A 36-year-old North Dakota woman who married herself in a commitment ceremony last March has now spoken about her self-marriage choice in an interview with Anderson Cooper. The marriage took place among friends and family who were encouraged to \"blow kisses to the world\" after she exchanged rings with her \"inner groom\", My Fox Phoenix reports. \"I feel very empowered, very happy, very joyous ... I want to share that with people, and also the people that were in attendance, it\'s a form of accountability,\" Nadien Schweigert told Anderson Cooper. Schweigert said the ceremony was a celebration of how far she\'d come since her painful divorce six years ago that led to her two children to decide to live with her ex-husband. \"Six years ago I would\'ve handled a problem by going out and drinking,\" she said. \"I smoked, I was 50 pounds overweight ... this is just celebrating how far I\'ve come in my life.\" The Fargo-based yoga teacher also takes herself on dates to treat herself and \"to invest in this relationship\". According to a local Fargo newspaper, Schweigert first got the unusual idea from a friend. \"I was waiting for someone to come along and make me happy,\" Schweigert told Inforum. \"At some point, a friend said, \'Why do you need someone to marry you to be happy? Marry yourself.\'\" Believe it or not, this isn\'t the first time a woman has chosen to tie the knot solo. In 2010, a 30-year-old Taiwanese woman married herself.