Editing Placement marriage (section)

== During the late 1980s and early 1990s ==

=== Changes in authority ===
Before Leroy Johnson died, he dismissed two of the remaining three members of the Priesthood Council, leaving only himself and [[Rulon Jeffs]]. After Johnson's death, Jeffs was the only remaining Priesthood Council member. He assumed leadership over the group and asserted his position that a priesthood council was no longer needed and that he alone held priesthood authority to rule. In 1991 Jeffs legally incorporated the group as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Marianne T. Watson, in her article "The 1948 Secret Marriage of Louis J. Barlow: Origins of FLDS Placement Marriage," stated that this fundamentalist group “whole-heartedly sustained the arranged-marriage system" and that "After the death of Leroy Johnson, they advocated complete obedience to Rulon Jeffs, considering him to be the prophet, the Keyholder, and the mouth piece of God”.<ref name="Watson"/>

==== The first wife ====
Under the placement marriage system, young members of the FLDS Church are not allowed to court or date before marriage and are discouraged to fall in love until after they are married. They are permitted to become acquainted with one another through the community, church, school, or family ties, but they are not allowed to be more than just friends with anyone until the Priesthood Council arranges a spouse for them.<ref name="Watson"/>  
 
When a young man, generally around the age of twenty-one, feels ready to be married he approaches the Priesthood Council and then they decide who he will marry.<ref name="Quinn">Quinn, Michael.  “Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism.” Dialogue 31, (1998) :1-68</ref>  They select a wife for the young man through a process of inspiration and revelation. When a woman feels prepared to be married, around the ages of 16 to 25, she informs her father of her own readiness, and is taken to meet with the prophet to tell him that she is ready to be married.  While most women are approved, some are asked to wait for a time.<ref name="Watson"/>  If the prophet agrees to place her, then the future spouse is notified, and a ceremony is performed generally within the week and sometimes immediately. A woman's opinions relative to the selection of her husband are sometimes considered but not always, and she can decide against marrying a man who is selected for her, although this does not happen very frequently.<ref name="Quinn"/>

==== Plural marriage ====
The ages of a man's plural wives can vary greatly, although the first wife is generally close to the husband’s age.

The process for entering a plural marriage is slightly different. Married men do not normally volunteer themselves to enter [[plural marriage]], but wait to be asked by the Priesthood Council. Delaying is allowed but declining is generally frowned upon.  If a man does decline he's considered unfaithful for rejecting the decision made for him by the Priesthood. All of the choices about when, where, and whom he will marry are generally decisions made by the priesthood leaders.<ref name="Watson"/>

==== Success of marriages ====
Within this group, the idea of not knowing their spouse until minutes before they are married is usually viewed as romantic. The couple is expected to learn to love one another, even if affection isn’t instantaneous. Several couples are grateful for this practice because they believe “the only sure revelation comes from the prophet; they were glad to have a prophet to tell them whom to marry.”<ref name="Watson"/>

The priesthood leader of the Colorado City (FLDS) group chooses to arrange marriages because it reassures the members of the stability and permanence that is promised in a placement marriage. They also choose this approach so that the couples are not closely related in the isolated community.<ref name="Quinn"/> Some members have confessed that some of the marriages were less successful and a few failed completely.<ref name="Watson"/>