You know you're in the South when...

[xiane]

So last night I was looking up requirements for obtaining a marriage license in North Carolina.
The laws there are pretty simple to follow.

Bring $50. CASH ONLY.
You have to be there in person. No marriage by proxy. Please do show up to your own wedding, 'k?
First cousins? No problem! As long as you're not DOUBLE first cousins, we have *some* standards, y'know.

And no waiting! You can marry your first cousin RIGHT AWAY - as long as you've got that fifty bucks!

http://marriage.about.com/cs/marriagelicenses/p/northcarolina.htm

... heheheee.

Comments

[anmorata.livejournal.com]

I think the marriage by proxy clause was put in place for military personnel. There's a crapload of military installations in this state.

[wanderyng1.livejournal.com]

Hah, well Virginia only charges $30 and they let you marry your cousin too. Strangely enough they won't let you marry your cousin in West Virginia though.

[xiane.livejournal.com]

You are probably right; it just sounds really funny when placed in with the other [very small] rules. By the time I got to the first cousin part, I was giggling non-stop. Hell, I don't even have to live there to marry my first cousin. [as long as she's not a girl. Then all bets are off.]

Compared with the laws for, say, Massachussets, which I pulled up by accident earlier in my search... these are pretty lenient. :)


... I am so excited. It makes me giddy!

[xiane.livejournal.com]

*laugh* If we all decide to marry our cousins, we know where to shop around!

[anmorata.livejournal.com]

The cousin thing made me laugh, too. Nevermind if you're someone's 18th cousin 22 times removed, you can't marry. First cousins only! Hahah. :)

[ex-severina843.livejournal.com]

I had no idea it was legal to marry first cousins here O_o

Not that I'm all that surprised XD

[sleepwalks.livejournal.com]

sounds pretty reasonable to me. i think in west virginia if you're marrying your first cousin you must provide a goat.

[crystalxshadows.livejournal.com]

This might be a silly question but..what on Earth are "double first cousens"?

[xiane.livejournal.com]

Dude, I had to check that one out, too.

"What about Double Cousins?

This situation occurs most frequently when siblings from one family marry siblings from another family. The resulting children are double first cousins, because they share all four grandparents (assuming that each set of siblings shared both parents). When multiple relationships are involved, determining the exact relationship can be difficult, and it may be necessary to simply use multiple terms to describe the multiple relationships. "

From: http://share-hodgson.org/cousins.html

So like if Bobby and Susan Smith are siblings, and they marry Jenny and Johnny Jones, their kids would be double cousins and not allowed to marry each other. O_O

[crystalxshadows.livejournal.com]

Ah okay, thank you!

On a random note: Is there any chance of you going to Renn Fest tomorrow? It's Shakespeare day.

[xiane.livejournal.com]

I got invited by nocturnaleye to go to the Russian Festival, so probably not this week. I had been planning to go to the Penn Renfest today, actually, and cencelled out because no one wanted to go with me. Is poop. Corvus Corax was playing. They are next week too, but I have to work all weekend, selling crap to the misinformed mallgoths.
Do you know how much longer the MD one will be going on?

[crystalxshadows.livejournal.com]

Ah, I wanted to go to the Penn one also because of Corvus Corax...but it is too far (the MD one is actually quite far for me). The MD one will continue to next weekend, and that will be the last.

[inefficiency.livejournal.com]

My mother was like "you're going to have to take a blood test before you can get married!" *pause* "To make sure you don't have syphillis!"

Rob: *nonplussed look* Well, that wouldn't be an issue, but we don't have to have the test anymore!

...I wonder why they gave up on that, anyway.

[http://users.livejournal.com/antisocialgirl-/]

Apparently in Lebanon you only have to be nine to get married, provided of course, that you have parental consent. If I remember corectly, when I was nine I had an imaginary boyfriend who was a wizard with purple hair.

[praesentia.livejournal.com]

aw!!! *dances for you*

i can't wait for your wedding! :)

last night, my recently newlywed friend unloaded ALL HER WEDDING PLANNING stuff on me........

and yay for her, but OH MY GOD she bought about 300$ worth of magazines/etc.


:) i'm hoping to be a little bit more of an individual when it comes to my plans :) !!!

