how would you go about this?

Marrying someone from another country. Not really practical or affordable for either family to fly to a wedding in the other country. How would you include everyone? Two weddings? Is that possible?

That's what I would do - Two weddings, one in each country.  That way nobody has to travel if they aren't able to, but if they are able to, they can. That would also accommodate different traditions, if there are any in the different countries. Plus, two weddings for you! :o)

That's a tough one! Would you consider a web cam then fly to the other country for a second celebration of the vows? I wouldn't think it would be too hard to set up web cams in both places for them to see your wedding and for you to see them. Then just fly in immediate family.

Two weddings would work too. Might be a lot of fun! Good luck to you!!!

How would two work, I mean one is real, the other is just..acting? lol

Not two WEDDINGS, as that would be illegal. =P One wedding + celebration, and one celebration. You don't need to stand on the altar to have a celebration with the family.

feanor, i disagree (respectfully, of course).  You can stand on whatever altar you want, and make whatever promises you want before whatever gods/goddesses/flying spaghetti monsters you want.  it's the one eventual signing of the piece of paper that makes it legal, and you can't do that twice, no, but there's no reason not to re-affirm vows if somebody would want to do two weddings.

So if you want two, and you can afford two, I'd say go for it.  Me, I have enough of a headache planning my *one* and I'd say just throw two parties and have one *very* small wedding with nobody but the partcipants and witnesses.  That would avoid hurting anyone's feelings if you decide you just want to do one ceremony (cause nobody should be slighted if nobody at all is invited, they can't feel like you chose someone else over them).  If you like, you can take video of the actual ceremony and play it at both receptions.

I see nothing wrong with two wedding ceremonies.  One may be "acting", but isn't it the same with the first one?  The only real difference is you won't have to fill out a new marriage certificate but don't quote me on that.  I'm pretty sure you can be married in multiple countries if you wanted to.

Original Post by saroful:

So if you want two, and you can afford two, I'd say go for it. Me, I have enough of a headache planning my *one* and I'd say just throw two parties and have one *very* small wedding with nobody but the partcipants and witnesses.

 Yeah I thought about doing just a civil one and then having 2 celebrations later. If anything, I'd rather have the wedding ceremony here, because I can't see myself being around a bunch of strangers, as I only met his immediate family. I've starting thinking it might be interesting to see how a Finnish wedding is like though.

Tell one family to get a job and stop being poor, thats why no one takes these foriegn countries seriously...  cant even afford to see a... what?

You're right, none of us work, how could I be so dumb, that fixes everything, thanks giggle_puppy!

Vicereine,

A friend of mine had 3 "weddings".  She is Irish, but living with her now husband in Boston.  She had the first one in Boston, where she went to the registry office and signed all the legal forms and had a small party, in Boston.  Two weeks later, she came home and got married in a church (as far as I know was only a church blessing, no legal signings) with all her family and friends as well as her husband's immediate family and some of his close friends, and then a wedding reception in a hotel afterwards.

Then they went back to Boston and had a big celebration with her husband's family (and extended family) and friends.  She got great wear out of her wedding dress!!

What exactly is a church blessing? Just like a wedding but with no paper signing?

We got married by a JotP, then a year later we had the proper "wedding". We had the priest, signed the book, did everything but sign the wedding certificate because, well, we already had. To this day my mother in law believes that is when we actually got married.

Think about people from different cultures getting married (particularly Indian), they very often have 2 ceremonies - one traditional, one cultural. 

Have 2 ceremonies - one for each country.

My fiance and I live across the country from my enormous family.  We live about 1 mile from his mom who is pretty much his only family.  Because we realized that people would have to fly, no matter where we had the wedding, we decided to have the wedding in my hometown so that fewer people would need to fly.  We are going to have a small wedding and celebration (backyard bonfire) at my mom's house.  After that, we will have a party in the town where we live now so that anyone who couldn't make it to the wedding/celebration can celebrate with us.

My niece just did that... she had her wedding in Mexico, where she knew darn well, only the ones that cared the most could/would coordinate their holidays and come, which is what they intended.  They didn't want to spend $20,000 for the event.   All family was welcome, but at their own expense. 

Certainly kept things in perspective for her.

My parents had 2 weddings, they had the big one with all the guests and a reception and another the night before at the Catholic Church to make my Dad's parents happy.

One of my best friends got married a couple years ago.  The guy's family was mostly in Japan and not all of them could make it to Wisconsin for the wedding so they just did two ceremonies.  They had a church wedding here and then took a trip to Japan and did a traditional Japanese wedding there.

They have some awesome pics from that :)

I would say that unless there is some sort of custom in the other country, then Elope.  Then have a celebration with each side of the family.  Ceremonies can get expensive on top of travel.  After-all, the ceremony is for the couple not everyone else.  Everyone else should just celebrate!

I have alot of friends with international relationships. Since my American friend married a german last year (officialy in Germany, party in America), and my german friend almost married an israeli (was going to be in Switzerland, but at the moment is on hold), we have had alot of different conversations about this.

You should think about which countries are easiest to actually get married in. most of europe requires a civil cermony that is different to the church ceremony (church never being enough). What documents do you need to provide in both countries? what language capabilities do you have to have in each country to be considered able to consent to a marriage? (eg my friend had to prove she spoke enough German to be able to participate in the civil service). do you need to do blood tests somewhere? how long before hand do you need to register? which country are you planning to live in? (might be better to actually get married in that country, so you don't have as many visa complications)

I would really think regarding the wedding that these pragmatic considerations should be thoroughly taken into account before making a decision as to where you officially marry. Then you can always have a party in the other place later.

Personally If i marry my current partner, I would probably either elope to las vegas, or have a quiet civil ceremony, then have a party in europe with my friends here, another party in oz when I went home, and if he wants to do something in Africa when we next went there, that would be fine too.

Go ahead and have 2 celebrations!

Personally my family is spread out all over the USA and some in the UK. I plan on having a wedding in Barbados. (No I am not engaged but yes I already looked into it, hey every girl does!) That seems perfect to me. Whoever can make it can come, if not no hurt feelings.

I had two weddings.  I had one with immediate family at some rinky dink chapel in Idaho, and then I had another one a year later (the date we actually wanted to get married). 

The first wedding a quick and painless thing where we signed the piece of paper and we were married, no rings. I needed health insurance and we had to be married for me to be on his insurance.  We really always wanted to get married on Halloween and we had planned for it in 2007, but I couldn't wait that long.

So Halloween 2007 we had our wedding, which we call our anniversary, with all our friends and family.  Most of them didn't know we were already married and we said our own vows, not something out of a book and exchanged rings.  It was awesome and everyone loved it. 

As for two counties, I would do two weddings and if some can fly to the other ceremony, its a vacation for them.   You could also video record both and share them with those who didn't get to go.

 

Good luck