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Beginner June 2023 Worcestershire

Two weddings? In two different countries (india & England)?

Gowree, 4 September, 2021 at 20:29 Posted on Planning 0 1

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So I am of Indian (Hindu) heritage and my fiancé is of English heritage.

All of my family are based in India so we'll probably need two weddings, one in India for my family and one in the UK for his.
We were hoping to do the one in India first, as it's the longer ceremony. I know a lot of my British Asian friends have had both a Hindu ceremony in the UK followed by a civil one (also in the UK) as Hindu ceremonies arent legally recognised in the UK and need a civil ceremony as a formality to be legally registered.
However, as we are doing the Hindu ceremony in India, this will be legally recognised by the UK government as the gov.uk website says it will be recognised if it's legal in the country the marriage was made. So how would we go about doing the second UK ceremony if our marriage is already legally recognised?
We have considered going down the "marriage blessing" route but I think my fiancé would quite like to do the vows, the ring exchange and see me walk down the aisle (none of which he would be able to do in the Hindu ceremony).
Has anyone done anything similar or have any advice?

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Latest activity by RomanticGreenStationery27135, 4 September, 2021 at 22:39

Genius July 2020 Monmouthshire
RomanticGreenStationery27135 · 4 September, 2021 at 22:39
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I would suggest contacting your local registry office or church to ask their advice on this - I know you can't undergo two legal marriages in this country though, so I suspect you won't be able to have a legal wedding ceremony in the UK if you are already legally married in another country either.
But you can have a wedding blessing that will look almost identical to a wedding anyway. I've been to a few - several where the couple had already legally married in another country and one where the wedding had had to be brought forward so that a dying relative could see the couple marry.
The bride walked up the aisle, they exchanged rings and they 'reconfirmed' their vows. The only real difference between these weddings & a legal one was that before the bride arrived, the presiding minister mentioned that the couple were already legally wed and welcomed people to 'the blessing & celebration of the marriage of...' instead of to 'the marriage of' and the vows went something like 'I reaffirm the promise I have made to...' And of course, they didn't have the bit about not knowing of any legal reason why they couldn't marry - because they were already married!
These have all been church weddings. If you want a non-church wedding, I imagine it would be even easier, since you'd just have to hire a space and organise your own vows/ceremony.
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