When getting married legally at your destination wedding isn’t an option....

Were waiting until we get back

I would not let this stress you out. My FH and I may do the same thing because of all of the weird laws that other countries have. However we would just go to sign the marriage certificate but not have anything officiated. I plan to do the ceremony and have an officiant wherever our destination is. And it's okay because technically you are not having a court wedding you are just going to court to sign a legal document. I do know that a friend of mine even though she is from Puerto Rico her husband is not and she now resides in my state so she and her husband did the quick legal ceremony in the United States, they even invited a good friend as a witness, had a photographer and she even wore a cute white dress, but they had the official ceremony in Puerto Rico with all of her friends and in the church. Don't see this as you are getting married and it's taking away from the ceremony. To me the fun part of the ceremony is the fact that you get to walk down the aisle in a beautiful dress and he officiated as man and wife. You can count the ceremony date for your anniversary which is what I would do.

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much, Kristen, for all of the details and info! That makes me feel so much better! Shows how clueless I am...I thought you still did the whole vow thing at court just “informally” 😂

View Quoted Comment Oh no! Hahaha. I did some research because my FH likes the idea of it being just us two and he was thinking to do it at a place where we have our honeymoon because usually the resort will have a wedding package. When I started looking into and asking about the requirements for legal weddings some of them were what I did not want to do such as wait two days before I can have a ceremony or in some cases have medical records are birth certificates. I figured it would just be easier to go to a courthouse and then just have the legal part taken care of in our home state and then go there and do what they eat a collie Val renewal or a symbolic ceremony. A friend of mine even went to the courthouse with her and her now husband and got married and then a year later did a wedding on a cruise and invited the whole family. A lot less stress on her in because basically everyone just paid for themselves and then she got married on the ship I believe.

View Quoted Comment Haha good to know! Thank you so much for all the information! I really appreciate it!

We got married at the courthouse in our home town in March and then had a symbolic ceremony with our families in Mexico in April. Legally, our wedding date will be in March. We will be celebrating our anniversary in April because we are adults and can do whatever we want. You. Do. You.

I would wait until you get back to do the legal part. That way when you “get married” at the destination you won’t already be married. I think doing the legal process after rather than before is the best way to make sure it doesn’t detract from the destination part

In California the marriage licence specifically says you are not married until the actual ceremony is held. So it's still an official step to have the ceremony.

View Quoted Comment Good point - makes sense. Thank you!

View Quoted Comment Thank you! 😊

View Quoted Comment Thank you for that! Your gown is STUNNING! I’m probably looking for something similar. Where did you find?

Not for the same reason but we had a legal ceremony followed two days later by the handfasting with friends and family. We did get an officiant and instead of going to the courthouse chose our favorite local city for the legal part to make it more special to us. We choose this as our wedding anniversary and let all our guests know in advance that we would be legally married by the day of our handfasting. The handfasting is something many of my friends understood as it is a tradition in our circle, so to them, and to us, it was just as meaningful as the legal ceremony. We also chose to write our own vows for the handfasting and included another ring ceremony since we both had engagement rings which "sealed our vows" when placed next to the wedding rings we already wore. I think the whole thing can be whatever you wish to make it, but I always recommend letting guests know in advance because those that find out after tend to feel hurt.

My friend just had a secret ceremony before they left. just their officiant, and witnesses.

View Quoted Comment Thank you!

View Quoted Comment Thank you for sharing your experience! I love the idea of writing your own vows! 😊