IMM5490 Q15

[Fencesitter]

We had a civil ceremony for our marriage. We exchanged vows and rings. My side of the family did not attend because I was working at the time, so it was not a good time for them to come. My sister had to take care of her baby, and she didn't have the extra money to travel, which is totally understandable.

The thing is, how do I answer this question? YES? NO? Here is what I have written, but whether I should check YES or NO is the question.

"We got married on XXXXX 2009 at the XXXXX Civil Affairs Bureau in XXXXXX, China. Those in attendance: my parents and sister. Fencesitter's family was not in attendance due to a timing conflict (Fencesitter was working at the time, so it was not a good time for his parents to visit - they came to visit in July of 2009). His sister was busy taking care of her baby, so it was not a good time for her either, which we totally understood, especially now that we have our own baby (it is a lot of work!).

We chose to keep the ceremony simple because we did not want to spend a lot of money, and with Fencesitter's parents and sister unable to attend, it would not have been the right thing to do. We did, however, recite traditional wedding vows and exchanged rings. We had been together for so long, we felt like we were already married - and our commitment was not changed simply because we signed a piece of paper; we were in love long before we decided to make it official. As long as we have each other (and XXXXX, XXXX, and XXXXX), nothing else matters."

Any ideas?

Cheers,
FS

 

[canadianwoman]

Your answer is 'yes'. "Formal" in this question does not mean a big ceremony with hundreds of guests. It is simply asking if you had some kind of ceremony. You did - what you described is a marriage ceremony.
I'd put the names of the attendees, as well as their relation to your wife. The reasons for your parents and sister not attending are fine. "We had been together ..." is not necessary; of course it won't hurt to include it. I'd describe the ceremony a bit more: the vows (in English or Chinese, or both?), who officiated? the exchange of the rings and the rings themselves.

 

[CharlieD10]

The answer is definitely yes, what you are describing is a formal celebration of your marriage. Like yourselves, we had a small wedding ceremony attended by a few people. We had done up programmes, so we included a copy in the package.

For engagement, though, we put no, as you can't really call getting everyone together and heading to your favourite beach to spend the day "formal", haha!