My partner of 8 years and I had a very small commitment ceremony 6 years (only her immediate family and a couple of our friends attended). We have decided that we want to get legally married next year since it has become a real option for us. We both agree that we want a reception with all of our family and friends, so much bigger than before, but we are undecided (and having a hard time compromising) on whether it would be appropriate to have a wedding ceremony. On the one hand, we are eager to celebrate that we can now be legally married, but there is also some concern that some people may see it as a "do-over" (and my partner feels a bit this way), and that we no longer feel that our commitment ceremony is good enough, or special enough to have counted for anything. In my opinion, this will be a completely separate event, and I don't see anything wrong with walking down the aisle, and reading vows (though I'm up in the air about whether it would be appropriate to have a maid of honor). I definitely don't plan on wearing a white dress. I feel like without having a ceremony, the reception will seem like more of an anniversary party than a wedding celebration, and I really want people to see how important this is to us. There is also some concern that we shoudn't even call this ceremony a wedding since we've been presenting ourselves as a "married" couple for 6 years now even though we weren't legally married. Any thoughts or advice on what would be the proper etiquette for going about this ceremony/reception? Part of me wants to really go all out, but I don't want to offend anyone, especially my partner, so I know I need to figure out a good compromise for the event.