Already-married "wedding" (got Married During Quarantine, Now Planning Traditional Wedding)

Calling it a Celebration of Marriage is perfect and accurately depicts that you’re already married.


As far as the ceremony goes, it can be however you want. Your vows to each other are your promises you’re making, so no worries with the fact that you’re already married. Doesn’t have to be a long, drawn out ceremony. A quick 10 minute thing that includes your personal vows (maybe some kind of non-religious unity ceremony if you’re intent on it) would be just lovely.

We are getting married next month in an intimate ceremony (followed by a sit down reception) with 38 people in all including us and will have a big party to celebrate about 5 weeks afterwards with all the other people who were otherwise originally meant to be invited to the big wedding we planned pre-covid.

We aren't doing a repeat of our ceremony but we have invited guests to what we are calling our 'Happily Ever After Party' which will essentially just be a night of celebrating our marriage with all the people we love.

If you do choose to have another ceremony, maybe speak to a celebrant or MC about what you can include. If it helps, for our actual wedding ceremony we are not writing our own vows (instead we will read these to one another in private) and it will not be religious so it will be personalised by our celebrant who sent us a questionnaire to get to know us and our relationship better.

We did the same as you. We referred to it as a celebration of marriage. We weren't sure how the ceremony should go either but out officiant handled it beautifully and seamlessly. When it came time for our he vows he just said we were reaffirming our commitment to each other and proceeded with the vows. Your vows can be whatever you want them to be and don't have to be religious if that's not what you want.
We were a little concerned that people maybe wouldn't be as excited since we were already married. We could not have been more wrong!! Everyone loved it and had a blast.

What if instead of a whole other ceremony, you did your personal vows as speeches before dinner/ during cocktail hour? If that is the most important part of the ceremony to you, but the rest of the traditional ceremony doesn't make sense, you could just include that. Also, it leaves more time for the celebration.

My husband and I got legally married a month ago and wont be having our wedding until March 4th, 2023. We've only told our immediate families, best man, and maid of honor, and dont plan to tell anyone else before the actual wedding so we're still "getting married" according to everyone else in attendance. I personally dont see why you have to call it anything different. Its still your wedding whether youve been married for awhile or not, and this is actually becoming more and more popular of a choice for couples to make.

As far as the ceremony I think you could still do something traditional, just find a secular officiant. You also have the freedom of not needing someone ordained to perform the ceremony so you could choose a friend or family member who knows you both well and can cater to your exact wants and needs.

My husband and I had a very small and intimate wedding. However, my parents insist that we still celebrate later on for a celebration of marriage with the rest of our family. And honestly you can do whatever you want! It's still a day dedicated to you guys and because you are already married you don't even have to do another ceremony if you don't want to. My husband and I are opting out of that. So, it's just honestly going to be a chill celebration for food, drinks, and possibly some entertainment

However, if you truly feel as if you want to recite vows and have a ceremony you definitely can! It's just totally up to you on what YOU want done. My biggest tip, however, is to have a day of wedding coordinator or to at least designate someone as the coordinator. The reason being is because you want to be stress free and enjoy your day. Have someone else handle what needs to be done while you just enjoy getting ready with your girls.