Ceremony for family after a courthouse wedding

[.dan 0]

I'm sure some of you got legally married before making a ceremony for family and friends - just to comply with the K1 90-day requirement. How did you "officiate" the marriage for the second time? Did you have a real officiant? Also, regarding the marriage certificate - does anyone get to see it at a wedding? I mean you don't sign anything in front of everyone, right? Sorry for a bunch of questions at once, just want to cover it all

Please let me know about your experience.

Thanks!

[aaron2020 11,651]

The 2nd ceremony would have no legal significance. It's just a party. You can have anyone officiate since there is no legal significance. There's no certificate for the 2nd ceremony, so there is nothing to sign because the law already recognized that you got married at the courthouse in the 1st ceremony. The 2nd ceremony is just a party with no legal significance.

[NikLR 13,231]

When my mother got married for the 4th time, she had a friend officiate their "wedding" and they signed a personal declaration of togetherness (or something to that effect.) Essentially they didn't actually get married, but went through the whole wedding thing.

Generally the reason people sign the wedding license or whatever is because you normally need the officiant, the witnesses, and the wedding couple sign to make the document legal. If you have a ceremony for friends and family, you can have anyone you want officiate and do a certificate for you guys to sign if you want, but everything legal happens at your first civil ceremony.