Small ceremony now, big wedding later

We had an original date of may 9th. And that quickly got cancelled, so we then moved our wedding to august 30th. However we made the rash decision to get married tomorrow 😂 my fiance's dad actually got certified to perform our wedding. So our new wedding date is 4/19/20, which is cute because my fiance proposed 4/20/19. So if all goes according to plan we will have our small marriage with just parents and my son. I always wanted an intimate wedding anyways, and we are calling our august wedding our vow renewal

View Quoted Comment So cute! Congrats! Thank you!

We are planning on having a small ceremony on our original date of 6/20 and then the big wedding on 8/7. All of our family and close friends know, we told them when we told them we postponed. We are putting a postponement card in our invites (so we don’t send out two things so close together) that states we are having an intimate ceremony on our original date, and then a celebration of our marriage on 8/7.

We had a small ceremony with just us and our kids (we have a daughter each).

We have told most of our close friends and family that we got married and we're about to send out Change the Date cards with a cute poem telling people about the ceremony and inviting them to our new wedding. So far the response has been positive! : )

View Quoted Comment Aw that’s great! Will you have another ceremony or better said “renewal of vows” at the big wedding?

We’re having a small ceremony and then a vow renewal ceremony and reception later on.

Our big wedding is going to be called a "Celebration of Marriage". We will renew our vows, and our guests are going to pray over us/bless our marriage as one would do in a Catholic wedding ceremony. As sad as all of this is making us, I'm actually kind of excited to get married in an intimate ceremony before the big celebration later on down the road. Pressure will be off and the two of us will really be able to soak in the moment. I'm hoping that it will be even more special that way.

I firmly believe that "getting married" is the legal aspect but the wedding is the ceremony and celebration, so even if you legally marry beforehand, if you have another ceremony I would still call it a wedding. If you decide to skip the ceremony for your party, then just call it a "Celebration of Marriage." Even before Covid-19, I had three different friends do this (get married in a private ceremony and then have a big party at a different date) and it was great.

View Quoted Comment I agree as well! The ceremony would be just a symbolic ceremony, no?

View Quoted Comment

We will have the full ceremony at the big wedding. I am excited for it!

View Quoted Comment So you just replicate the ceremony even though you’re already married?

View Quoted Comment

Yes I think so. Obviously it's all a bit strange and different, but I loved the ceremony the pastor did for us - we each have a daughter and they were included and it was very special. I really want to share that with our friends and family. I would be sad if it were truncated or somehow less than our private ceremony.

View Quoted Comment Yeah I understand, itll be nice!