I wish we had this rule...

Within the Orthodox Church, a number of canons safeguard the sacrament: the marriage must be celebrated in a Church – not outdoor, not in a barn, not in an imaginary romantic setting. It belongs in the Church because it is indeed a sacrament – a means by which God becomes present and we participate in His grace. The couple is also required to have counseling beforehand and to make their confessions before a priest as they prepare to receive one of the Holy Sacraments. One prays that such actions add to the sobriety of the occasion and draw attention towards God and away from the manifold distractions of our silly world.

Given how nearly every Pastor I know detests weddings, precisely because of the silly things and distractions of the world that find their way into them, I know of not a few who wish we had a canon or rule that we could cite to say to some couple who wished to pledge their love freely with spontaneously chosen words while standing out in a meadow filled with wild flowers:  No way, Jose!

But, because we may have a Pastor who makes his own rule or a parish here and there who will back him up (until the wrong family decides to disagree with him), we are stuck without the kind of authority to say, "The Church does not do this."  Period.

You may quibble with the sacramental theology used to justify why in the Church only and what needs to be done by the couple to prepare for marriage, but the sentiment of this canon is spot on (in my book).  Though you who are of a more romantic bent and who see weddings as fairy tale affairs of the heart between two people in lust with each other are free to disagree...