Tell us about yourself, how you came to your beliefs and how you and your FI relate in this way.

I'll go first :)

I was raised Catholic, went to sunday school for years but always felt out of place. I was a child of many questions (still ask too many) and I wasn't getting the answers I thought should be there. I went through confirmation but even at that point I knew it was over. Luckily my family has been very supportive and has not pressured me to find my way back to god or anything, and the entire family has stopped pushing church and confirmations on any new children. Pretty much our only problem will be baptisms, I think they might feel strongly about that but we will be the first to break the ice on this one as well.

I follow a Buddhist path in everyday life, which keeps me calm and collected and brings awareness to overcoming fear and suffering. I am obsessed with space and science, and my dream is to see Earth from the surface of Mars.

My FI has always been atheist, his parents didn't raise him in a religion. He's always been very smart and logical, and it was with his help that I was able to see that it was okay to not believe. I struggled for many years with faith, due to having guilty catholic syndrome :P

We are now crafting our ceremony to be geeky, scientific and true to ourselves and no one else.

Thanks for creating this group :)

My parents both are not religious and so, I wasn't raised following a specific religion. My DH also comes from an non-religious background, although my MIL is now a Christian (she was a Jehovah's Witness..sp? for a period of time when they were children, but that was it).

We didn't hear/receive any flack from not having a religious wedding ceremony since both of our families aren't religious. The only person who had any issue w/it was my MIL who would have loved to see us wed in a church - but that was NOT going to happen.

welcome Kaytana :) We haven't recieved any flak either so far, I don't think anyone expected us to have a church wedding. I think many people were surprised that our officiant was a casual friend though, but the first comment out of everyone's mouth is "well I havent been to a wedding in 20 years so I'm sure it will all be a surprise!". We are truly lucky to have a family as open as ours, I'm glad it worked out for you too!

I consider myself an agnostic.  Or you could describe my religious belief in nerdy celebrity terms: either I just follow whatever Tina Fey tells me to do or go by the Gospel of Neko Case.  I was raised Catholic, too, and I think it gives me a good literary and cultural background.  I don't want to sound offensive, but I know a lot of friends who are Jewish who practice their religion mostly out of respect for their ancestors, and not so much for their beliefs.  I've always felt that way about Catholocism, as my family doesn't have much rich culture to it.

FI is a straight-up atheist, with Richard Dawkins on the family bookshelf. 

Our officiant hopefully will not offend anyone when he dresses up like a priest (he is not) or when we make a "unity volcano" instead of a candle or a sand ceremony.  :)

Yay! I love this group.

I was raised Unitarien Universalist, and when we did our coming of age class, I chose to follow a Pagan path though I find many religious views to be beautiful. My parents understand and are okay with that, and don't expect a  religious ceremony.

FI's parents rasied him in a Protestant home, though they stopped going to church before we began dating (6 years ago). FI himself is agnostic, and finally told his mother this a few weeks ago. She kinda flipped her lid, and got mad at me (though she never called me, I heard this all through FI) and said that there has to be god in a marriage for it to be "right", and then took issue with the fact we are having our wedding in the hotel/ convention area of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. She said it was "a pit of sin". -.-'

She seems to be over it for now, as we have explained what marriage means to us, and I hope it continues.

I'm glad there is somewhere for us to talk about this :D

Timily- A unity volcano!! Like you both add vinegar and baking soda?  That is AWESOME!

aggiebride- Yea I'm not sure my parents actually know my true feelings, my dad is Buddhist and my mom is nonpracticing catholic, and I think they both assume I'm just trying to find my way. I'm glad it's working out!

I thought I'd make us a safe place here, since we tend to stay quiet in certain discussions and I was starting to feel left out :)

I'm happy to have found this small group!

I'm Yelle, I was raised Lutheran, and my fiance was raised Jewish. Neither of us are religious, so we don't want a religious ceremony. Also the fact that if we chose religious traditions from either religion we were raised and incorporated it into our wedding, I would be a little worried that one of the families would feel left out. Therefore, I'm 86-ing religion from the ceremony :]

I'm Abby, neither of my parents were religious as I was growing up although dad is a Catholic and mom is a Methodist. I never really identified with church, much to the dismay of my grandmother, and so I don't claim a religion. My bf is Baptist but he's not practicing. The only time I will consider going to church is on Christmas Eve. Pretty sure we will have a non-denominational ceremony or we might just go to the courthouse when the time comes :)

I'm Elodie, neither of my parents are religious (and they are divorced).

I'm a genetician so I've troubles to belive in the catholic church...

FI was raised as a catholic but he doesn't want a catholic wedding because he doesn't really belives in J christ ...

So we'll have an outdoor wedding with nice texts and vows!!

(sorry for the short introdution but I'm french and it's hard to find the good words to describe exactly our situation vs church!)

Hi, I'm Susan and I'm a recovering Catholic.  So is FH by the way.  Yes, we were both raised Catholic but we've both had our beliefs changed through circumstances in our lives.  We don't feel the need to discuss religion often and we both pretty much agree how much we want (or don't) in our relationship.  We're going with a non-denominational ceremony - something I cobbled together from looking on the 'net.  We are having a "marriage blessing" read but it doesn't mention any particular God so everyone can take it how they like.

Our wedding is going to be in the lobby of a hotel in front of their fireplace.