So, when exactly was the moment when we became married? Was it when we said, "I do," or when we were pronounced "husband and wife?" Was it when we signed the marriage license? Was it when the license was officially received and filed away in a court house somewhere?

This picture was taken the day before the wedding, at the Galena courthouse where we picked up our marriage license. We filled out some paperwork, we paid some money, we got the license. The woman on the other side of the Old West-style bank teller window made us raise our hands and pledge that we were who we said we were. Was that, secretly, bureaucratically, when we were really married?