LAWRENCE COUNTY, Pa. — When Norman and Emmalie Lohr announced their plans for a self-uniting wedding, the Pennsylvania couple faced questions.

“They all had the same reaction, wondering what it was and if what we were doing was legal,” Norman said of the couple’s family and friends.

Before he and his new wife began planning their June 3 ceremony, they would have had the same doubts.

But, while looking online for wedding ideas, the newlyweds learned that self-uniting marriages, in which couples essentially marry themselves without a member of the clergy or other officiant present, are legal in Pennsylvania.

“We’re not really religious, so the idea appealed to us,” said Norman, who grew up in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania’s website, the tradition of self-uniting marriage dates back to 1681 with its roots in the state’s Quaker population. Because the religious sect does not have ministers, members of the faith traditionally “self-united” in marriage.

While Pennsylvania is often thought of as the only state to allow self-uniting marriages or the like, Colorado also offers what is referred to as self-solemnized, or self-officiated, marriages.

Although often referred to as “Quaker licenses,” self-uniting licenses do not require applicants to practice a specific — or any — religion.

In 2007, the state ACLU filed a federal civil rights suit on behalf of an Allegheny County couple who had been denied a self-uniting license because they weren’t Quaker. The case ended with the court ruling that the license could not be denied to anyone.

Under Pennsylvania marriage law, couples wishing to nix an officiant must obtain a self-uniting licenses, which varies from the traditional form only in wording, and perform their ceremony in front of at least two witnesses, who are required to sign the document.

Otherwise, self-uniting licenses are similar to the traditional version, which is signed by an officiant, and legally valid. Once granted, licenses of both types are valid for 60 days in any Pennsylvania county.

Representatives of the Lawrence County Orphans’ Court, which issues marriage licenses, declined to be interviewed. Norman and Emmalie, who reside in New Brighton, obtained their license in Beaver County.

The Lohrs invited about 30 guests to their ceremony at Brush Creek Park in Beaver County and had their mothers, Julie Ward and Joyce Ross, sign their license.

“I’m glad we looked it up and found out a little bit about it,” Norman Lohr said. “It might not be common, but it allowed us to make it a lot more personal and do things the way we wanted.”

Gendreau writes for the New Castle, Pennsylvania News.