People entering second marriages or those with children are more likely to take the step of having a marriage contract. They may have assets that they would like to see pass to their children intact. If no such contract is signed, the other spouse may well be able to make a claim for a financial interest in a real estate holdings, investments, etc. com for some great ideas on how to share your blessings for the happy couple. Furniture items, although expensive, can offer many benefits for the couple over the long term. These can include china and crockery items, vases, and even leather furniture for the living room. As long as you’re comfortable with the couple’s taste, giving them a decorative lamp or painting might work well as a great wedding gift. Love and marriage don’t have to go together – and with the more open society we live in accepting that we are free to love who we choose and not be restricted by gender, then in some cases it isn’t even legally possible for them to do so. With homosexual marriage being a political and legal hot potato around the world, love and marriage is even possible for gay couples in some areas, whilst in others it’s still illegal and so love and marriage in the traditional sense is denied. Whether you want the whole nine yards of flowers, photos, video, and specially created vows along with your ceremony – or whether you prefer to just complete the legalities and leave – you’ll have no trouble finding what you desire. Love them or hate them, a Las Vegas wedding is something of an enigma. When you first realize that you are dating the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, that’s the time to start planning the marriage proposal. Don’t rush this. Try to discover what your partner thinks about public proposals? Do they like them, or do they think that a marriage proposal should be something between the couple alone? Massachusetts’s marriage laws have, in recent years, come to the forefront of politics. In 2004, the state began permitting same sex marriages. While there are legal challenges to this law, as of the time of this article same sex partners are permitted to marry, though their status is not recognized throughout most of the United States.