Got me. A guess...so they can hie off to the nearest motel and consummate the sacred temple wedding, without the bothersome delay of greeting friends and family?
I mean, they have been *totally celibate* waiting for the temple, right? :)
Well, I think it is risky to do this. My son's fiance called off the wedding the day before they were to get married, so I know it happens. It was such a project returning all the gifts that had come in early.
My guess is that it probably has something to do with scheduling. Mormon engagements are usually very short. First, the couple tries to schedule a wedding time on relatively short notice at the temple and may not get their first choice of time or temple location. Then they try to schedule a venue for a reception which may not be available on the actual wedding day, even if it's just the local LDS church.
Temples in the Morridor are pretty busy for weddings. A friend's daughter recently got married in the afternoon at a temple that was her third choice and over fifty miles away from the reception venue. It made for a crazy, busy day.
In a way I find it quite fitting for TBM couples "to pretend" they are already married/sealed at their reception. It's like a precursor of the phoniness and insincerity that is to come as they chase their Mormon dream.
Not just more, but more and more? I know of no instances of this happening, not that I go to a lot of Mormon wedding receptions. In fact, now that I think about it, the last Mo reception I went to was mine.
What??? I've never heard of this. Maybe they're getting closer to actually having a real wedding before the temple "wedding." Then they can downplay the temple thing the next day--go do the masonic stuff, get some pics and be off fucking within an hour of it being legal. Sounds like a good plan.
I refused to go on the grounds that first they may not get married. Secondly, they did not have a temple marriage date and thirdly, the woman told her girl friends that guy was afraid to make a commitment. It would be a second marriage for both of them and they were about 50.
But they did get married. She says she is happy but then he works out of town. 2 weeks out, one week home. I say give it a year.
I did attend one of these years ago. The reason given by the mother of the bride was that the experience they had had with 2 older daughters' weddings/receptions was that with travel, wedding, luncheon then reception it became such a crazy day. So they were hopeful that having the reception the night before the wedding would allow the bride and groom to focus more and enjoy more on the actual wedding. Nice thought, but it still seemed very weird.