How to differentiate between actual and traditional marriage ceremonies?

[GJ08]

I am sponsoring my spouse from India under the family class.

As it was my father-in-law's 25th marriage anniversary and wanted to keep the same date as theirs, we got married on 16 January 2020. We have a marriage certificate of the same date. It was in one of the small halls, simple decoration and with only ten family members.

Our entirely traditional marriage took place on 23 February 2020 with around 500+ guests, followed by a reception at a different location than that first small marriage ceremony.

My question is how to differentiate these two marriage ceremonies?
What name should I give to each of the ceremonies?
And which marriage's photograph should we attach the small one or the traditional one?

(Form IMM5532E - Part C - Question 9)

Thank you in advance.

 

[armoured]

I am sponsoring my spouse from India under the family class.

As it was my father-in-law's 25th marriage anniversary and wanted to keep the same date as theirs, we got married on 16 January 2020. We have a marriage certificate of the same date. It was in one of the small halls, simple decoration and with only ten family members.

Our entirely traditional marriage took place on 23 February 2020 with around 500+ guests, followed by a reception at a different location than that first small marriage ceremony.

My question is how to differentiate these two marriage ceremonies?
What name should I give to each of the ceremonies?
And which marriage's photograph should we attach the small one or the traditional one?

(Form IMM5532E - Part C - Question 9)

Thank you in advance.

They are generally called civil marriages and religious or traditional wedding ceremonies. Your official marriage date is the civil one. You can include photographs from both events.

For ease, you can write a short letter explaining the circumstances and the dates.

Should not be a problem as this is common in much of the world (civil and religious/traditional separate) and even the norm in many countries.

Note, you'll have to adjust for the specifics of India i.e. civil and religious may be the same and the other termed a wedding celebration. "Civil" is used in the sense of recognised by government, it doesn't exclude that religious / legal could be the same ceremony, although civil often implies "not religious" ceremony.

For interest/background, this split is the same in most Canadian provinces - but with a wrinkle, in that common practice is that the officiant (eg priest) is 'deputised' by the government to carry out the civil marriage; that same person may also carry out the religious ceremony, but only the civil one has any legal meaning. Therefore technically just a coincidence (of sorts) that the date is the same for many marriages. (And people can and do split the events and have them completely separately)