Marriage License Received

C phoned me at 2:30pm to say that he just filed our marriage license application at the court house. In his hands he now holds our marriage license saying that we are eligible to get married during the period of November 25/11 to January 24/12. It’s starting to come together. All the pieces are falling into place and it is starting to feel real! We have material, tangible proof that we are doing this. Our rings are sitting pretty beside each other on his table. We have booked our marriage commissioner and we’ve both figured out what to wear. A few loose ends remain: 1) Witnesses. Undecided about whether we should use strangers / court house employees or break our secrecy and confide in two close friends who would then witness for us. I’m fine with strangers except I wonder if it would make immigration more difficult or make them more suspicious of the marriage if we used strangers. 2) Flowers or no flowers at the civil ceremony? It would make for prettier pictures but I’m really not a flower kind of girl. 3) Child custody. Still waiting to hear back from my ex about whether he will consent to me moving with my son. If he does not consent then I am prepared to go to court – I will do whatever it takes.