Having a "wedding" after a courthouse wedding

I like that I saw this right when I clicked on 'plan a wedding'

At first, I thought it would be 'weird' to be married at city hall first and then have another wedding where everyone else knows as I didn't find it 'normal'.

1. because we have to pay for city hall and the officiant to wed us

2. pay a ceremony fee at the venue [to have a non religious wedding then a reception afterwards].

I didn't find it weird after being married in city hall as it was more intimate and less stress to have and celebrate with our immediate family [like 10 people total including my hubby and I]. We were able to play music for me to walk down with my parents and play some instrumentals in the background as the officiant was talking. That's pretty much all we did for ours.

I asked a bunch of people or google searched how to plan a wedding and came across weddingwire to help me. True godsend as I've never been to any weddings in Canada in a western fashion. Finding the venue was the toughest in the beginning as we didn't know what to expect for the price per head to determine our budget for the wedding. Once we went to a few of them, we got a better idea. I feel having a checklist based on your wedding date is a great tool to have to make things run smoothly with your wedding planning. Happy planning!

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It's definitely done more often than you think! My cousin did this for her wedding and it was still just as special. I'm glad you're more comfortable with going ahead with doing the reception after tho, it's still going to be a great time

Thanks for all the replies so far!! It's so great to read that this isn't that uncommon to do!

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Yeah I know the courthouse does allow you to have a small number of guests and you can bring in your own decor to add to their existing decor which makes it a little nicer. But yes, essentially we are wanting to have the courthouse ceremony this year like June/May and then I guess a "proper" ceremony the following year so we can have all our friends their and family and do the whole wedding dress and walk down the aisle but, I guess when we'd be renewing our vows or as Vinod said in her comment we could have someone just read or say what an officiant says since we'd already be officially married...the only reason we're trying to do it this way is because there's a few issues that make it easier for us to get married on paper sooner rather than later and then that will make a lot of things easier for us and the whole process of planning an official wedding easier too.

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Essentially what we're thinking of doing is getting married this June so it's done on paper and we can move in and everything officially and we'll have just family and a few friends at the courthouse (or just family). Then sticking to our "wedding" date for next year and just having a reception that will be like the "wedding" but since we're already married ppl say it's like we'll be renewing our vows but everything else can still go as if it were an ordinary wedding...does that make sense lol I want the experience of wearing the dress and walking down the aisle and the place in mind is affordable and perfect for our small guest list. It's just a little complicated for us and there's a few reasons why getting married on paper will make everything easier for us now and let us be able to plan for a proper reception with less stress. So I guess I'm just trying to know if it's an odd thing to do it this way? But from everyone's answers it seems like this is done more often than I thought!

View quoted message Essentially what we're thinking of doing is getting married this June so it's done on paper and we can move in and everything officially and we'll have just family and a few friends at the courthouse (or just family). Then sticking to our "wedding" date for next year and just having a reception that will be like the "wedding" but since we're already married ppl say it's like we'll be renewing our vows but everything else can still go as if it were an ordinary wedding...does that make sense lol I want the experience of wearing the dress and walking down the aisle and the place in mind is affordable and perfect for our small guest list. It's just a little complicated for us and there's a few reasons why getting married on paper will make everything easier for us now and let us be able to plan for a proper reception with less stress. So I guess I'm just trying to know if it's an odd thing to do it this way? But from everyone's answers it seems like this is done more often than I thought!

Where would you host this after-the-fact reception? From your post, I'm assuming you want to just do something low-key in place of the dream reception that is out of your budget. I think celebrating with loved ones is always nice and people will enjoy celebrating your marriage whenever the party is.

One of my good friends just did this exact thing. They got married at the courthouse in the afternoon and that night they booked a party room at moxie's (a restaurant) and everyone was responsible for their own drinks but they did have some apps brought out. It was lovely. They did this on a Friday

I just finished my marriage prep course yesterday (yay!) and a lot of couples have already done a civil ceremony and are now doing a church ceremony followed by reception.

The biggest complaint i heard from people is that the plans were generally last minute so they have the church booked one day and the reception hall booked another day. So my biggest advice is to try to get them on the same day, so booking early helps.

I think it’s great though to have a very intimidate civil ceremony and then a regular ceremony and reception later on.

The first way you said it was the way I was looking at it way.

One of my in laws got married in Nova Scotia just the family and had a reception months after to celebrate their wedding in a community centre.

If you choose to do the 1 year option of wedding, that would be considered a anniversary party then. That is something you have to keep in mind.

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I agree with just having the 1 ceremony and then getting together with people for a reception and I love the idea of having the courthouse ceremony playing so that the guests can watch. If you want to have some people at the ceremony, maybe the courthouse has space for family members/friends that are pretty much family so they can be there during the courthouse ceremony?

Or did you mean having a courthouse ceremony in, say for example, May and having another ceremony in July of the following year?

Paying once for the courthouse wedding and having a small civil ceremony without the officiant yet someone that can just read off the paper to have you married.

The other thing that is done now as well is a reception after a courthouse wedding (eloping) due to budget. For a small amount of people to celebrate your new life as a couple is nice and less costly in a community center or restaurant having a projector playing the wedding ceremony itself for them to see. If this process works for you, then go ahead and plan it with someone recording the wedding at the time you do it.