. That is all I was doing. As I said, I’ve been reading about this topic for a long, long time on here and I still am just trying to understand. Understanding breeds familiarity which breeds acceptance.

       • I’m glad the follow-up helped. What I was trying to accomplish was to point out (respectfully, as I said and will repeat) why questions like this can lead to offense. I did not mean to say that your question was offensive, but was speaking generally in an attempt to spread understanding about why minority populations can sometimes (SOMETIMES – not speaking for the OP at all) get frustrated at questions about their lifestyle. And yes, I was a little annoyed that at the time I looked at the comments there were more “please teach me” comments than ones actually engaging the article.

         I was really just trying to point out what seemed to be a lack of information, one that you alluded to when you recognized that the question could be taken wrongly. Lots of times people understand vaguely that their question might be taken the wrong way, but they don’t understand WHY. I was trying to point out why. I respect that your experience as a single mother has not lead to this reaction, but that does not mean that my experience has been the same as yours. I’ve got many years of being the token queer/poly/pagan/_, and I thought my perspective might offer a perspective that you had not previously been exposed to. It is frustrating that my trying to point this out is labeled as “sensitivity,” and not “a legitimate individual perspective of someone in a minority community to which I do not belong.”

         Again, hope I’m sticking to the no-drama policy, but am perfectly happy if the mods want to cut this. I recognize the irony of derailing a conversation by pointing out a possible derailment.

         • Sorry to stick my nose in 🙂 Just wanted to say I understand both your points. I’m rather interested in how a poly relationship works ect as Kirsten was asking (and looked at the comments for that very reason I suppose) my view on these matters is ‘the more you know, the more you understand and the more chance its accepted by the general public’ (not that I don’t accept it.

           But on the other hand I am in an open relationship with my fiancee and as all my friends and anyone I meet finds this either repulsive or just interesting I am bombarded with questions (Does it make the relationship stronger? what sort of rules do you have? will you tell your child? to name a few) and it can sometimes get frustrating.

           Hope you didn’t mind me sticking my nose in, I thought it would be good to get a post from someone with both view points 🙂

         • For whatever it’s worth, I don’t at all mind respectful questions in this kind of forum. I do a poly Q & A on my blog, because I think that creating safe spaces for people to ask (again, respectful) questions is an important part of spreading understanding. But I do totally appreciate the concerns about putting someone on the spot as the “token” member of an identity, and it’s something I’m more frequently frustrated by in social spaces where I’m just trying to go about my business.

         • Thanks Angi, and apologies for misjudging the conversation – I’ve been feeling bad about this thread all afternoon and really didn’t mean to detract from a great post.

         • No need to apologize, Megs! I do truly appreciate the concern, and think the points you raised are absolutely worthwhile things for people to consider in conversations like these. I just wanted to interject and clarify that I’m personally comfortable answering questions in this kind of forum; that doesn’t mean people should assume everyone feels the same! 🙂

   • Longevity-of-relationship studies are one of the things that we poly folk would love to see more of, Kirsten. They’re just not easy to do on a relatively new population that is still in the closet a lot of the time. I don’t recall if that particular statistic was in the report, but one place that a little data was recently published was over on the Loving More Nonprofit site. I’ve got a link to it here in my own blog: http://blog.unchartedlove.com/poly-people-and-marriage-loving-more-2012-survey-results/

     And that said, one important thing to keep in mind is that duration of a marriage is by no means the only measure of “success” of that relationship! Sometimes a relationship can change form, and still exist, and still be a “success,” even if it isn’t the same as before. So people who are married can separate, but still be co-parents, for instance. They might still be friends, or live together, or not live together, or share finances or not…. When one stops seeing “length” as the only marker for ‘success,” it’s possible to envision ways in which marriages — or any relationships — can “end” but not “fail,” if you see what I mean. In fact, that’s one of the things I personally love about polyamory, is that it allows for much more freedom for relationships to grow and change, without having to necessarily “end” or “fail.” Change is inevitable, but suffering is optional. 🙂

     Additionally, it’s worth considering that just because a polyamorous relationship ends or “fails,” does not mean that polyamory had anything to do with it! Monogamous relationships end all the time, and very few people say, “oh, you know those monogamous relationships — they’re just unstable and bound to fail!” The *form* of the relationship (whether monogamous, polyamorous, or some other relationship style) is far less important to its success than other factors, such as the compatibility of the people involved, their communication and relationship skills, and other factors.

