Fifty years ago most wedding ceremonies were performed inside religious buildings and officiated by religious leaders. Today it has become commonplace for couples to find unique locations to get married, and fewer couples are going the traditional church wedding route. For military couples especially, getting wed inside their home church can be very difficult. Often, troops are stationed far away from their home towns, which makes returning home to get married difficult. This is why many service members choose to get married at their duty station.

There are very few options for couples who do not belong to or attend a religious service for getting married. Recognizing the difficulty and seeing that many of these couples were turning toward an impersonal justice of the peace ceremony, the Rev. Dr. Jerry Montgomery started officiating military weddings.

"When I first came to Lakewood in 1983, I was appalled at how many military couples were being turned away from local churches because they didn't ‘belong' or for some other inane excuse," Montgomery explained. "Local churches still don't really welcome couples who do not belong to their congregations, so I continue to be busy, very busy."

Montgomery has married couples on beaches, in trains, at bars, on horseback, and on ferries cruising around the Puget Sound. His desire to wed couples - especially military couples - comes from nearly 50 years of marriage to his wife, Ruth.

"I've been married to my wife, Ruth, for nearly 50 years and learned a few basic lessons. First, if a couple wants to get married, they will even if some local church doesn't approve.  Secondly, I just ask them if they seriously want to be married and will make a personal pledge to me to try to make their marriage a continuing success."

Montgomery has officiated at more than 3,500 weddings. Recently, he focuses on mainly military weddings performing as many as seven a month. Often Montgomery's longtime friend and recently retired Army chaplain, Col. Dan Parker, would refer soldiers who were having issues getting married. Many times it would be soldiers who were getting ready to deploy in a few days and just did not have the time to plan a fancy wedding. "I have known Jerry Montgomery for over 20 years, and throughout the years he has performed a multitude of Soldier weddings in lieu of a chaplains' ability to accommodate the request. Regardless of how long the couple may have been considering their marriage, it may simply be impossible to accommodate a last minute request." Said Col Parker, "So, Jerry Montgomery is a Godsend when the installation gets in a bind. Sometimes Soldiers simply prefer Jerry's interaction with them for their wedding, and that is fantastic especially considering the quality experience Jerry provides and the true friendship he creates over the great event."

"Some years ago I realized that most of the soldiers, airmen and Marines who ask me to officiate at their wedding are coming from someplace else and going someplace else - like Iraq - after the ceremony. They don't really have a special place here in Lakewood for their wedding, and it is a time-honored tradition for weddings to occur in a pastor's home. So Ruth and I open our home to them," Dr. Montgomery said. To make his home perfect for these weddings, he hired a landscaper who rebuilt their yard to resemble a walk through the Pacific Northwest woods. The backyard now includes a pond, waterfall and a dry creek bed.

Montgomery recognizes the need to be flexible around the military schedule. "Because I'm retired, I have a flexible schedule and usually can find a way to do their wedding no matter what day or time of day. I'm intentionally flexible." He charges on average $200 for his services, but often charges service members a lot less. "If they have a financial concern, they need to tell me if I don't ask. My job is to launch their marriage, not worry about fees, and soldiers shouldn't be worried about limited funds. We'll find a way to make their wedding happen," said Montgomery.

"My favorite weddings are those where the soldier wears his or her uniform to demonstrate their pride in their military service as well as recognizing the serious vows they make during the ceremony. In today's world, coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan and getting married in uniform is a good, honorable thing to do. Fifty years from now their children will really appreciate such special details when they see the photos and videos of the wedding. Their parents, who often are not able to attend and live in distant states, appreciate the photos and uniforms as well. All of it just says something good, very good, about the quality and character of the service member."

Montgomery has a passion for military service members and for making military marriages work. It is not about the ceremony but the lifelong commitment and love between two people that is important to him. Montgomery can be reached at (253) 582-1122 or on the Web at www.mocomm.com/weddings/.