Getting married is not easy if you and-or your sweetheart are suddenly deployed overseas on military assignment. A Pennsylvania couple has the perfect solution — marriage by proxy.

Happily married for three years, Barbara and Sam Geller decided the best way to promote the sanctity of marriage was to start a Internet-based business called "Marriage By Proxy" to help military couples navigate the legal roadblocks of matrimony.

"Because the whole topic of marriage is so important to us, we felt that this would be a perfect business opportunity for us," said Sam Geller, a retired educator. "At the same time, we will turn cases away because we don't want to do something that makes a mockery of marriage."

Through "Marriage By Proxy," the Gellers have tapped into a complex legal process that permits couples to get married even if one or both parties cannot physically appear before civil authorities.

The Gellers recently arranged a double-proxy marriage in Montana for Heather White and Nick Bryon of Lock Haven after Nick was deployed by the Air Force to Germany.

The couple followed this particular route to marital bliss because Nick will not be home for three years, and the military will not allow unmarried couples to live together on base.

Montana authorities married Heather and Nick on Jan. 6 despite that neither one set foot in the state.

Under Montana law, couples are not required to live, travel, or appear before civil authorities to become legally wed. The state also allows couples to appoint representatives to appear on their behalf before civil authorities.

Colorado, California and Texas are the only other states that permit proxy marriages, but obtaining them there is much more difficult.

"Nobody believed me when I said this could be done, but I took the paperwork to my lawyer and everything was fine," Heather White-Bryon said.

Besides Heather and Nick, the Gellers have arranged proxy marriages for more than 130 couples. Their business has picked up as more people are being deployed overseas by the military.

For more information about "Marriage By Proxy," call 877-482-2406 or log onto www.marriagebyproxy.com.