     Thanks for asking the question, Kirsten!

     • Sometimes a relationship can change form, and still exist, and still be a “success,” even if it isn’t the same as before. So people who are married can separate, but still be co-parents, for instance. They might still be friends, or live together, or not live together, or share finances or not…. When one stops seeing “length” as the only marker for ‘success,” it’s possible to envision ways in which marriages — or any relationships — can “end” but not “fail,”

       As someone who is going through the very beginning stages of seperation and divorce, can I just thank you for this comment? I was feeling very bummed reading an article about love, and this cheered me up a bit! It’s definitely something I want to keep in mind! <3

7. Thank you for sharing this. I’ve been engaged to my fiance for over two years and we (mostly I) decided to put our wedding on hold because we have gotten into a very wonderful polyamorous relationship with another couple that seems to be tending in the direction of non-hierarchical, polyfidelitous territory . I don’t want to continue planning a wedding between my fiance and I if that’s not the best idea for our family, and it doesn’t seem right that I would plan a day to honor one of these relationships but can’t publicly honor the other two (we aren’t out of the closet, yet). We don’t know many poly people, so it’s really nice to see another perspective of a person thinking about getting married in similar circumstances. Thanks again!

8. I second the request for a little more information regarding the dynamic of your relationship and how your current husband will be involved.

   I love how you’re looking at all of this, and the very obvious soul searching you’ve done, and would love to hear more!

   While I’m capable of saying I would not be able to live a poly lifestyle I appreciate and love that one can seem as happy and beautiful as yours!

   • Thanks Kaitlyn! I answered the question about my husband in brief above, but to elaborate a little further, I did sit down and talk with him very early on about whether he wanted any specific acknowledgment/small involvement with the ceremony, and he felt that he’d rather be more “behind the scenes” than in the spotlight in any way himself that day. Some poly families are composed of 3 or more people who are all in love with and committed to one another, and in those cases it would make a lot more sense to have a ceremony involving everyone. But in our case, while my two partners get along great and consider one another part of a family, the love and commitment is recognized as being separately between me and each of them. So even if my husband had felt it was meaningful to him to participate in the ceremony somehow, it would have been a minimal involvement.

     Of course, we’ll certainly acknowledge our poly-ness in our ceremony in some way. But our focus with the wedding is really on the relationship between the two of us rather than all three of us, if that makes sense.

     • That clarified my main question. Thanks for posting!

9. Beautiful article. Thank you for writing it!

   Here’s hoping that someday the same people who say that marriage shouldn’t be limited to “one man, one woman” will focus on the “one” part as well.

   There’s lots and lots of evidence that humans aren’t naturally monogamous and that it’s wildly unrealistic and unfair to expect lifetime fidelity in an era where people live to be in their 80s and 90s.

   Bravo.

10. I really feel you on the conflict inherent in joining a traditionally exclusive institution as a non-traditional, excluded person. Part of what I like about the community here is that many people are grappling with that issue on many different levels. For some, it’s just that we define ourselves as nonconformist and don’t want to sell out to the man. For others, we’re legally excluded from some or all of the benefits of the institution. Is it better to try and reform from the inside, or build something new from the outside? I tend to think that’s one of those questions where there isn’t really an answer, but that it’s good to keep asking anyway.

11. I’m a big fan of having parties to celebrate things, especially love. I have never been to a wedding that was about getting married, weddings are about sharing with your community, wedding licenses are about getting married.

12. Congratulations! Best wishes to your entire family 🙂

13. Congratulations on your engagement!

    I’m curious… and maybe someone already asked this, so I’m sorry if I’m repeating. How will your lifestyle be with your husbands? Will you live partially with one part of the week and partially with the other? How does that work? I don’t know anyone who is polyamorous and the logistics are really interesting to me.

    Hopefully that’s not prying too much!

    • Hi Krysten! We’re all sharing a home, so I’m living with both of them full-time. The romantic relationships are “separate” in the sense that we’re not all in love with each other as a triad, but we’re still all a family and there’s not a division of my time between two relationships. I’m not sure if that answers your question.

