Marriage ceremonies, after the processional is complete, often start with a welcoming preamble by the officiator. An opening prayer of some sort, essentially a blessing or invocation to the day and the ceremony, usually follows the preamble. The guests are welcomed if they weren’t in the preamble. Paying attention to every kids’ needs and concerns is important, and it may help to work with a counselor to sort through difficult issues. If the second marriage involves new parenting roles, time and patience will be required so that the kids can be comfortable being themselves. Conflicts from the first marriage may be too close to their memory, or they may not get along with other new family members. For those genuine couples it is the thought of love and marriage that makes them want to give up all that they are familiar with in order to have a “traditional” life of marriage with the person they’ve fallen in love with. The problem is that because of the false marriage applications, the genuine couples are made to jump through immigration hoops before their dreams of love and marriage and happy ever after can take place. The person you have the problem with is your life partner, not just someone who may be transient in your life. Is this really something worth upsetting the person you love about? Is it something that you can’t reach a compromise with? Isn’t it possible that you are being just a tiny bit unreasonable? 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. At a later date, the spouses can opt to make changes to their original agreement. This would need to be in writing and once again, each person would do well to seek out independent legal advice before signing anything. Alabama marriage laws require that persons under 16 years old may not be married, those between 16 and 18 may marry with consent of both parents or guardian(s) and a $200 bond. Residency in the state is not required. Also, a waiting period of 60 days after divorce is the only time restriction. There are no medical or blood tests required before marriage in Alabama.