dprh

I think this policy is more in harmony with the concept of line upon line, precept upon precept.  There are plenty of different circumstances that could lead to a couple wanted to have a civil marriage.  The first that comes to mind is a new convert who hasn't met the one year term to receive his/her endowments yet, but wants to marry another member of the church.  This new way, they can be sealed one year after the baptism instead of the marriage.
I don't see this change taking anything away from the sacredness of the temple sealing.  It is more inclusive and I imagine it will lead to more people ending up being sealed in the temple.
As one who is subject to a different church policy of waiting at least a year, I can understand the frustration of waiting on a seemingly arbitrary period of time.  In my case, excommunication, I understand the need for a uniform policy regarding the time to wait. With marriages and sealings, I don't see a similar need for standardization.

That is awesome-sauce!  I hope it's a beautiful skies that day.

My wife @Dollfacekilla and I have been married for 12 years.  
And this coming Saturday...
...at the Philadelphia Temple...
...we're getting Sealed.  
..finally.  
Just, ya know, thought some of you might like to know 
 

I am really surprised how riled up this has got some people!!
I just saw this as a globalisation of policy and reflection of the more global nature of church membership and a move away from US centric policies with modifications for "the rest of us".
It works well here in the UK, civil ceremony in the chapel and then the couple and close family attend the temple then if close enough to the temple an evening reception or for those who have 4-5 hours to travel each way to get to the temple, family celebrations tend to take place the next day when the couple have returned from the temple.
When I was married then sealed in this way it meant that I could easily separate out the civil service and focus on the ordinance. It made the sealing ordinance the complete focus; we were just concerned about us as a couple and Heavenly Father with no other distractions. We had a simple civil service with close friends and family, both of us the only members in our families and this gave my spouse (who had been shunned by his family due to his conversion and their faith) the opportunity to reunite with his parents and opened the door to them having a relationship again after many years of no communication at all.  - Just my personal view of course.

Just over 20 years ago, my wife and I decided to get married, at 28/30 years old.  We went to her Stake Pres of the YSA ward in Hunt Beach, and he said, get married in the temple or don't, no exceptions. We went to my Stake Pres, in Orange, and he said the same thing. So we went to her parents Stake Pres, who knew my wife's dad was not a member. He said, "Let's try the first presidency, there's nothing in the gospel that says you can't go to the church in San Diego, get married for all non-members to see and participate, then walk over to the temple and get sealed, which would be the most important thing for us.
The First Presidency wrote back and said, "It is not in present church policy to allow such things to take place. Perhaps in some future time policy will change."
We never took it as anything but policy; not the gospel. We went ahead and were married and sealed in the temple, and my wife's dad decided to have nothing to do with our wedding, (inviting my wife's good friends/coach over to his house on our wedding/reception day). A bully, yes. But it would have been nice to cater to the non-members in the family. He had previously had nothing to do with an older sister's wedding when they decided to get married in the temple, and threatened to divorce his wife if she attending the reception of her own daughter. The parents did not participate there, either.
For those of you who know Peter Vidmar (gymnast), a freind, told us that he had a ring ceremony, after the temple wedding, where his non-member father in law was able to perform a ring ceremony and give his daughter away. If you didn't look carefully, you'd never have known that it wasn't the actual marriage. But that didn't fly with my wife's dad.
So policy has now changed, as it was already everywhere except America. A good change. Let us cater to non-members, reduce the unintended (mormon) offense, and help bring all families together.

Fair enough.
I do agree that it's about the parents as well, in the sense that the parents are a critical part of the kids' life.  All I'm saying is that it isn't right to cause drama over it if one can't be there... Because the kids hurt too when loved ones can't attend, and that  just makes it worse, and taints the memory of the most important day of their life.

No surprise here, the church has been doing this everywhere else, but it's a nice change nonetheless. This would have made my marriage a lot easier (I have a lot of non-member family members who were moderately offended they could not attend), so I'm glad the option is now available to have a civil marriage first if need be. 
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/couples-married-civilly-authorized-for-immediate-temple-marriage

Thanks for the response @lynnpca7.  I think we'll eventually get to a point where we're more open in our ward.  It's still fairly fresh and hard to be vulnerable.  We are both going to group support.  I go to three different ARP groups a week and my wife goes once a week, but 3 different groups depending on which night fits our schedule.  We both have talked to a couple friends about it.  
We have a great couple in our town that are serving as ARP missionaries whose story is pretty similar to ours.  I hope one day to follow them and serve in that capacity.  But for now, I have to focus on getting baptized and receive my blessings again.