      • Very interesting, thanks for the info! And good luck… living with TWO men will be WORK hehe.

14. I don’t know if you’ve ever read A Practical Wedding’s “Remember the Lesbians” feature, but it’s a series of articles in which people in same-sex relationships (mostly women? all women? not sure) talk about how they negotiate their relationships and weddings, which are so loaded with gender norms, in the absence of traditional/stereotypical gender roles. Part of the idea is that they’re a fabulous resource for opposite-sex couples in helping THEM rethink gender roles.

    The point is: I think OBB should have a “Remember the Polyamourists” section. 🙂 Your thoughts on “why get married?” may have been particularly prompted by being poly, but are relevant, meaningful, and valuable to any relationship. I’m going to come back to this post again and again.

    • Thanks Rebecca! I definitely think I would be wrestling with a lot of these same questions if I were planning a “normal” wedding at this point in my life, as well.

15. I too love the poly posts on OBB. This in particular fascinates me – I’ve been married to my wife for two and a half years, and for seven months now we’ve been in an incredible triad. I wonder if we will have a celebration of the three of us in the future, and how that will look. I won’t turn down another chance to wear a gorgeous dress!

16. You have written a just lovely piece. It is always nice to be able to see love get to be expressed and celebrated. Hope your celebration is wondrous, and your love with your partners unending.

17. Hi! So… I am Angi’s husband. Since there seems to be a lot of questions regarding where I fit into the picture, maybe I can explain a bit.

    I want this day to be THEIR celebration. Angi and I did that already (11 years ago!!), so I’ve already been there with her for this stuff. I’m also the one who gets more of the recognition both legally and socially, so yeah, I really want them to have the focus for once that they don’t normally get. I’m 150% supportive of them — they’re my family! Any excuse to party in their honor is fine by me.

    I will, however, distract some attention from them with my culinary expertise. I am looking forward to cooking for a larger group of people. I’ve never done anything quite like that before. 🙂

    • This is fabulous. I’d love to read an article from you, too, on this subject! I think the offbeat empire needs more poly articles!

      I love reading poly articles because it’s a family construct that I rarely come across (though I, apparently live in a city with a high population) and want to learn more about how it works!

      • We’d LOVE more poly articles! We have feature them on all three sites:

        http://offbeatwed.com/tag/polyamory
        http://offbeathome.com/tag/polyamory
        http://offbeatfamilies.com/tag/polyamory

        And Korwin, thank you so much for chiming in! I think for readers who are unfamiliar with polyamory, it can be really difficult for to imagine that you could be not only comfortable with this — but excited about it! Thanks so much for sharing your perspective.

    • You are an amazing man!! Not many people would accept your wife for who she is, let alone be content to watch her marry someone else. I hope someday I will have a husband like you!!!! Congratulations to your family, I hope the wedding is beautiful and that you all are happy much more often than unhappy 🙂

18. Thank you for your post. As an officiant I have been wondering about my exact stance on presiding over commitment ceremonies for polyamorous people. I’m in New Jersey so I couldn’t conceivably be your minister in any case, but I’m curious as to what you would be looking for in an officiant, and what kind of officiant you would accept or turn down. For my part I would want to plan with you and both your partners, or at least meet with your husband at least once, since my official stance is that I will preside over “loving and equal unions of freely and soberly consenting adults”, but after looking through your blog (which is very thought-provoking and maturely written, btw) I’m wondering if you would find that procedure unacceptable.

    • Great question!

      One of our closest friends (my ex-boyfriend, actually :)) is going to be officiating our ceremony, so we won’t be going through the process of hiring a professional. If we did, though, I imagine our main priority would be finding someone who was enthusiastically supportive of poly relationships, and also someone we clicked with in a way that would make us feel confident about the ceremony really reflecting our personalities. As for having a policy about including both partners in the planning, I could understand and respect an officiant’s desire to at least meet the other partner and see first-hand that that partner fully supported the relationship. But in our case, it would be really important to all 3 of us to make it clear that this is a wedding just between my boyfriend and I, not a marriage of all 3 together, and I know that my husband wouldn’t want to participate in ceremony planning aside from a brief meeting.

      • Thank you for your reply!

