No Wedding Photos! Will this be a problem?

[jeans22]

Hi guys!

Here's the deal. Me and my soon-to-be wife and sponsor are getting hitched in the US. Our original plan was to get married in Canada and apply inland but unfortunately, I was denied a TRV. She can't come to the Philippines neither because she can't get enough time off work. So we decided to just meet in the States (I have a US Visa) and sign the papers to get married. Just the two of us, no dressing up, no family, no reception, no celebration. But of course this is just for legal purposes so she can sponsor me under the Spousal Family Class Sponsorship. We still plan on getting married again and doing the whole nine yards once I'm in Canada. That way her family and friends can be there. Do you guys think this will be a problem when the IO looks at our photos and see that there's not a single picture of our wedding day? I plan on adding a letter of explanation stating something similar to what I just wrote here. I'll also add a copy of the receipt for her wedding dress, a detailed information on where we want to get married, and letters of support from her family.

Surely looking forward to your thoughts and insights with regards to this. Thank you very much in advance!!

 

[ariell]

I disagree that just having a civil service would be considered sketchy. Lots of people just have a civil ceremony. Nothing strange about that. Especially if you explain that you will be having a big wedding with family afterwards.

But even if you are having just a civil ceremony you can still take photos! Why are you saying that there won't be a single photo of your wedding day??? You should absolutely take photos! Especially since you have time now to plan for it. That will be considered very important evidence. I think not having a single photo of your wedding day would be considered sketchy, and I think will cause you problems with your application. My husband and I had a religious ceremony and a civil ceremony a few weeks later to make it legal but we still took lots of photos of both occasions. Why would you consider not taking any photos at all? ???

Now having said that, if you can have at least a couple relatives or friends there, that would look much better for you. I mean, it's only in the States, so surely a couple people from Canada can attend, especially if they are willing to write you letters of support. So yes, it's fine just to do the civil ceremony but definitely take photos of the event, and if you want your case to look even stronger, have a few close friends or relatives attend.

 

[plumosa]

This is basically what we did. Last december we drove down to Vermont and got married by a justice of the peace. We took photos of each other and had him take a couple of photos of us. We also took photos of him signing the paperwork and the building it was in and sent all that off with our other photos. Then one week ago we had our marriage ceremony with all our friends and family. I'm going to be sending additional photos in next week, though I'm not sure this is entirely necessary.

On our paperwork we said that we didn't have any friends or family because we wanted to get the immigration process started as soon as possible and there wasn't enough time for everyone on my side to get passports and buy plane tickets. And since my family couldn't make it, it wouldn't be fair to have only his family there at the wedding. We also stated the date and place we were having the ceremony in the future (though you probably don't know that yet)


I think you'll be fine with the letters of support and the other information you mentioned, but as ariell said, you can still take photos even if its just the two of you!

 

[sbwv09]

I got married in a civil ceremony and we had over 50 photos! We had close family and friend there, though, as well as a photographer. Yeah, I splurged on that (partially for myself, partially with immigration in mind)! But as the others say, you should have had at least one photo!! It's too late now though.. all you can do is explain the situation. Provide any other evidence of the day and trip you may have. Did you have dinner together after the wedding? Did you take photos together at any point during the day? Did you a hotel for a short honeymoon? Provide evidence of those things.

I also wouldn't ever say that you did this for immigration purposes! That's exactly what they want to hear so they can turn you down! Just say that you didn't want to wait any longer to be marred and together, but you plan on having a reception for family when your spouse can join you in Canada.. that isn't unusual.

 

[jeans22]

Thank you so much for your two cents, ariell and plumosa!!! The reason why I thought there won't be any picture during our wedding day was because... well... in my mind we're just driving to a court house and signing some papers. In my mind the "real" wedding will be afterwards once I get to Canada. But I totally understand your point, ariell. We're definitely gonna find a couple of close friends to come to our signing day and we're gonna have pictures taken on that day as well. As to plumosa, we don't have a date yet but we sure have a place in Canada where we want to get married!

