I don't know what would be classified as "straight -forward" as I guess it varies from one person's point of view to another. In my case, my husband is much older than me,we are different races, speak different languages, have no kids, but we had been together since 2001, got married in 2009.So I would think the duration of your relationship counts too. Also, even though we are from very different cultures, we did work in the same filed (he's a paramedic and I am a nurse), so we have no problem communicating with each other.
And we had a small wedding ceremony without my family's attendance (due to health and other issues), but we did have my husband's closest friends and people who really cared about us in the ceremony, I guess it showed in our wedding pictures
Anyway we did explain to CIC on paper that the reason why my family could not attend the wedding this time and that we planned on to renew our vow in Asia later when we can , so my family can feel the joy too.
Looking back at my application, I thought we did not put everything in there as i did not send them any of our emails or chat logs, did not send in our joint bank account statement, and I am sure the list goes on. But at the end of the day, it is the CIC agent who looked at your profile and then made a decision if they consider it as "straight forward" or not. So part of it is up to faith!But always keep your faith and hope for the best.