        So far I had only been thinking of “group marriages”–which is what I believe you refer to in your blog as “polyfidelity”–when I was thinking of polyamorous unions. It just hadn’t occurred to me yet that partners in a couple might want to “marry” another person individually, and not as a couple. (This is odd, as my former roommate identifies as polyamorous, but she has been in a monogamous relationship for a long time so her influence must have worn off~)

        For me as an officiant it would be very important to get the third party’s sincere “blessing”, as it were–see the “equal” part of my mission statement, natch–but I think I can broaden my mind and my horizons enough to be comfortable if someone approached me with a similar situation to yours, and not insist on a group marriage if that is not what’s desired.

        Thanks so much for sharing! Good luck and many blessings on your marriages!

        • Thank you for your openness!

          Just to clarify a bit on the terminology, “polyfidelity” doesn’t refer to any particular formation of a poly relationship, but rather to the fact that a relationship is “closed,” ie, much like traditional monogamy, people in the relationship are committed to not seeking relationships outside of the group, whatever size/configuration of a group that might be.

          Relationships like mine are generally referred to as a “V”; I would be the “hinge” of the V and my two partners would be the vertices. That means that I am romantically involved with my two partners, but they are not romantically involved with each other. Groups of three in which everyone is romantically involved with one another are generally referred to as triads. But either a triad or a V (or any other configuration imaginable!) could be polyfidelitious or not, depending on whether they’re permitted to pursue other relationships. My partners and I are not polyfidelitous, because we are all free to share love and intimacy with others if we so desire. But if we had an agreement that none of us would seek additional relationships, that would be polyfidelity, even though my partners are not involved with one another romantically.

          I hope that makes sense, and wasn’t just further confusing! 🙂

          • That makes perfect sense. Thanks for clarifying!

19. My fiance and I are also polyamorous, though not currently in any other relationships. I don’t think you have to feel uncomfortable because the traditions of weddings and marriage don’t necessarily fit completely with your relationship. If you want to have a wedding to show your commitment, what does it matter what weddings “traditionally mean” to anyone else. It is all about what meaning and symbolism you and your partner take from the experience. You definitely don’t needing to worry that you are buying into social norms or anything, since if it is what you want then it is would be silly to turn away in order to stick it to the man.
    This just reminds me of a lady I once met who was a very vocal feminist (as am I). She was in my face about how I should be ashamed for wanting an engagement ring because then I would be “owned” by my fiance. Now, I am all for people who choose to surpass these types of things as long as it is for reasons that are theirs. I personally do love the symbolism of a ring, and I don’t feel bad for wearing one despite the history behind the tradition.
    In the same way, if you want it, then do it. Traditions and social constructs come from the things we build and they can change. I’d personally love to see poly relationships openly celebrated in a new sort of wedding tradition and I love that you are following your heart to find the best expression for your love. Can’t wait to hear how everything goes. “D

20. I’m seconding everyone’s excitement to see the wedding pics!

21. I love this idea! I also think that it’s very brave, but also very important, to demonstrate different ways of being. I hope that you are able to have the party of your dreams and to show people that perhaps their misconceptions about polyamory are mistaken. I also think you’re so very, very, exceptionally lucky to have found not one but two people to love you to the degree of marriage!

22. While I’m in a three-way relationship, where we are all interconnected, I’m privileged to know many poly people who do indeed share their lives with a rich network of support and love. Some liken it to children – many children can enrich one’s life, and you can spend your life with more than one. Regardless of how it seems to you, though, saying someone’s cherished way of life is ridiculous is an unkind statement that I know hurts me, much less the person it’s directed at.

    • Lina, just a note that the comment you’re responding to has been removed from the site. Typically, I remove responses to deleted comments, but your comment is so sweet that I’m leaving it up. 🙂

23. Congratulations! I don’t know you, but I support you! Thanks for the great piece.

24. The link to the article about your husband’s views on this isn’t functioning. ;-( Thanks for the article. I hope to read further.

    • Korwin shared his thoughts in this comment: http://offbeatwed.com/2013/07/a-polyamorous-wedding/comment-page-1#comment-225878

      Or just scroll up and look for his name — the link isn’t an article, it’s just a quick link to his comment in this thread.

