Do You Exchange Rings at a Courthouse Wedding?
If you’re planning on having a courthouse wedding, you might be wondering if you’re required to exchange rings at a courthouse wedding.
So, do you exchange rings as at a courthouse wedding? You can contact your local courthouse to make sure but in more places, exchanging rings at a civil ceremony is not a requirement. Whichever way you decide, just make sure the magistrate knows ahead of time so that the ceremony can be planned accordingly.
When planning a courthouse wedding, there is more to think about than just getting the marriage license, making your appointment, and having witnesses on hand. Your courthouse wedding can be as quick and easy or more traditional as you would like.
There are pros and cons to exchanging rings at your courthouse wedding that you’ll want to take into consideration before making a decision. Feel free to leave a comment below with your opinion about whether you should or should not exchange rings at your courthouse wedding.
Here is more information about exchanging rings at a courthouse wedding that will help you know which way to go.
Courthouse Wedding Without Rings
Some people choose to have a courthouse wedding without rings because for a couple different reasons.
They might simply want to keep the marriage to themselves for a while so there is no reason to exchange and wear rings. Normally there will be a formal ceremony at a later date where rings will be exchanged. Some people go through the legal, civil ceremony due to immigration issues or other legal conveniences. Other people might just want to keep their first few months as a married couple private and between the two of them.
The other reason might be that they don’t want to wait a long time to plan a formal wedding so they decide to have a legal wedding at the courthouse before having the formal ceremony. Usually, the formal ceremony is a few months later so they will exchange the rings there.
Some people decide to purchase cheap “fake” rings to exchange at the courthouse wedding and save their official rings for the formal wedding.
Rings for Courthouse Wedding
For some people, a courthouse is the only wedding ceremony they plan on having so they want to make the most of it.
Many people have all the same elements of a formal wedding ceremony (rings, vows, sentimental sayings, formal attire, etc). Therefore, feel free to keep all of the traditional elements without the fanfare and expense. Some courthouses even allow you to have up to 50 guests if you want.
In the end, don’t worry too much about the formality. Get as fancy or as simple as you would like. This is your special day and you should be able to do whatever you would like or feel comfortable with.
You can check out this article if you’re wondering what to expect at a courthouse wedding.
