No wedding photos?

[Mightytonewheel]

We have emails. And all conversations between us, texting every day since December 2014.

Great! I would take screenshot samples of those text messages, and as many emails as you think would reasonably representing the duration and authenticity of your relationship. If you sent 1,000 emails, don't include all of them. Just include a significant number, over time.

I presume you live apart. Were there trips? Airline tickets and boarding passes?

 

[rmv]

We are atheist as well, my family also are in my home country. That is probably why I think wedding is not a big thing.
I am glad for you detpeg!

My partner worries about this as well. We eloped in a small ceremony. We are atheists so we weren't dressed up and there was no real ceremony to speak of. Not to say we didn't care about the marriage, but yeah - not as big a deal as it is to others. We applied in October (Outland) and got SA in early December. So far we haven't been asked for additional evidence. Hopefully they understand.

 

[keesio]

I am from scandinavia, I do not know does it effect?

It will have some effect in the sense that your application will not be under as much scrutiny. Applicants from Scandinavian countries are not known for marriage/immigration fraud. People from western visa-exempt countries are given the benefit of the doubt here. Photos would have been nice but it will not be a red flag if you have other good evidence. There was one US/Canadian couple that got married in the living room of a friends home and most were dressed casually. They had no issues with their application.

 

[James Russo]

We have emails. And all conversations between us, texting every day since December 2014.

This is not enough to proof your relationship. Go to Google and search "IP 8 Spouse or Common-law partner in Canada Class". Check the page 42 to 44 and there has all evidences that help you to proof your relationship.

 

[Aquakitty]

This is not enough to proof your relationship. Go to Google and search "IP 8 Spouse or Common-law partner in Canada Class". Check the page 42 to 44 and there has all evidences that help you to proof your relationship.

There's a HUGE difference in the kind of proof you need to provide based on where the applicant is from. Sorry but the same rules just don't apply to everyone.

My husband and I "eloped" as well, and got married in Vegas. The only reason we dressed up and took pictures was because I knew it would help with CIC. If I didn't know about any of that there is a good chance we'd have no pics to show for it too! Getting married was awful for me, it was insanely stressful and weird, haha.

Just cover the gap with other pictures, or take some "honeymoon" type pictures. Just take something you can call marriage photos.

 

[Mightytonewheel]

There's a HUGE difference in the kind of proof you need to provide based on where the applicant is from. Sorry but the same rules just don't apply to everyone.

My husband and I "eloped" as well, and got married in Vegas. The only reason we dressed up and took pictures was because I knew it would help with CIC. If I didn't know about any of that there is a good chance we'd have no pics to show for it too! Getting married was awful for me, it was insanely stressful and weird, haha.

Just cover the gap with other pictures, or take some "honeymoon" type pictures. Just take something you can call marriage photos.

I think James simply meant that some emails and text messages are not generally enough to persuade a CIC officer of the authenticity of the relationship.

I agree that the applicant's country of origin plays a part. But the truth is that none of us really know exactly how much evidence is enough, and how little is not enough. It depends on a lot of factors, many of which CIC doesn't disclose. And it's not a scientific process. A lot is left up to the officer reviewing the application, just as a lot is left up to CBSA officers when deciding whether to allow visitors into the country.

I think the best approach is to ask: what would I have to do to persuade a stranger that my relationship is authentic? It's best to provide a paper trail that adequately summarizes the duration and authenticity of the relationship. Beyond that, all we have is anecdotal evidence about what happens next.

 

[Aquakitty]

I think there is enough evidence out there to go a bit beyond the anecdotal level for what proof is needed. Don't get me wrong, would I suggest submitting an application to CIC without any sort of marriage photos? No. But, in the OP's situation, there is still a way to satisfy this.

Just be smart about it, you can think outside the box a little with your photos. Always add as much proof as you can to cover all the bases. Sending 500 pages of texts isn't necessary, but cover all categories such as bank statements, bills, tickets, pictures etc.

The fundamental differences between countries is pretty extreme. For India for instance, the applicant is expected to have a big cultural celebration. They go so far as to even make sure people are smiling in the pictures because there have been applicants who have had fake weddings. It's kind of obvious, if you don't have much to gain from coming to Canada the proof level won't be so high.

 

[biag_ni_lam-ang]

Hi all. I am doing my application under Family Class Sponsorship Inland and one thing is worrying us. We are in a real relationship and have lots of proof about it, but we did a very small and intimate civil marriage ceremony at our home. We forgot to ask our witnesses to take pictures! We were so nervous
Could this have any negative effect to application process? In my opinion we should just be honest about it and explain why there is no photos. But I fear it sound...a lie? I would appreciate any advices or experiences about this. We have marriage certificate.

They might call you for an interview

 

[keesio]

I think James simply meant that some emails and text messages are not generally enough to persuade a CIC officer of the authenticity of the relationship.

That is true. But the OP also has:

"am under his benefits, we have rental agreements, joint bank account, few pics, trip (hotel and restaurant receipt for proof), letter from family"

Likely that will be good enough.

 

[WeeHippieElf]

I would also ask for supporting letters from those that did attend the ceremony, describing the event and verifying that it did happen.

i was going to make this same suggestion.

i think CIC sees a lot of variations in wedding ceremonies. i had recently moved to my city just before getting married, and so our wedding was attended only by our immediate families and my best friend since our other friends couldn't travel to it. we had a small reception at my church, where 10-12 new church friends attended. at most, there were 25 people at the reception. my husband and i couldn't justify shelling out for professional wedding photos when we knew we had huge immigration expenses ahead of us, so all of our pictures from that day were taken by the attendees on their phones (made obvious by the fact that most pictures include the arms and phones of other people taking pictures, too). we sent one picture of us with his family, one picture of us with my family, one picture of us signing our certificate, one picture of us cutting our cake, and one picture of everyone at the reception in a conga line (minus my too-cool teenage son who wouldn't join, but took a picture of us ) once we sent in the application, i became super-paranoid that CIC would think we'd faked the reception because of the low turn-out and lack of professional photos. however, in our notes, it says "wedding and reception were well-attended according to photographs."

i know your case is different in that you don't have any photographs at all - just wanted to share my experience that it doesn't have to be a huge event with paparazzi to satisfy CIC you have a lot of other evidence of your relationship, and if you can get letters of support from a couple people who attended your wedding, you should be fine. good luck!