What’s your experience being married in a courthouse?

18 comments

1. [deleted]

2. My husband and I opted for a courthouse wedding one weekend after a difficult convo with my mom. She was really pushing for a church ceremony for herself, even though we weren’t comfortable with that.

   That’s when I realized everyone I ever spoke to about a wedding during our engagement, was only interested in what was in it for them (invites, food, location, etc.) Nobody ever asked what we wanted, and I realized the material stuff didn’t even matter. We just wanted to start our lives together.

   So we went the following Monday, it’s been over 8 years now. Because of the super short notice, we got parents’ blessings, and the only people in attendance were 2 of my siblings and my cousin. We got lunch after and ate at the park. No regrets.

3. I was a broke only barely 19 year old and he was about 5 minutes older than me in the same position.

   Now-MIL was getting entirely too excited about the idea of a major bash of a wedding considering the fact that I’ve never particularly been a huge dress person, I’d rather drown in a bucket of my own piss than be the center of attention as like a party VIP and I’ve never been particularly shy about that fact, and I was basically no-contact with my entire side of the family.

   We’re also military so the bennies for us kicked in once we had the legal marriage certificate and didn’t really care about anything else.

   Arranged for his older sister/his de facto Mom2 growing up to come down one week, grabbed my boss at the time because hell he was available and the we got processed through the wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am hoops and we came out with the same end result anyways.

   He wore the nice uniform we had at the time and I had a sundress and chucks on.

   Went out that night, got shitfaced with friends and then left for our honeymoon. Was a vacation down to Mexico that we had planned out already, came back to find out a while later that he had successfully beat out my pill, and that we had managed to conceive Kid1 while we were down there.

   That was 20+ years ago now, we still have the same last name and we’re still obnoxiously into each other. Skipping some Cinderella extravaganza bash never had any negative effects on us or anything lol.

4. We got married in a registry office, which is the equivalent here. It was quick and easy! They can do music and such if you want, but we weren’t doing rings, music, flowers, or photos, so it was pretty much say the words, sign the papers, done.

5. I guess I was expecting an actual courtroom like you see on TV, but it was just a small office with 8 folding chairs crammed into it. I was also surprised by how fast it was. I knew this wasn’t a super long ceremony, but neither I nor the friends waiting outside expected it to only last 5 minutes.

   We signed a form, took some pictures, and then met up with the friends outside and had some food.

6. It was perfect for us. Seriously. And his family was indifferent to everything we had planned. My family was over the fucking top.

   It made me realize we were about to sink money into something that quickly felt like it wasn’t genuine to who we are. I wanted a destination wedding. . . Found a very affordable way to get that done. Planned to pay for all our parents and family we wanted there. Extended the list to very close friends. So about 15 people total. We had found the best way to split time- handle costs. To where all people had to do was just show up for the most part. . .

   Honey- they all (both his side and mine) had a fit about going somewhere that they had to have a passport for. . . We can’t get a passport- you need to pay for that too. . . Uh. What????? My MIL worked for American Airlines and they went a lot of places- all of a sudden FIL hates to fly. . .

   The families made it so impossible to be around them during this time. . . So one day, after a huge blow out- my husband went- you wanna just go to the courthouse? And him mentioning it gave me such a spirit of relief. We were just in the planning stages, and it was the most stress we ever had. We got married alongside 22 different couples. The judge made the comment that our group was the largest he ever married. He hopes we experience the love he felt in the room for as long as we live.

   My husband and I are quite happy. That was the best decision we made. My Mom was there. Our 2 kids were there and we had a close friend show up as well. It was so sweet. And we went back home . No dinner or anything. Super simple.

7. Loved it. Husband and I don’t like a lot of attention on us. And we were broke as heck. It was quick and easy.

8. Did a small “elopement” after getting our papers at the court house. Simple, easy, cheap and still beautiful. Wouldn’t change it for the world.

