Wanted: A church willing to marry 20 couples on the same day next month. All are new parents and recently finished a relationship skills class. Pastor willing to officiate, a plus.

For the past several weeks, officials with the Relationship Skills Center of Sacramento have been searching throughout the region for a church to donate wedding space for couples who completed the six-week course.

"It's been a challenge to find a church that is large enough and available," said Tracie Stafford, a volunteer for the organization. "These couples can't afford a big lavish wedding but want to get married in church."

Individual weddings and receptions will be held back to back on Nov. 19, the date that works best for all the wedding parties.

"This is not a mass wedding," Stafford said. "It's more like a wedding marathon."

This is the first wedding group organized by the Relationship Skills Center, which ran the Flourishing Families program as part of a federal grant to serve low-income, pregnant unwed couples. Couples learned budgeting, conflict management, communications skills, and stress management.

In the past five years, 750 families in the Sacramento area completed the program.

The brides and grooms come from throughout the Sacramento area and are of different ages and backgrounds but share a common desire to have a church wedding.

"Marriage is sacred. My family has always gotten married in church," said Tiffany McDonald, 20, of Elk Grove.

She and her fiancé, Shawn McGrew, have become stronger as a couple since they have taken the class, and marriage is the next step, McDonald said. "We're ready now, and this is a good opportunity."

Carolyn Curtis, executive director of the Relationship Skills Center, came up with the idea for the multiple weddings on one day after many couples said they want to marry but could not afford a wedding.

She and her volunteers began organizing.

"Research shows having this public commitment changes the dynamics of the family," Curtis said. "The couple and children feel that they are going to be together forever. That is the kind of stability our children need."

Planning for the weddings has been difficult – especially without a budget.

In addition to a sanctuary, organizers would like a church that has two rooms – one for the brides and one for the grooms – to get ready. Two rooms to hold receptions where the families can celebrate afterward are also needed. Planners would also like another room where guests can wait. Each family is limited to 20 guests.

"We are also looking for other wedding items, like cakes and flowers," Stafford said.

Lori Junor of Sacramento and her fiancé, Brandon Priolo, who have been together more than three years, will tie the knot on that day. A wedding wasn't in the couple's budget.

"We didn't want to have a shotgun wedding and go to the courthouse," said Junor, 31. "This is something quaint and comfortable for us."

They are the parents of three children; each will participate in the ceremony.

"We have worked really hard for this, and now this seems like something we should do," Junor said. "It's the best thing for our family."

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