After the California Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California began encouraging all couples to marry outside the church.

"I urge you to encourage all couples, regardless of orientation, to follow the pattern of first being married in a secular service, and then being blessed in the Episcopal Church," Bishop Marc Handley Andrus wrote his clergy.

This model is used by many European countries, according to John Witte, director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. He said that approach has been practiced in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Scandinavia and other countries for many years.

"In those countries, the civil ceremony is sufficient," he said.

The Very Rev. Brian Baker, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento, supports the idea.

Being a part of a couple's special day is an honor, Baker said. But like other clergy, he believes weddings have become too trying in recent years.

"There are a lot of benefits in getting out of the legal marriage business," he said. "This way the clergy and the couple can focus on the spiritual blessings the church has to offer and not the political stuff."

Despite the rise in destination weddings, nearly half of all ceremonies take place at a house of worship, according to the Conde Nast American Wedding Study 2006.

Stefanie Franks of California was willing to wait -- and pay for her dream church wedding. This summer, she married Christopher Malenab in a traditional Catholic ceremony.

"I grew up practicing my faith," said Franks. "To me, getting married in a church is important for religious reasons."

The idea of a secular marriage followed by a religious ceremony is something church leaders of various faiths have been discussing since the ruling on gay marriage, said Kent Carlson of Oak Hills Church in Folsom. Carlson said many pastors are concerned about working as agents of the state, something they do during wedding ceremonies when they say, for example, "by the power vested in me."

"This makes some ministers uncomfortable, because we're performing a civil function," says Carlson. "Most of us are pastors first."

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