   Spend money on your outfits and a photographer, the rest doesn’t matter!

9. [removed]

10. My husband and I got married in the courthouse. He called me one afternoon (we work together too) and I asked if he was done for the day and if he wanted to get married. So we did!

    Got there around 2 or so. Signed paperwork. Went to the judge and he married us. Made it back before 5 to file the final paper work after seeing the judge. Afterwards we got drinks at a nice bar with my mom and a few friends.

    I think some people in my family were pissed and pressuring me to throw a party after the fact but I did not do that. I don’t really care about that. I put on our Christmas card we were married.

11. We got married in a courthouse in Texas. The judge was the kindest person. After the standard vows were recited she asked if we wanted to pray over our marriage. Yes!

    It was just my husband and myself, no witnesses were required, and the judge.

    She asked a little about our history. I was carrying a handkerchief my grandmother had embroidered for me when I was little. The judge asked about it. She seemed genuinely interested.

    We didn’t have flowers. I didn’t have a white dress. We left holding hands and happy.

    It’s not the setting. It’s not the guests. It’s about the love and commitment towards each other. It’s what you make it.

12. I hate being the center of attention so when my husband and I started talking about a wedding, I kept shooting it down. I didn’t want it, just an I do and a signature. One day we woke up and decided to head to the courthouse to get married. I called my mom on the way and she met us there.

    It was super quick and easy. Then we went out to brunch to celebrate.

    Been married for over six years, together almost 10. It was the best decision.

13. Thanks for posting this. My boyfriend and I will both be entering into our second (and final!) marriages hopefully in the near future and this is what we want this time around for sure. Something formal, small, intimate and about US and not all the razzle dazzle. We’ve both been there done that. While it was nice, our love is different and we want it to be much more focused on us and our immediate loved ones.

14. We filled out the application, set the date, our parents were both there. Our moms held our rings. My sisters were on FaceTime. My father in law is a pastor so he said a few words. The commissioner (who married us) was dressed in blue jeans and a polo.

    My sisters arranged an antique car to pick my husband and I up and drive us all around. (We live in a smaller, more rural area.) We went to a fancy steak dinner with our parents to celebrate. Then we stayed at the nicest suite in town that night.

    It was a perfect day. And I married my perfect man.

15. I had a courthouse wedding 9 years ago. We’d been together for 7 years at that point, and already had a house and 2 kids together, so it was really more of a formality for us. Frankly, I really just needed to be on his insurance, lol. I also wanted to have the same last name as my kids, especially since our oldest was starting kindergarten that fall and I planned to be very involved at school.

    We went to the courthouse on a Friday afternoon, on our way out of town for the weekend. We told no one ahead of time, and only shared with a few friends after the fact. Our parents and siblings didn’t even know until months later, I think.

    I wore jeans and a cardigan. I don’t remember what he wore. We didn’t exchange rings (but did buy them for us both later). There was zero fanfare, exactly what we wanted, but it was very sweet. I loved that it wasn’t about anyone but the two of us that day, and that we didn’t even have to broadcast that we were now officially married if we didn’t want to.

    In our minds, we’d already been married for awhile, and this was just making it official.

16. I did it. No regrets. I mean, we eventually got divorced years later, but I was happy that we spent as little money as possible getting married.

17. My husband and I had lived together for 15 years before we got married. We just wanted to make it legal. Our appointment with the judge was at 2:00, so we took the kids out of school early, and headed over to the judge’s office. Neither of us dressed up for the occasion. I did not want the judge to do any sort of ceremony. I asked if he could just sign the papers. He said he needed to do the vows, so we did that. The whole thing took about 10 minutes. Our “reception” was dinner at a nice restaurant — just us and our kids. We told very few people that we were getting married — most of our friends assumed we were already married anyway and we didn’t bother to correct anyone.

18. Not a woman, but my ex wife and I were married in a courthouse. And it was fine. It was also her idea.