Civil Marriage in Mississauga - anyone with experience ?

[Pearl1]

Hi

I am planning to sponsor my bf under Inland category. My bf's WP is expiring in first week of March 2017.

We are going for civil wedding ceremony in Mississauga. Is there anyone with such experience ? We need to avoid any mistakes to expedite the marriage certificate process.

 

[jeffporfirio1]

Congrats on the wedding

 

[Pearl1]

Congrats on the wedding

LOL,, thanks. But is there anyone who can help with the question ?

 

[canadianwoman]

A civil wedding ceremony is fine, but do try to make it look special: get dressed up, exchange rings, have some people there if possible, do something as a reception even if it is only dinner at a nice restaurant with family and friends, take photos, go on a honeymoon - whatever you can to make it look like the day is special to you.

 

[CanadianZenGirl]

A civil wedding ceremony is fine, but do try to make it look special: get dressed up, exchange rings, have some people there if possible, do something as a reception even if it is only dinner at a nice restaurant with family and friends, take photos, go on a honeymoon - whatever you can to make it look like the day is special to you.

This.

My husband and I got married at a courthouse. It was a beautiful day and the ceremony was held outside on the lawn under a tree. We were both dressed for the occasion, had rings, family was present. I think it was just as nice as if it had been done in a church.

 

[Pearl1]

A civil wedding ceremony is fine, but do try to make it look special: get dressed up, exchange rings, have some people there if possible, do something as a reception even if it is only dinner at a nice restaurant with family and friends, take photos, go on a honeymoon - whatever you can to make it look like the day is special to you.

family is not in the favor of this relationship nor are they present in the country.

the day is definitely special. we don't have many friends either in the province.

since we are so short on time (his work permit is expiring in about a month), not sure if we will be able to gather all these things in time. i mean, an outing will need a planning. so worried, but first things first. i do not know how the civil ceremony works.

if anyone has any experience with it, please help me out, i want to be prepared ahead of time and avoid any possible delays.

 

[jeffporfirio1]

family is not in the favor of this relationship nor are they present in the country.

the day is definitely special. we don't have many friends either in the province.

since we are so short on time (his work permit is expiring in about a month), not sure if we will be able to gather all these things in time. i mean, an outing will need a planning. so worried, but first things first. i do not know how the civil ceremony works.

if anyone has any experience with it, please help me out, i want to be prepared ahead of time and avoid any possible delays.

Can you get coworkers, neighbors or random strangers to attend?
Also, a professional photographer also helps.
Again, congrats

 

[Pearl1]

This.

My husband and I got married at a courthouse. It was a beautiful day and the ceremony was held outside on the lawn under a tree. We were both dressed for the occasion, had rings, family was present. I think it was just as nice as if it had been done in a church.

hey, thanks for your response.

did you hire an officiant or just went to the court house and they arranged for everything ? How long did it take ? where was this courthouse ?

i think we will need to go to the city hall to perform the ceremony.

 

[Pitt1234]

I had a civil wedding in Toronto. The process was fairly simple.

1. You go to the City Center to purchase a marriage license (fee: ~$125, but varies by location) --- Took about 20 minutes. I don't remember now, but I think we needed an appointment.
2. For this marriage license application you will need a signed application form (that the City Center will provide you) and 2 pieces of government-issued identification for each person getting married (passport, license etc).
3. After you get this license, you can choose a date for a religious or a court marriage. We had a civil wedding at our house in the presence of an officiant (who has a license to administer civil weddings). You can chose the officiant based on the type of civil wedding you want. For us, it still involved some (Hindu) religious rituals but not as elaborate as standard weddings, followed by paper signing.
4. You will be given a "Marriage Solemnization certificate" that you keep with you. The officiant and 2 witnesses would sign this marriage license document, and you would need to mail it to Service Canada for marriage registration.
5. Service Canada then mails you "Marriage Certificate" in 12 weeks (you have to order one).
6. You may be able to expedite this by faxing them and describing your emergency. I needed the marriage certificate for my expiring passport (Indian consulate won't issue one unless I add my wife's name) and Service Canada were simply awesome in providing the certificate in less than 2 weeks.

Btw, nothing stops you from having a more elaborate religious wedding after this. We had a civil wedding in Canada, followed by a more elaborate religious wedding in India 6 months later, and wedding receptions following that.

Said that, I don't think marriage automatically allows your husband to stay in Canada. You will still need all the paperwork for visa extension and getting the right permits.

