00:01This is Melissa, and this is Sergio, their Mormon.
00:05Mormon is a nickname for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
00:10Marriage and family are important because they believe family can be together forever in the afterlife.
00:17An important part of creating an eternal family is getting married in a temple.
00:23I'd say the greatest things that I prioritize in my life is looking for opportunities to serve God,
00:30and that's something that I can do with Sergio, and that's also something he wants.
00:38He was a very steady friend, and we had both been in and out of lots of relationships that always
00:44ended.
00:44Sergio would always make comments like, when are you going to realize that we should just date?
00:49And I would just laugh because I was like, oh, we're friends.
00:51Finally, last summer, he asked me, so when do we just get married?
00:55And for the first time, my response was, wait, what if that actually worked?
01:01After the age of 16, dating in the Mormon religion is encouraged, but there's no sex until marriage.
01:0966% of Mormon adults are married, compared with only 52% of U.S. adults overall.
01:15Mormons are also considered more fertile.
01:17They have 3.4 children, compared to the national average of 2.1.
01:22Melissa and Sergio believe that they will be united with their family in heaven.
01:31In order to participate in temple ordinances, including for a wedding, each member has to be recommended.
01:37Meeting with local ecclesiastical leader, your bishop.
01:40Counseling with them and meeting the various requirements that establish worthiness and maturity
01:46to understand what you're taking upon yourself when you enter a temple.
01:50To marry or attend a ceremony in the temple, you have to follow a bunch of rules, including being a
01:56member of the church,
01:58abstaining from premarital sex, being free from drugs and alcohol, paying 10% of your income to the church,
02:04and wearing temple garments.
02:07Temple garments are worn by all adults, including Sergio and Melissa, as personal reminders of the promises they've made to
02:15God.
02:15They're worn at all times, except for exercising and bathing.
02:23Immediately after Sergio and I got engaged, we realized our family and our close friends would not be able to
02:29be at our marriage ceremony.
02:31I talked to my dad, and he expressed that he was sad, that he wouldn't be able to be there.
02:37You've got two intelligent people coming together and forging their way through life.
02:43A few weeks later, he said he was going to try to be there.
02:47I was like, uh, Dad, you know what that means. That's a lot of sacrifices.
02:53He has relatives when they get together sometimes all with a glass of wine,
02:56and that's part of the health code is that we don't drink alcohol.
02:59There's an undergarment that we wear to remind us of the promises that we make when we go to the
03:03temple.
03:03So he started to wear those. He said he was sure he wanted to do it.
03:07I'm really grateful that he's going to be able to be there.
03:11Oh my gosh!
03:14I needed to come and see you for our actual wedding, so I'm like, ah!
03:16I don't feel stressed. I feel I've waited a long time for this.
03:21And I also know that she's the best person for me.
03:24Yay, let's go!
03:32The wedding ceremony is the most sacred ritual in Mormonism,
03:36and isn't allowed to be filmed or spoken of in detail outside the temple.
03:41This can make the wedding, or sealing ceremony, seem mysterious or shrouded in secrecy.
03:48But to Mormons, it's just sacred, not secret.
03:53After the 30-minute ceremony, Sergio and Melissa emerge from the temple,
03:59their souls sealed together forever.
04:02Seeing you come out of the temple, I didn't realize how emotional I would be.
04:07Congratulations.
04:12Through prayer, lots of communication, and by following the rules of the church,
04:19Melissa and Sergio are on their way to creating their eternal family.
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