2nd wedding celebration with family and friends

[mrsdietcoke 1]

Hi all,

In the process of ROC. My husband and I got married in the US in 2014. It was a civil ceremony (very small with only close family) and were issued a Marriage Certificate. I entered the US on a CR1 visa based on this wedding.

A few months later (but before I was issued my CR1), we decided we wanted to have a religious wedding ceremony in front of extended family and friends, so we had a religious ceremony in Canada followed by a reception. There we were issued a religious wedding certificate (in French).

Question:

Should I include pictures of the event, or would that appear confusing to USCIS? I was thinking of including pictures of our religious ceremony (white dress, with family and friends, etc) as well as an explanation for this in the cover letter. I was not planning on sending the religious wedding certificate as our real legally blinding wedding was the civil one.

If I don't include pictures/explanation, I would feel as if we are withholding information as it was a pretty big event with over 120 people (over 50 people flew in from the US to attend). Also, if I do include, I feel it would show we are in a genuine relationship (combined with all other primary evidence of course).

Has anyone experienced this? Any suggestions?

Edited October 11, 2016 by mrsdietcoke

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

ROC is more about financial co-mingling. Showing a big wedding won't overcome a lack of joint finances, and if you have enough joint finances then wedding explanations won't add much to it. My 2 cents.

[lucybelle 453]

Agree with above, but certainly add in the pictures!

We had a separate ceremony a year after we got married with my husband's family since they were unable to obtain visas to travel to the USA for the original marriage.

[A'n'L 735]

Two wedding celebrations are quite common for us visa people - so don't worry about confusing the CO - send the pictures.

However, as said, the most important burden of evidence is related to financial co-mingling.

[mrsdietcoke 1]

Thank you!

We do have strong evidence of joint finances and shared residence. I wanted to add secondary evidence as well, such as pictures, travel documents, etc... I will add photos form the 2nd ceremony as well!