Wedding Vows & Ceremony Discussions

Civil union - where and how

Hello!
I am French, he is Australian, we live in New York. We are getting married in France in 10 month. I am wondering where we should do the civil union?
France or US? (Australia isn't an option as we are not planning to go back between now and the wedding). And can anyone clarify the admin process?
Thanks for your help!!

Re: Civil union - where and how

  • mysticlmysticl member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited October 2013
    In the US there isn't a separate civil union.  A church wedding is legally binding, so a lot of people are not going to understand why you are having 2 weddings.  It is often considered to be in bad form to do that here.  

    Do the two of you plan to stay here?  Are you planning to become naturalized citizens?  If so it may cause you less hassle in the long run to be legally married here.  I have no idea what kind of red tape you will have to deal with.  

    ETA: When I mentioned people not understanding you may get questions about why you are traveling to France to have a vow renewal when you are already married and why didn't you just invite your friends and family from France and Australia to the US for your wedding.  Not everyone realizes that it works differently in other countries.  
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  • Thank you that's good to know! In France you have to do it at the town hall and then you can do a religious or spiritual ceremony if you want to. Some people do it on the same days, other on different days.

  • Nope - in the US, a religious or spiritual ceremony is perfectly valid as long as the officiant is recognized by the county clerk (which pretty much any ordained minister/priest will be). 
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  • Makes it so much easier!

    Does anyone know what we should do if we want our union to be legally recognised in the US, France and Australia.

    We are getting married in France for logistic reasons (some relatives can't travel).
  • I agree with pp, check with local/state officials to see if you need to do anything extra for your marriage to be recognized here. I'm guessing there may be extra paperwork involved, or it may be just a matter of making sure you have a few extra copies of your marriage license. You may want some of those anyways so you have ceritifed copies for when you go to do your name change (if you are doing that) and update your name on your passport.
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