Married

Maryland gained a new 'second lady' over the weekend. Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown married Karmen Bailey Walker on Sunday at the Memorial Chapel on the University of Maryland campus in College Park. Political guests at the 370 person affair included Gov. Martin O'Malley and Rep. Steny Hoyer. Bailey, who is 52 and an executive for Comcast, has been dating Brown, 50, for about three years. They were engaged to be married last year. Since Sunday, Brown's facebook page has been filling with congratulatory messages -- including a one with the photo accompanying this blog post.

Filmmaker John Waters' crazy cross-country hitchhiking journey continues, with word Monday that he sped through Kansas with a middle-aged married couple from Illinois. Laura Broviac and Michael McHaney, she a county Democratic Party chief, he a circuit judge, were motoring through Junction City, Kansas, this weekend and according to wjbdradio.com, saw a man near an exit ramp holding a sign. She thought he looked like Waters and after a quick Google search, found that the Baltimore filmmaker was in fact hitchhiking across country.

Marriage is a choice that two people make, and the legal system shouldn't be a third party to the decision. Making same-sex marriage illegal is akin to criminalizing a black person's marriage to a white person or an American's right to marry a Mexican. The law has no business in the personal choice of who to marry. An American should have the right to marry the person of their choice. I am disgusted by the self-righteous, pious church-going Americans who want to "protect the sanctity of marriage" by forbidding gay people the right to marry.

For brides-to-be who want to tap into what's au courant this spring, remember: More is more when it comes to the veil; choose shoes you'll want to wear again; and find a sassy second dress for the reception. Influenced by last year's wedding of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton, and Middleton's classic style, the year's most popular wedding trends marry tradition with a big pop of personality. Here are some local options for aisle style. The second dress While "second dress" used to mean the one a bride might wear to her second wedding, modern brides are loving the idea of changing into a more dance-friendly dress for the reception.

Welcome to Married in Maryland, the new bridal blog from The Baltimore Sun.

Jessica Port and Virginia Anne Cowan had settled on San Francisco as the place to turn their two-year engagement into a marriage, taking advantage of an opportunity in 2008 for same-sex couples to wed there. They flew from their home in the District of Columbia, had a courthouse ceremony and played tourist in the city for a few days. Two years later, the relationship in tatters, Port filed for divorce in Maryland, where she had bought a home. The women had already divided their belongings, didn't hire lawyers, and they remained on terms so amicable that "we sat right next to each other at the divorce hearing," Port recalled.

Somewhere, a husband and wife are arguing about money — even on Valentine's Day. And researchers say that if the two were being totally honest, they would say: "It's not you. It's me. " Researchers say that people who don't like the way they handle money tend to marry partners with opposite financial traits. An unhappy tightwad, for example, will choose to walk down the aisle with a spendthrift. But what might seem appealing during courtship can be aggravating in a marriage.

What if Ricky Ricardo didn't love Lucy? Unthinkable as that might be, new research by two professors from the University of Maryland School of Social Work suggests that the secret to a long and happy marriage might live nearby, like the Ricardos' landlords, Fred and Ethel Mertz. According to "Two Plus Two: Couples and Their Couples Friendships" by Geoffrey Greif and Kathleen Holtz Deal, a close-knit foursome can strengthen both sets of marriages. The authors say their book, which was recently released by Routledge press, is the first scholarly account of shared friendships that are specifically between couples.

Architects live and breathe design, blissfully losing themselves in details most people would never notice — the bevel of a trim, the way light falls across a room, squared legs or curved. So what happens, we wondered, when two such aesthetes come together under one roof? Do they lie awake at night, pondering three-inch moldings or four? Is there a prenup for the Eames chairs? Do they fight tooth and nailhead? Judging from the example set by these married Baltimore architects who live and work together, it all comes together much more smoothly than any of that.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding a lower court's ruling that California's Proposition 8, which outlawed gay marriage, was unconstitutional is surely a good outcome and an advance for equality. Already backers of same-sex marriage in Maryland, including Gov.Martin O'Malley, are expressing optimism that it will provide a boost to their efforts here. But the 2-1 opinion is so narrowly drawn that, even if it is upheld by theU.S. Supreme Court in an inevitable appeal, it may have little bearing on the situation in Maryland and elsewhere.