Self-marriage: Wedding trend started with one woman

Companies try to capitalize on 'sologamy'

Self-marriage -- or sologamy -- is a wedding trend with a nearly 25-year history.

“I would describe it as women saying yes to themselves,” Erika Anderson, 37, told WUSA. “It means that we are enough, even if we are not partnered with someone else.”

The practice isn’t a legally binding union, but it’s growing in popularity. Since a California woman “married” herself 24 years ago (reportedly the first woman to do so), it’s popped up in TV shows, like “Sex and the City” and “Glee,” and companies have been capitalizing on it.

Anderson donned a white dress, carried a bouquet and walked down the aisle to exchange vows with herself in front of family and friends with the New York City skyline behind her, WUSA reported.

She recently celebrated her one-year anniversary with a solo trip to Mexico. Anderson said she is still dating and open to marrying someone else.

In May, 38-year-old Sophie Tanner celebrated her second wedding anniversary with herself, The Telegraph reported.

“I literally had the idea when I was lying in bed recovering from flu and a bad relationship,” she said. 

Tanner initially sought to publish a novel about sologamy. Two years of research and writing later, she became such an advocate, she thought, “I’d better do it myself.”

“It felt like an obvious step, and all of my friends and family had become really into it, so by the time I said I wanted my own wedding, they were on board,” Tanner told The Telegraph.

“Everyone celebrates getting together with someone and becoming married, but there’s no milestone in society that celebrates escaping something awful or returning to your own happiness and contentment," she said.