Is it possible to have a civil union and then do a church wedding in Ontario?

Question

My boyfriend is currently working on his Masters degree in the UK and planning to come to Canada on a student visa later in the summer. I reside in Toronto, Ontario and am a Canadian citizen. He is not a Canadian citizen. We have been talking about marriage and the different types of ceremonies, i.e. civil, church, and traditional like here he is from in Nigeria. Is it possible to have a civil union ( having a judge or justice of the peace perform the ceremony) and still have a church wedding later?

Answer 1

Yes, but I will worn you, immigration may be on your backs.

Answer 2

Anything is possible as long as both of you'll are in agrteement. I was married by the justice of the peace first in Texas then got married by the church. SO if you want to do it, the only thing stopping you is you and him. SO go get hitched then have a big wedding later. Good Luck and congratulations

Answer 3

It depends on the church. Some religions will do it and some will not.

A Catholic Church will not allow this, for example, although you may be able to have a small ceremony to "bless" your marriage. That needs to be arranged with your priest in advance.

Answer 4

i'm not sure if it's the same among the provinces... but i live in vancouver, british columbia. my husband and i had a little civil wedding. we had already planned on getting married in the church in july but because he's an american and we decided to settle there, we figured to have the visa rolling earlier. we had our civil wedding in january.

had our church wedding as planned in july... but it wasn't legal. our papers still say that we got officially married in january. but we celebrate and consider true wedding date to be july one... we're both christians, that's why.

i'm not sure about the catholic church... they're more strict.