Also, I would second the advice given by others. Do have photographs of your wedding proceedings. It would be good to have some close friends. Also, weddings vary from culture to culture. Anything different from the usual norm may raise a flag for CIC to investigate. So do explain any unique circumstances in your additional sheets of PR application.

hey, thanks for your response.

did you hire an officiant or just went to the court house and they arranged for everything ? How long did it take ? where was this courthouse ?

i think we will need to go to the city hall to perform the ceremony.

 

[profiler]

The marriage certificate comes from the Office of the Registrar in Thunder Bay... it's provincial, not federal (so no Service Canada.. you order the certificate from Service Ontario).

For us, the certificate was the longest step... took us 16wks to get it. Some say less, our experience was 16wks.

 

[Pearl1]

I had a civil wedding in Toronto. The process was fairly simple.

1. You go to the City Center to purchase a marriage license (fee: ~$125, but varies by location) --- Took about 20 minutes. I don't remember now, but I think we needed an appointment.
2. For this marriage license application you will need a signed application form (that the City Center will provide you) and 2 pieces of government-issued identification for each person getting married (passport, license etc).
3. After you get this license, you can choose a date for a religious or a court marriage. We had a civil wedding at our house in the presence of an officiant (who has a license to administer civil weddings). You can chose the officiant based on the type of civil wedding you want. For us, it still involved some (Hindu) religious rituals but not as elaborate as standard weddings, followed by paper signing.
4. You will be given a "Marriage Solemnization certificate" that you keep with you. The officiant and 2 witnesses would sign this marriage license document, and you would need to mail it to Service Canada for marriage registration.
5. Service Canada then mails you "Marriage Certificate" in 12 weeks (you have to order one).
6. You may be able to expedite this by faxing them and describing your emergency. I needed the marriage certificate for my expiring passport (Indian consulate won't issue one unless I add my wife's name) and Service Canada were simply awesome in providing the certificate in less than 2 weeks.

Btw, nothing stops you from having a more elaborate religious wedding after this. We had a civil wedding in Canada, followed by a more elaborate religious wedding in India 6 months later, and wedding receptions following that.

Said that, I don't think marriage automatically allows your husband to stay in Canada. You will still need all the paperwork for visa extension and getting the right permits.

Perfect, thank you.

as i read on the city hall website, civil ceremony is performed by a judge or ministry clerk. did you arrange for an officiant from the religious wedding officiants list ?

 

[Pitt1234]

Yes, we had a religious wedding officiant. Although, in this case it was a Hindu priest the family knew (and who had the required license to officiate weddings ). You can picky any.

I think the biggest time bottle neck is not the wedding, but the time to register the marriage and get a certificate from Thunder-bay. The default processing time is 12+ weeks. But if you send them a valid reason to expedite (by FAX --- Google for this), they are good enough to do that.

Perfect, thank you.

as i read on the city hall website, civil ceremony is performed by a judge or ministry clerk. did you arrange for an officiant from the religious wedding officiants list ?

 

[Pearl1]

Yes, we had a religious wedding officiant. Although, in this case it was a Hindu priest the family knew (and who had the required license to officiate weddings ). You can picky any.

I think the biggest time bottle neck is not the wedding, but the time to register the marriage and get a certificate from Thunder-bay. The default processing time is 12+ weeks. But if you send them a valid reason to expedite (by FAX --- Google for this), they are good enough to do that.

yes, will do. I think for application you just need proof of registration (which can be a copy of application for registration) but i read that some officiants can help with the process of expedition.

 

[danawhitaker]

yes, will do. I think for application you just need proof of registration (which can be a copy of application for registration) but i read that some officiants can help with the process of expedition.

No. For the application they want the actual marriage certificate. It says specifically on the checklist that the record of solemnization or the marriage license are not acceptable. I assume this would also apply to a copy of the application for registration.

We had to wait 10 weeks for ours, but did not consider the reason we were wanting it more quickly as a reason to have expedited it. Our officiant didn't know that this was possible either.

 

[Pearl1]

No. For the application they want the actual marriage certificate. It says specifically on the checklist that the record of solemnization or the marriage license are not acceptable. I assume this would also apply to a copy of the application for registration.

We had to wait 10 weeks for ours, but did not consider the reason we were wanting it more quickly as a reason to have expedited it. Our officiant didn't know that this was possible either.

the check list says, provide your marriage certificate/registration.

solemnization and licence are not accepted.