I'm sorry that you feel you have to keep your situation under wraps.  We have several recovering addicts in our ward who have even done jail time, but are very open and currently hold callings.  One is endowed.  Granted it took her 7 years to get to that point. I just want to offer you encouragement.  The Savior, the leadership of The Church and most of your brothers and sisters are in your corner. Most of us have been addicted to something whether it is a substance, a passion, a relationship or an activity such as reading, exercise, television, social media. Many just don't realize it or classify addictions in terms of severity or the impact on their life in general.
As the Savior said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  I don't have to ask where thine accusers are for we are all human and make mistakes.  You are not alone and you and the Savior can do this. Sending love, prayers and hugs.

I found this forum a couple weeks ago and have posted a few times.  I like this community and figure I'll stick around and check in every so often.
I am in my late 30's, married with three kids.  I've been a missionary, financial clerk, ward clerk, YM's adviser and councilor, den leader, primary and Sunday School teacher in church.  Recently excommunicated, but working hard to repent, change, and be re-admitted into the Church. 
I am trying to develop more healthy connections with more people instead of isolating myself.  I figure an anonymous forum would be a good place to reach out.  My wife and I aren't comfortable yet with most real-life people knowing of our situation.  She's changed the setting for our family on the directory to private so most people can't see us. 

Hey bud welcome!

Hi dprh, welcome.  My name is anatess2 and I'm a basket case.  We're gonna get along just fine.

Howdy!

Hi and welcome dprh!   Sweet, blessed anonymity does indeed have some advantages.

Welcome, friend.

I found this forum a couple weeks ago and have posted a few times.  I like this community and figure I'll stick around and check in every so often.
I am in my late 30's, married with three kids.  I've been a missionary, financial clerk, ward clerk, YM's adviser and councilor, den leader, primary and Sunday School teacher in church.  Recently excommunicated, but working hard to repent, change, and be re-admitted into the Church. 
I am trying to develop more healthy connections with more people instead of isolating myself.  I figure an anonymous forum would be a good place to reach out.  My wife and I aren't comfortable yet with most real-life people knowing of our situation.  She's changed the setting for our family on the directory to private so most people can't see us. 

This is what I would do... of course, this would be before I consult @Just_A_Guy for legalities.
1.)  Have Bishop fast offering funds pay for a weekly stay at a long-term hotel.
2.)  Torch the place and claim the insurance... okay okay, maybe we can't claim insurance.
3.)  Have the priesthood rebuild the house from the ground up - ask some Amish folks for help if necessary.
4.)  Assign double the ministering brothers and sisters to check up on them every week to slowly teach them proper hygiene and clean habits.
 

I found this forum a couple weeks ago and have posted a few times.  I like this community and figure I'll stick around and check in every so often.
I am in my late 30's, married with three kids.  I've been a missionary, financial clerk, ward clerk, YM's adviser and councilor, den leader, primary and Sunday School teacher in church.  Recently excommunicated, but working hard to repent, change, and be re-admitted into the Church. 
I am trying to develop more healthy connections with more people instead of isolating myself.  I figure an anonymous forum would be a good place to reach out.  My wife and I aren't comfortable yet with most real-life people knowing of our situation.  She's changed the setting for our family on the directory to private so most people can't see us. 

I found this forum a couple weeks ago and have posted a few times.  I like this community and figure I'll stick around and check in every so often.
I am in my late 30's, married with three kids.  I've been a missionary, financial clerk, ward clerk, YM's adviser and councilor, den leader, primary and Sunday School teacher in church.  Recently excommunicated, but working hard to repent, change, and be re-admitted into the Church. 
I am trying to develop more healthy connections with more people instead of isolating myself.  I figure an anonymous forum would be a good place to reach out.  My wife and I aren't comfortable yet with most real-life people knowing of our situation.  She's changed the setting for our family on the directory to private so most people can't see us. 

