I wanted to see if anyone has any ideas for a small civil ceremony in my home for my fiance and I. We have to get married before February 20 per his K1 visa. We are thinking about having a small ceremony at my house and inviting a few guests. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!!

Yes that works. In our case we just went to the local courthouse, the courtroom was a nice place for the ceremony with the judge, and a few friends and family as witnesses.

If you attend a local church etc., you may ask to have them preside over your wedding at home. If not, a justice of the peace is fine then the party at home. We went to Lake Tahoe which is one of my favorite places in the World.
My girlfriend had her best male friend become a minister online, then he presided over her wedding. It was the most fun wedding I have ever attended. They saved money for the future and did exactly what they wanted. No pretenses.

I sent you a PM since we recently did the same thing and you're in VA...good luck

We had our civil ceremony at the local coffee shop we hang-out at, conducted by the town Mayor. Some of the customers were probably wondering what the heck was going-on, but the regulars who knew us were all there and showed us great support!

That is pretty cool.

We had our civil ceremony at a resort, it worked out great. Very intimate, we had a beautiful waterfall in the background, and we wrote our own vows. Then we all had dinner at the resort, and Justin and I spent 2 nights there

Saludos,
Caro

Hello,

It is fine to make your civil wedding just in the house. Civil Wedding is different than church wedding for me and my husband we just invited the judge and one of his sister to come into our house to be the witnessed. It just fine the judge will just ask u if where u want to do it and for us it cost $ 100.

God bless for your coming wedding

In Virginia, you don't require witnesses even...just the officiant or minister and yourselves

I didnt know this. Interesting. I'm in Virginia and Sasha and I have been bickering a bit over our wedding ideas. I'd prefer a simple civil ceremony somewhere in a nice spring outdoor setting. And then have a proper ceremony later. But Sasha thinks this is a stupid idea. she can't see any reason to get married "twice". She calls it acting. I guess I can understand that thinking. So, she would rather make the first one, the only one. I want to marry quickly for EAD and AOS reasons. (Don't want her work authorization to expire, creating a gap in employment). So, for me a wedding a few days after she arrived would be ideal. Unfortunately, she would rather spend thousands of dollars and take several weeks of preparations. I think we may have to postpone her coming to the US for a few months so that we can save for the right wedding. Pity...

Well if you know when her interview is you can start planning now Then you won't have to postpone her comign out for too long

We're trying. but we can't agree on anything for a wedding. I'm trying to be smart about the whole thing and guilt trips really bum me out. I think we'll definitely need quite a bit of money for a real wedding or I'll live with it for the rest of my life.

It is wide open as long as you get your marriage registered. We went to the local court house with family in tow. Congrats and good luck

That is too cool !