Legality of holding two wedding ceremonies - Germany

Hi All,
I have a very unsual query. I plan to get married to my girlfriend in few weeks without many guests due to financial constraints but i want to make my marriage a very special occassion.Is it possible in Germany to get married to my girlfriend now without many invitees and then marry her again next year in a lavish ceremony. Is it acceptable in german law?
Has anyone had similar views or experience in past?

Do the civil bit now and the church bit later?

When you get the marriage license from (or have it recognized by) the civil servant at the Standesamt, you're married. Anything else you choose to do is just a party.

If this is going to happen at a time of no financial constraints you could always divorce, party (1), remarry and party (2) again.
Add to this the additional benefit/possibility of marrying a different wife in case wife (1) falls short of expectations.
And not to mention, if you go for the second option, that the euphoria on both party (1) and party (2) will be much much higher.,

Marriage in Germany is first and foremost a legal contract. When you get married it's done in a civil courtroom. After that you can do whatever the hell you like, be it a church service or some skydiving silliness. Anyone you see walking into a church in Germany to get married is already legally married under German law. So feel free to do what you want. But don't you feel silly having a big "wedding" after you've been married for months or even years? Unless you're a part of La Cosa Nostra the gifts you receive are never going to come close to the cost of the damned party and food.

woof.

Getting married 'officially' (at the Standesamt) can be done with no witnesses and no exchange of rings etc. You need to find out which documents you need for it and leave plenty of time for translations etc.

After that's done, you can have any kind of celebration you like. You can have a religious ceremony and a party afterwards whenever you like and you can make it as extravagant as you like. This is not legally recognised however as you will already be man and wife, but if you can live with that then it's fine.

If a big church wedding isn't your thing, there are also people called 'Freietheologen' who are not attached to a church and who will come to whatever place you choose and do a ceremony for you. They basically leave god out of it, in a similar way to a registry office/town hall ceremony in the UK or USA. The benefit is that you can choose the venue.

What my husband and I did was to have the Standesamt legal part around Christmas time (which is practical for tax purposes - how romantic, lol) and then we organised our very own unique ceremony a few months later. We had no kind of preacher or official speaker at all - we asked some of our friends and family to say something, and made up the vows ourselves, according to what was important to us. It was very personal and romantic, despite the fact that we were technically already married. It was only after that that I 'felt' married though, which was the point, really.

Congrats on your engagement, and good luck for the future

Just because: You always need witnesses at the Standesamt (two). Either witnesses who speak German, or with a translator on top of that.

I had 3 weddings. One standasamt, one church (both on the same day) and one for my one year anniversary in USA. The last 2 were not considered legal but they fulfilled my girly wedding fantasy as opposed to the plain SA one.

You don´t ...

Dear All,
I have another query, me(indian) and my girlfriend(german) have submitted our papers to get married in Berlin office on 10th Aug 2009.
We have not heard anything from them yet, does anyone knows how long the whole process takes to get married in Berlin after submitting all the documents?
My work permit expires at the end of this month, is there any kind of visa i can apply to stay here untill i receive any reply from the authorities in regard to our marriage?
Your experiences/guidance would be highly appreciated
thank you!

I had the same situation when I got marriage. We waited for more than 6 months before we are "allowed" to get married.
You could apply the dependent visa for that!

My husband and I had the Standesamt (legal) ceremony six months before the big church wedding in the States. Both sets of parents came, but it certainly wasn't a requirement - just two witnesses who can at least pass for understanding what they're signing their names to. I wore a nice skirt suit and his sister arranged a bouquet for me, but again, totally not required.

You'll see some big white weddings at the city hall, but either those folks are heading to the church later in the day, or were not planning another ceremony.