This is a really old topic, but I'm currently traveling for work, am near a temple, have some free time, so thought maybe I should go. I don't have anything with me that I would normally wear to the temple at home. I have jeans and a button up shirt with my company logo on it... So I did a quick Google search to see what I could find about a "dress code" for attending the temple and this forum topic was one of the first hits.
So I wanted to add this here, in case others also stumble across this. The official stance of the church is go to the temple, don't worry about your clothes:
"Once a patron arrives at the temple in good faith and with a valid recommend, temple authorities are not to pass judgment on that person’s worthiness nor upon the appropriateness of his or her attire and grooming. Attire that seems inappropriate to those of more conventional tastes does not constitute grounds for refusing admission to the temple. Every faithful member, regardless of attire and grooming, is entitled to a satisfactory temple experience."
From: https://www.lds.org/study/ensign/1993/02/i-have-a-question/is-there-a-dress-and-grooming-standard-for-temple-attendance?lang=eng

Pres. Nelson's words hit very close to home for me.  In March, I went through a Stake Disciplinary Council and was subsequently excommunicated for conduct unbecoming a member.  I have a long history of leading a double life in and out of the church.  I confessed to my wife, my bishop, my Stake President, and God in January and I've been working on changing, repenting, since.  For so long, I felt that I couldn't change.  I was too weak, too cowardly, too deep into my sinful life to ever be able to get better.  And I was right.  I am not strong enough, on my own, to change.  What I'm in the process of learning is that I am not alone.  I am doing what I can and Christ is making up the difference.  I have felt my heart change.  I still have a long road ahead, but I have the Savior walking beside me.  
That is my long way of saying, I feel that time is short for me specifically.  Not in that my life will end soon or that the Second Coming is next year, but that my need to repent, to change, to become who I need to be, is now.  I cannot procrastinate any more.  

Pres. Nelson's words hit very close to home for me.  In March, I went through a Stake Disciplinary Council and was subsequently excommunicated for conduct unbecoming a member.  I have a long history of leading a double life in and out of the church.  I confessed to my wife, my bishop, my Stake President, and God in January and I've been working on changing, repenting, since.  For so long, I felt that I couldn't change.  I was too weak, too cowardly, too deep into my sinful life to ever be able to get better.  And I was right.  I am not strong enough, on my own, to change.  What I'm in the process of learning is that I am not alone.  I am doing what I can and Christ is making up the difference.  I have felt my heart change.  I still have a long road ahead, but I have the Savior walking beside me.  
That is my long way of saying, I feel that time is short for me specifically.  Not in that my life will end soon or that the Second Coming is next year, but that my need to repent, to change, to become who I need to be, is now.  I cannot procrastinate any more.  

Pres. Nelson's words hit very close to home for me.  In March, I went through a Stake Disciplinary Council and was subsequently excommunicated for conduct unbecoming a member.  I have a long history of leading a double life in and out of the church.  I confessed to my wife, my bishop, my Stake President, and God in January and I've been working on changing, repenting, since.  For so long, I felt that I couldn't change.  I was too weak, too cowardly, too deep into my sinful life to ever be able to get better.  And I was right.  I am not strong enough, on my own, to change.  What I'm in the process of learning is that I am not alone.  I am doing what I can and Christ is making up the difference.  I have felt my heart change.  I still have a long road ahead, but I have the Savior walking beside me.  
That is my long way of saying, I feel that time is short for me specifically.  Not in that my life will end soon or that the Second Coming is next year, but that my need to repent, to change, to become who I need to be, is now.  I cannot procrastinate any more.  

Pres. Nelson's words hit very close to home for me.  In March, I went through a Stake Disciplinary Council and was subsequently excommunicated for conduct unbecoming a member.  I have a long history of leading a double life in and out of the church.  I confessed to my wife, my bishop, my Stake President, and God in January and I've been working on changing, repenting, since.  For so long, I felt that I couldn't change.  I was too weak, too cowardly, too deep into my sinful life to ever be able to get better.  And I was right.  I am not strong enough, on my own, to change.  What I'm in the process of learning is that I am not alone.  I am doing what I can and Christ is making up the difference.  I have felt my heart change.  I still have a long road ahead, but I have the Savior walking beside me.  
That is my long way of saying, I feel that time is short for me specifically.  Not in that my life will end soon or that the Second Coming is next year, but that my need to repent, to change, to become who I need to be, is now.  I cannot procrastinate any more.