[netochka.livejournal.com]

OUR license was $35, but you can then tag on a little more (up to the max of $75) for a ceremony. they also make you wait a full 2 days to get hitched, no quickie finger on the trigger deals here.

la la la

so, when you doin' it?

signed,
mrs_jaw

[xiane.livejournal.com]

YAY for the Mr and Mrs Jaw! Y'know, the first time I met you [in Philly, outside the DDI show, against a car! I remember!], I thought that you and Greg were perfect together. It just made sense. I like things that make sense, they make me happy. Also, I like sauerkraut. Not related to this discussion, though.

Whooo wee, I'm wonky today.

We're thinking of doing it [*giggle*] as soon as I get there, really. Not too much ceremony, just "Hi! You're here! Let's get married now!"
My mom is supposed to be driving down to help me move, so it will be opportune to do it then, while we have his parents and my mom in the same
state. Later on we can have a "do-over" as Rob called it last night, with our friends and stuff.

I can't believe that it's finally almost here. Is that how you felt? I'm all, "Hurry up, hurry up, oh shit! Here it is! Eeeeeeeeek."
Meh. Xiane, eloquent 'til the last.

$300? Jeez! O_o

[xiane.livejournal.com]

Are you guys doing a fancy-schmancy wedding? I totally envision you in a swath of ivory, with creamy flowers in your hair.

Mom asked me yesterday "So are we getting married in black, then?" Totally stimped me, she did. I have no idea! I like the idea of getting married in purple, honestly ;)

We're just going to do a civil ceremony at first, I think. Then later we'll have a party/reconfirm/hoedown.

[xiane.livejournal.com]

Now if you'd only been able to get to Lebanon to marry him! O_O

[xiane.livejournal.com]

*looks at bruises on arms* I think I took care of that recently, anyway. I'm pretty sure they'll tell me if I have the creeping crud.

*creeep creeeep*

They probably gave up because syphilis has taken a back seat in the world of STDs? Y'got me.

[xiane.livejournal.com]

Please tell me how it was when you get back, so I can live vicariously through you! :D

[xiane.livejournal.com]

I find it funny that marrying cousins seems to be the matter of course for royalty and rednecks.

[xiane.livejournal.com]

... I want a goat! Why didn't anyone tell me that this was a way of obtaining one!

Roooooob! I want a goat for my dowry!

[xiane.livejournal.com]

One must keep all dating options open, y'know? Especially in those remote rural areas... :D

[inefficiency.livejournal.com]

I'd steal one from a neighbor, but I highly suspect that most goat owners are gun owners, too.

[inefficiency.livejournal.com]

...hoedown!

[netochka.livejournal.com]

that philly show was the first time g & i showed up someplace "public" as a couple. my brother showed up (he was at temple u) & it was the first time they met. AND THEN THERE WAS YOU! it was a rather remarkable day, eh?

DO IT. having your parents there is so important, only slightly more important than having the groom there ;P. it makes things so much easier when they dig your s/o, may as well run with it.

if you decide to do something small with your fams, start planning the par-tay ASAP. that way it won't slip away. i know that if we didn't let my fam take over & create this cake & pony show, it might not have ever happened. it was so much fun, i'm already considering a SECOND party for just our friends, my only complaint with yesterday was that the time i was able to spend with pals was slight.

Re: $300? Jeez! O_o

[praesentia.livejournal.com]

i vote for hoedown as well!

which might be similiar to what we want!!! :) i have a small part of me who dreams of something of a halloween fairytale...but there's so much more of me (AND JOSH) who wants a justice of the peace style ceremony and a big celebration later...you will get an update as soon as we do!!! :)

as well, my main goal is to use ONLY our money for our wedding, no borrowing from parents, etc. so we'll see how long that takes us, lol.

also, i like this dress:
http://www.enchantedcostumes.com/wedding_gowns/victorian_corset_wedding_gown.shtml
(in ivory though)

[crystalxshadows.livejournal.com]

Will do, I should be making a post about the whole thing tomorrow, if not tonight ^.^

[ismene.livejournal.com]

It's considered acceptable in most parts of the world to this day. It wasn't until the American eugenics movement took hold in the latter part of the 19th century that cousin marriage was considered taboo here. Marrying first cousins was okay in England and at times preferred because of the convoluted inheritance laws, and many novels reflect this as being normal. Jane Eyre considered a proposal from her cousin, and cousins were married or betrothed on a few occasions in Austen's novels. (I know this takes place in Mansfield Park, but am blanking on the other occurrences.)