Civil ceremony before wedding?

Why must you be married on Friday?

No..but.. I didn't know about that filing the license thing. I actually wanted my date to be Monday but am having a Saturday shindig for the ease of guests. Veeeery interesting..

It's not a must but I think he wants to have all the legal paperwork done and not have to worry about sending it to the county to get filed after.

I'm with Helena, I am not understanding why it has to be Friday. Plus, in most places marriage licenses are returned to city/town hall so in order to get the license returned to you signed, you would have to get married there so there really isn't much point. Also, Friday or Monday doesn't seem to make sense. Plus if you have a courthouse ceremony and then another ceremony the following day, you would have to pay 2 officiants.

That being said, if you opt to go with a civil ceremony prior, the is your wedding. A wedding is when you get married and your anniversary would be the Friday date (I mention it in case your wedding date was chosen for a specific reason).

Following... we're considering doing this for our DW.

@Theresa, it's been a long day, so forgive me, I'm not fully understanding this:

"Plus, in most places marriage licenses are returned to city/town hall so in order to get the license returned to you signed, you would have to get married there so there really isn't much point. "

Also I don't know jack about this stuff. Don't you go get the license from city hall, then (could be elsewhere) have it signed by the officiant, bride, groom and witness and then bring it back? My tired brain doesn't want to compute what you're saying..

This either makes no sense or it's just plain silly. Who cares if the paperwork isn't filed until Monday? Why do you care? Why does your fiance care? The date is the point and the date is the day you got married, so you walk out of your ceremony as husband and wife, even if it's on a Saturday. It makes no difference when the paperwork is filed.

Your marriage license has the date you got married. That's your date.

*at least where I'm from.

Boozy, it depends. In MA, there are no witnesses so you go to city hall and pick up your license. You have your ceremony and the officiant signs the license and returns it (it has to be the officiant that returns it). As city hall usually doesn't have someone that can officiate a ceremony, you have to find an officiant so the license won't be signed by the officiant and returned the same day (which is why I mentioned that going to the courthouse doesn't mean you will have a signed license in your hand the same day). I probably could have been more clear with my response.

Pineapples, I think many people get married ahead of time if they are having a destination wedding but from the original post that is not the issue here. It sounded (to me at least) like OP's FH wanted a completed license same day which was why she mentioned getting married at the courthouse.

The process in Florida is: you apply for the marriage license at the court house (you also sign it there), if you've done pre-marital counseling you get the license right then and there (you can also have a court house ceremony so when you leave the court you're legally married), if you haven't done counseling, it can take 2-3 days for it to get approved. The license is then valid for 2 months so you have 2 months to have the ceremony. At your ceremony, the only ones that sign your marriage license are your witnesses and whoever is marrying you. If the wedding is on the weekend, then the paperwork gets filed the next week and processed sometime that week.

I can understand doing this for a DW but I'm also not getting why y'all can't just wait a couple more days and file the license on Monday.

So.. everyone who comes to the "ceremony" on saturday isn't actually seeing the real thing

@Danie V. you still haven't answered the most important question in this thread: SO WHAT? It doesn't matter when it gets filed. The date you got married is the date you signed the paper. Who cares when some secretary puts it in a folder or computer? Who cares? The date that will forever be on file is the date you guys signed the paper, no matter when it's filed.

Calm down girl lol you having a bad day?

Thanks for the opinions ladies! Ciao!

So I can kinda see where you are coming from I have seen two couples deal with issues with this; one did the ceremony and in the time it took to drop of the signed license they split (two days) but after consulting a lawyer since it was never filed they were never married and it saved them thousands from getting a divorce.... After spending thousands on the wedding.

Or in another case the officiant for whatever reason didn't sign the marriage license so it couldn't be filed and upon returning from their honeymoon had to spend weeks tracking him down.

Despite all that I don't know why you would do this.

I need wine for this. Because I honestly don't get it....

The day that you are married is the day you are married, not the day it's filed. If I marry you at 2:00 on Saturday, you're married. You shouldn't be sending it to the county anyway; that is your officiant's responsibility.

You get the license, you get married on Saturday, you're married as of Saturday, your officiant files it on Monday, and, depending on the state, they either send it back to you or you retrieve it afterwards.

What was the question again?

No one needs to calm down for questioning your convoluted understanding of the legal definition of marriage.

Yeah, this makes zero sense, OP.

The date on the license, meaning the date your officiant dates the certificate as your wedding date, is when the marriage becomes legal. Even if it takes a couple of days to be filed (and your official files it, not you,) the marriage is still legally binding immediately.

What you are suggesting is absolutely pointless. If you want to be married on a Friday, have your wedding on a Friday. Otherwise, just get married on the day you're having your party, like normal people, instead of trying to make life more complicated that it really is.

We did the paperwork portion already because we are having a destination wedding next month. So legally we are married, but we are still considering our anniversary on the day of the wedding!!

When the marriage license is fully processed does not matter. The day that you actually sign the license is the day you are married on. If you officially sign it on Friday, then that date will be your actual wedding date that will be on your license. Your Saturday wedding will be a vow renewal, unless you sign it on that day.

Echoing everyone else here: what is the point?