Anyone else having 2 marriage celebrations in 2 countries?

I don't know that I would recreate the entire ceremony with the reading if his immediate family was at the Canadian ceremony. I would probably keep it more low key, short and simple.

I like your idea of walking in to a fun song, saying your vows, having a ceremonial pronouncement of husband and wife. Definitely do the first dance. It will, after all, be your first dance together in Australia.

You already had a wedding, you shouldn't have a second one. The one in Australia is a celebration of your marriage, not a wedding. And it's not a "reception" because it's not tied to a ceremony. It's a party/celebration.

Honestly I don't think you should repeat your vows, do a cake cutting, or a "first" dance (it's not your first dance as a married couple). These people DID miss these things, and that's OK...repeating them doesn't mean they didn't miss them; they're not important this time, you're already married.

Instead of a ceremony, I'd suggest you and your husband give a nice toast to each other (you can repeat some of the sentiments from your vows) and to thank everyone for coming. You can obviously have cake, but I wouldn't do a ceremonious cake cutting. If you really want to do a "first" dance, making it kind of a joke and it being your first dance as a married couple in Australia would be fun.

Hi Teresa! Welcome to the WeddingWire Community! I also really like the idea of entering with a fun song and reading your vows again! I would also do another first dance just to reinforce the unity! From here, you could jump directly into partying! Your cocktail-style also sounds awesome!!

Thanks for the positive words Neffe!

Yeah we know it’s not a wedding and we haven’t called it that . My hubby’s family and friends are really close with him and are really excited to celebrate with us, and we know they would like to hear us say our vows because that’s pretty special! We might edit the wording a bit to say “on our wedding day and again today..” or “I promise you again today” ...

What does everyone think about having our friend/MC start it off by talking a bit about our Canadian wedding, the date and place we were married and making mention of my family, and saying something along the lines of us wanting to share or vows and celebrate with everyone here, who is equally as special to us? Then vows, cake and dance?

And yes we will cut the cake and do a dance together to kick off the dancefloor People cut cakes at birthdays, engagements etc so there’s no reason we can’t. We didn’t have an engagement party and we’ve been to some that have been more elaborate than our wedding was, and good for them for doing it! The type with photographers and lots of speeches. So we are making our own rules, having a photographer to capture a couple hours of the event for us, cutting a cake and dancing in front of our friends and family who love us.

Also, and some people might think this is crazy but I don’t care— I’m also getting a small bouquet and we’re getting some photos taken in this STUNNING landscape we live in, because we have a special connection to this place and also, because why not, right? (Again, we never had engagement photos done so I don’t think this is over the top at all)

thanks again for for the input everyone!