Thank you thank you thank you so much, guys!!! Honestly, this form is a life saver to us going through this whole process of immigration. All the best to you and good luck to us all!!!

 

[jeans22]

I got married in a civil ceremony and we had over 50 photos! We had close family and friend there, though, as well as a photographer. Yeah, I splurged on that (partially for myself, partially with immigration in mind)! But as the others say, you should have had at least one photo!! It's too late now though.. all you can do is explain the situation. Provide any other evidence of the day and trip you may have. Did you have dinner together after the wedding? Did you take photos together at any point during the day? Did you a hotel for a short honeymoon? Provide evidence of those things.

I also wouldn't ever say that you did this for immigration purposes! That's exactly what they want to hear so they can turn you down! Just say that you didn't want to wait any longer to be marred and together, but you plan on having a reception for family when your spouse can join you in Canada.. that isn't unusual.

Um... Actually we haven't done the wedding yet. And now that you guys have shared your thoughts, I'm definitely in the light! As I mentioned, honestly in my head we were just going to a place to sign a paper. I guess my head's still stuck in that moment where we're getting married in Canada. Where we're gonna dress up and she'll walk down isle looking more beautiful than ever. With all her family members and friends right there to witness this special occasion. Unfortunately, none from my side can come due to immigration and financial troubles. Too expensive to fly to Canada from the Philippines. But I guess after reading your replies I can take pictures of this day, have a special dinner that night and book a hotel for our honeymoon!

Thanks for the suggestion, sbwv09!!!

 

[plumosa]

I got married in a civil ceremony and we had over 50 photos! We had close family and friend there, though, as well as a photographer. Yeah, I splurged on that (partially for myself, partially with immigration in mind)! But as the others say, you should have had at least one photo!! It's too late now though.. all you can do is explain the situation. Provide any other evidence of the day and trip you may have. Did you have dinner together after the wedding? Did you take photos together at any point during the day? Did you a hotel for a short honeymoon? Provide evidence of those things.

I also wouldn't ever say that you did this for immigration purposes! That's exactly what they want to hear so they can turn you down! Just say that you didn't want to wait any longer to be marred and together, but you plan on having a reception for family when your spouse can join you in Canada.. that isn't unusual.

I think a that it depends on the situation whether or not saying we were getting married for immigration is a bad idea. I think you'd be right if all that was said was that sentence and NOT that there was a specific date in the near future when a ceremony was to be held. We had also been living together for 4 months by the time of marriage (with proof) and 8 months by the time we filed---which I know the OP can't do because they can't get into Canada. So probably in most situations your advice would be right...but in ours it doesn't seem to have made any issues so far since I'm on a perfectly normal schedule for Quebec immigrants.


One thing I forgot to mention is that I wore a white cotton dress and he wore a nice outfit as well....nothing wedding fancy, but still nice enough for the photos.

 

[alisa]

I don't know about having no photos at all will be a problem but for my case, we also did civil ceremony as well. We dressed up a little but on that day and took some photos. I sent probably 5 wedding photos and the ceremony was actually just two of us , no friend no families. I'm from Thailand and my husband is Canadian. I was living in Canada on study permit. We flew to get married in US on Christmas day and the reasons we gave them about not having friends and family at all was we couldn't have friends and families from both side to attend even we did it in Canada as my parents are in Thailand and his parents are in Japan. Also my husband just moved to Toronto not that long, all closed friends are in Vancouver. It was not fair to just have my closed friends but not his. That's what the reason we gave to them. However in the application we explained that we will have big ceremony sometimes soon.

I personally think that having photos is a plus so if you can have photos, that's great. But in case you don't, it should be fine if you can show the development of your relationship. Make sure you explain and tell the story that doesn't make them feel like this is a marriage of convenience.

