I’m so excited to report that I’m engaged! However, I’m 39, and this will be my fourth marriage. I grew up in a devout Christian household. Both of my parents were heavily involved in church, and I wasn’t allowed to date until I was 20. And even then, he was just coming to the house to court me. My folks were old-fashioned and very traditional, which made it hard to get to know men.

Once I got out on my own, I was wilding out after having been caged up all those years. I met and married my first husband during my junior year in college. My son was born a month after graduation and the marriage ended by the time he was walking.

Sadly, I picked myself up and unexpectedly moved on to husband number two. I met him on the job, and we clicked almost immediately. He was fresh out of a marriage and had full custody of his 3-year-old son. We married a year after meeting and stayed married for five years until I caught him cheating and actually taking our kids with him to visit other women.

Husband number three was a major doozie! He and I reconnected at a high school reunion and ended up marrying months later in a backyard ceremony. The ink wasn’t dry on the marriage certificate before I found myself divorced yet again and searching for love.

Well, I found it. My son’s Bible study teacher expressed an interest in me, and I felt safe because he was in the church and reminded me of my roots and how it was growing up with my parents.

We’ve been dating for nine months and are engaged now. The only issue is that some of my family members said they don’t want to go through another formal wedding. Part of me is embarrassed because it’s my fourth, and I don’t mind keeping the thousands of thousands that I will need to fork out for the wedding.

Basically, I’m trying to convince my fiancé to elope. My selling points are that we’re an older bride and groom, we can save money and marry and honeymoon in the same location. However, this is his first wedding, and he wants to go big. He wants to go the traditional route and have a church wedding.

Should I press the issue further and push for elopement with my husband-to-be and ignore what my family members have been telling me?

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