Wedding officiant?

[alizon 77]

Hello everyone,

My fiance and I are working on having just a simple wedding with our immediate when he comes to visit in June. Neither of us are religious, so clergy isn't really an option, but I would also prefer not to get married in the court house (I live in a major city, and I've heard that ceremonies there are a bit of a circus). What I would really like is my brother to marry us in a restaurant or other nice setting. I know that it is legal in our state for one of our friends/relatives to be ordained online and marry us, but I feel like that might give us trouble with the immigration procedure. Does anyone else have experience with trying to apply for the I-130 after a marriage by a non-traditional officiant? Are my instincts correct or am I being paranoid?

Thanks!

[raymaga 25]

I would say that it won't matter so much that your brother married you, as long as the marriage is legal. So, make sure that your brother can definitely legally marry you. It's the legal document that's going to be important.

Good luck.

[Moosker 7]

Yup, as long as it's a legal officiant, you're okay. I know someone that had her future brother-in-law marry them!

[bigbigblake 2]

I got married in a local courthouse. We had the courtroom all to ourselves and they even decorated for it and had some props. The judge was really nice and even added in some of her own flavor. I highly recommend it for the non-religious.

I didn't see any circus but I didn't do it in a major city. Stuck with the suburban area.

[alizon 77]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'm still a bit nervous about giving any possible excuse to see our marriage as invalid (despite the 2 years of phone records, texts, plane tickets...), but thanks for the reassurance. We'll keep thinking about it...