Notary certification of valid marriage

[mbogart 0]

My fiance is Costa Rican. We plan to get married there. Then, I will return to the US and file for a CR-1 visa. As Catholicism is the official state religion of Costa Rica, and neither of us is Catholic, before we can have our religious ceremony the marriage needs to be certified by an attorney who is authorized by the government to perform marriages. The attorney issues a notarized certificate of the marriage to the couple, then files the paperwork with the government to be recorded. Since getting the official marriage certificate back from the government can take two months, and we don't want to wait any longer than absolutely necessary to file the CR-1, I'm wondering if anyone knows if the notarized certificate from the attorney in conjunction with the religious marriage certificate is sufficient to prove a valid marriage for USCIS. Or do we need to wait for the official notice from the government that the marriage has been recorded? Thanks!