 

[justina]

We had a civil ceremony, at our home with a couple of friends as witnesses. They took a ton of pics for us. Afterwards we went to a restaurant with more friends and had photos from that. I wanted to elope and my family was not invited. We will have a bigger ceremony one day when he can travel, and my family will be invited to that but it will be in his country. His family can't afford to travel and we couldn't afford to pay for their flights either. We didn't have anything fancy - it's not my style! Even just a friend with a camera is good enough for photos!

 

[minna]

don't forget, lots of strangers will be happy to help some newlyweds by taking pictures of you together. Even if all you have is a disposable camera, you can ask people around you to take pictures on that day -- just ask! I'm sure the waiters and hotel staff and even people just walking by will happily take some pictures of you on your wedding day. Also, I bet the staff wherever you are going for your wedding (courthouse, city hall) will be used to taking pictures for couples getting married - it is a very common thing!! do your research, there may even be a photography service available to you for your wedding (I know there is at the courthouse for civil ceremonies in my town).

 

[jeans22]

Thanks again for your two cents, guys! It is very much appreciated!

 

[iarblue]

Get dressed up,even if your just going to a court houe some nice pants she wears something nice take pictures of eachother signing the documents,and take pictures of everything you do other than in the bedroom keep those under lock and key.But everything you do together shopping,eating out,going camping,fishing,what ever they want to see you doing normal things together.If you go to a park,a beach,a party take photos of you with friends family who ever you can.
Lots of people dont believe in the whole church wedding bit and get married civil,its not a red flag against you but like Ariell said you should def take pictures of your civil.
In Brazil you must be married by the courts first and if you want a church wedding you do that on your own but the marriage there must be done by the civil court first.We took pictures of us signing,both of us standing next to the flags in the courts,our weddings rings together,we got nother couple to take pictures of us waiting to sign...

 

[thaihubbie]

My husband and I don't have any pictures of our Civil Wedding that took place at a small court house in Thailand. The only reason we got married in Thailand at all was because the Canadian Embassy had refused him a Tourist Visa for the second time. The first time when I was pregnant so that's why we got married because we thought it would help him get a Tourist Visa but it didn't have any effect. There were no family and friends in attendance. Again, this is why we wanted to go to Canada in the first place to get married with my parents presence. So I got married we got married in Thailand without any pictures and a baby in my arms. It wasn't the way I wanted it to be and the last thing I wanted was pictures to remind me of how the Canadian Embassy had screwed up my plans. So when I send in this Sponsorship Application for my husband 3 years later and he has still not met my parents...if they get all fussy about no wedding photos, omg....I swear I will hit the roof!!!!

 

[iarblue]

Its not so much just not having wedding photos all photos are good so if you been with your husband for three years and dont have any photos they are going to wonder why.And a wedding is suppose to be the best moment in your lives even if it is civil and if you got no photos of that either???
The biggest thing is they want to see you doing everyday things just photos of a wedding and thats it is not much either.Like i said get photos of what ever you do together thats what they want to see.Going to dinner,camping,rock climbing,fishing,the beach,the cottage what ever just snap photos like you work for the press.Do what ever you have to to prove your love.You dont want them asking you for nothing,it will just hold up your application,even on the website the first thing they list for proff PHOTOS.

 

[Legolas28]

I got married in 2012 and i and my husband have been together all this time and have 2 kids too. But we dont have any wedding photos due to the fact that we dont take photos . As we hadnt planned to migrate so we thought it might not be something important. Now i will write my truth clearly to the vac because there is nothing we can do to have photos. Our id card and driving license and many other documents have the proof of us being a couple. the only thing that worries us is if i will gt the visa or not .because he has passed the exams and will be applying for canada bt if i and kids cant come then he will be moving back. This is something we are doing for us as a family so should we even try or are the canadian office very strict and wont understand our view. Is there any way we can write or talk to someone before he moves .