25. I guess what disturbes me here is not that you give the promise of living together for the rest of your life to more than one man, but that for me a classic wedding is always something between two people, promising to love them and only them for ever. There is always an aura of “exclusiveness” around a wedding. I feel there should be different kinds of ceremonies that can include all parnters of a polyamourous relationship. So I am really looking forward to read how your ceremony was done. And I wish you all the best in standing up to everyone that disapproves of your love.

    • I guess what disturbes me here is … that for me a classic wedding is always something between two people, promising to love them and only them for ever.

      Reminder: you’re commenting on Offbeat Bride, which has never been about classic weddings. 🙂

      • true 🙂

26. I pondered back and forth about leaving a comment so please forgive me if my wording is off. Let me start by saying that I don’t have any positive direct experience with polyamorous relationships. Tried one once, and it just felt…bad. In my head, I was imagining this “ideal” relationship where we all loved and were hot for each other. In reality my male partner just got a huge ego-stroke over having TWO women and mistreated us. Sorry, I realize this sounds like some drama you would find on the Lifetime channel, but that was my life for two years. It left me a bit jaded towards poly, then my best friend got into a poly relationship for a guy that wanted to keep his existing girlfriend. Every day I’d hear her jealousy and resentment. This, as you can imagine, painted my picture of a polyamorous relationship pretty dark.

    However.
    I do believe as people, we have a right to choose our relationships, no matter what society says(as long as it’s not hurting anyone!) and while I have a very bleak outlook on poly, I’m not a bitter person unable to have faith in love. As long as each partner is mature and in the relationship out of genuine love, I believe it can work. It sounds like ALL of you have got your shit together, and know how to deal with the tough stuff. You have your wedding with the amazing food. 😀 You’re celebrating something special, why shouldn’t you throw a party for that?

    So sorry for the odd wording, I’m not really good with posting anything “raw”.

    • Prior to my current relationship, my experience with poly was also negative. On the first date with my FH he mentioned that he is poly and I immediately thought “oh well, he’s nice and we’ll just be friends” because I had absolutely no intention of heading down that road again.

      I changed my mind.

      Reason? Early on he said that the only thing he could do to convince me that things with him would be different would be to PROVE it to me over time. …and he has.

      We talk. A lot. Sometimes it’s hard. I’m emotionally monogamous (but not physically, which does help), and there’s times when it takes effort to be ok with him being out on a date with his secondary – BUT, he works very hard to make sure I feel loved and cherished and that my fears (and that’s all they are) are heard and acknowledged.

      Our relationship is different than the one described above – he and I live together and are primary partners. His secondary has her own primary relationship, and my FH and her spend time together about once a week. (we’ve just started trying “double dates” – the three of us going to a movie together. He just adores being able to hold hands with both of us at once)

      He and his secondary go out of their way to coordinate schedules with me. They are considerate. …stuff like that goes a long way towards helping me overcome that silly green monster called jealousy. I love him, poly is who he is, and his happiness is very important to me.

      and… she’s going to be a groomswoman in our wedding!

      • ” I’m emotionally monogamous (but not physically, which does help)”

        Wow, this single sentence resonated with me so much!!! Thank you for putting into words what I had been trying to understand about myself for quite some time.

    • Thank you so much for the kind thoughts, in spite of your own negative experiences!

      With regard to your bad experience, though (which I am genuinely sorry you had to go through!), I think that nearly everyone has their own awful dating experiences to share. Plenty of women (unfortunately) could say they had awful, demeaning relationships with men in the past, but that’s not given as a reason for skepticism about all heterosexual relationships. I realize and appreciate that you personally are not skeptical about all poly relationships based on your own experience, but it does seem that a fair amount of people say things like “I don’t believe in poly because I had this specific experience,” and I’d just like to point out that if everyone who ever had awful experiences in monogamous relationships said the same thing, well, there wouldn’t be a lot of faith left for *any* kind of relationship!

      • Eh, I can think of plenty of mono people who have gone on long rants about swearing off dating, or women, or whathaveyou after a particularly bad experience (or series of experiences). The truth is, there ARE plenty of people out there who bad mouth love, and marriage, and commitment even in its traditional monogamous forms because they witnessed (or more likely grew up amidst) a messy divorce, or an abusive relationship, or a series of failed attempts at dating.

        This is not to in anyway invalidate the point you’re going for, which is that people *shouldn’t* view all relationships of a particular type based on one or two experiences. I just wanted to point out that this reaction isn’t actually limited to poly. People DO do it to mono dating and marriage as well.

