Ok since ‘Redro’ is confused about something, not sure what, I’ll expand. Unlike Redro and 90% of the others my U.K. wife (K1) actually got married via Utah due to just emerging from COVID (Sept/Oct 2021). So unlike them we know the rules. The participants MUST be on the same webcam feed, meaning side by side. We had to do that as well for the preliminary Utah meeting. So I hope the confusion about that is cleared up.
Also, it makes no sense that people not in the US can get married in the US. There is zero jurisdiction. Of course that eliminates K1 if you do a Utah marriage. More confusion cleared up.
Lastly, if your ‘ceremony’ was basically some people getting together and no one has a record of it, then the K1 was perfectly fine and if your attorney filed that but [foolishly] mentioned the purely ceremonial event, shame on him/her. Without paperwork it was just a party. Why would I be telling USCIS about a party? If it was more than a party, then you know that, and KNOW it was more than ‘ceremonial’ and know that you are married already. That was for you and the attorney to discuss prior to filing as I’m sure you did.
I see you are going to go the CR1 route and I wish you the best. With that decision you’ve put the onus on yourself to retroactively prove your ceremony was a wedding, instead of letting the USCIS prove a ceremony existed at all and that it was a ‘wedding’ with no paper trail.