27. I think this is lovely, and I wish you guys all the happiness in the world. 🙂

28. Thank you so much for sharing this. As someone who is poly, I have definitely thought about having different celebrations for different life partners, and the thought strikes me with a lot of unexpected anxiety. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts, and hope that you ultimately choose to share your ceremony here on OBB! Yay for more awareness of happy, healthy poly relationships. <3

29. Thank you so much for the wonderful article and to all the insightful comments as well! My fiance and I have discussed the idea of bringing others into our relationship (both of us are open to the idea); the idea of having another wedding to celebrate another partner in the relationship is totally eye-opening and… brave. Hope to hear more about the ceremony! 🙂

30. Congratulations, Angi! What a wonderful thing to have in the works.

    As a woman with two husbands (who have yet to have a second wedding to celebrate our commitment) – I heartily applaud your plans. I’m looking forward to hearing updates about the wedding!

    (And for those who wonder about my relationships- we’ve been together for 17 combined years, have four children ranging in age from 10-16, were successful in a third-parent adoption that made it possible for all three of us to be legal parents to our kids, and the guys have their own connection that is its own kind of partnership. It’s pretty dang wonderful.)

    • Amy, sounds like you’d be a great person to write an Offbeat Families submission! http://offbeatfamilies.com/submissions 🙂

    • Tell me more about third parent adoption!?!

      • Third parent adoption, in states where it is possible to do so, is done like any other adoption, just with more than two parents being able to be legal parents to the kids. We were not the first in our state to have a third parent adoption done, but we are among a fairly small minority of folks. It’s a good thing to ask a lawyer about. 🙂

31. I have a husband and boyfriend. The really relationship is basically like any other relationships. Just another person added to the equation. Its really not about definitions. Its just who we are.

32. I just wanted to say that this part: “But in spite of my longstanding support of same-sex couples who choose to marry even without legal recognition, and my deeply held belief that the state has no real business defining personal relationships in the first place, I had somehow never really considered that we were free to get married, too, regardless of whether or not the law would ever recognize it.” resonated so much with me. I just got married (about a week ago) and I identify as bisexual. We both agreed that should we find someone we both love and want to invite into our lives, we would. But I never figured it would go farther than that. Thank you for this fresh perspective.

    Also, even though I am total stranger, I would definitely come to your wedding. Love is love. <3 Congratulations to you and yours, and may you find everlasting happiness and bliss.

33. Hi Angi – A huge THANK YOU for writing this post and educating so many people (look at all the comments!). Also, thank you for creating your blog. I hadn’t heard about it before, but I’m going to read it whenever I can. You’re right: poly folk need more of a voice in this monogamy-driven culture. People need to know that there is an alternative, that it can and does work for many, and that love needn’t have limits.

    And Ariel, thank *you* for taking a stand and deleting the more hurtful comments. Doing so goes a long way in keeping OBB a ‘safe space’ for people to be who they are without fear of ridicule or prejudice. While people may have a right to their opinions, they don’t have the right to disrespect or hurt other people with them.

    Looking forward to seeing many more Poly posts!

34. Hey, Angi! I read your article on Salon this evening. It was wonderful!

    {Everyone else, here it is: http://www.salon.com/2013/08/05/my_two_husbands/

    • Great article!

      (As always, offbeatlings: avoid the comments on posts like that. Trust me.)

      • A few weeks ago, I made a partially-transparent box to hover over the corner of my computer screen which reads “NEVER READ THE COMMENTS!” to remind me that news articles rarely generate insightful commentary.
        (For other Mac users : I used Stickies. Not sure if anyone else still uses it, but it’s been built into OS X for several generations.)

        • Related: https://twitter.com/AvoidComments 🙂

    • Thank you, Kristen! And thanks, Ariel, for making Offbeat Bride a much safer comment space than what’s typical 🙂

35. I stumbled across this post while clicking on all the fabulous items on this website. I love your candor and the way you describe your relationship with your husband and your fiance. Congratulations on your up coming wedding! You sound like a very loving person and I can’t imagine that you won’t be surrounded by love on your special day!

36. Celebrating the diversity of love and life in the modern world, congrats to you and thanks for the amazing post.

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