legally marrying in secret and again in public

I live in VA and my boyfriend and I are thinking about going off to another state and being married without our families knowing (they don't approve of our plans to marry right now). We plan on having a church marriage at a later date, but we don't know how it will legally work. Can we have another marriage license filled out by our pastor? Would we have to get a divorce so that we could get married again without people knowing of the first marriage?
As a side note, my boyfriend and I are both well over the legal age to marry. We are simply trying to fulfill our wants without hurting our families. Thanks for any information you can provide!

[OutForRevenge]

My husband and I did the exact same thing almost 17 years ago. We had been married secretly so I could get medical attention (I was pregnant) and then exactly a month later we had a wedding. The way we worked it was, we had our witnesses there for the initial marriage then at our ceremony it was just considered a celebration. The priest didn't mind doing it both times either LOL. And when we have our anniversary usually we will use the legal date, but everyone else considers the actual ceremony to be the legal date.. Good luck...

My husband and I did the same as well. The religious ceremony is just that...a religious ceremony. The civil ceremony is totally separate. In California, and I believe probably the whole US, the civil part is allowed to be satisfied during the religious ceremony and the priest/minister can sign the paperwork. This is not how it works in other countries. In Latin America most people go to the jusitice of the peace for a civil ceremony, which is the legal one, and then to a church a few days later for the religious one. We are just so used to these things being combined here in the US that we don't realize that it is actually two different things being done.

I realize that it is separate. What I need to know is whether legally a marriage license can be signed again by our pastor (he also would not know that we had been previously married and we don't see the need to tell him) or if we would have to get a divorce or annullment to have another signed. Thank you all for the input though.

[stealth2]

So you're essentially going to lie to your pastor? Doesn't that strike you as a lousy way to enter into the covenant of marriage?

Apart from that, if the two of you are old enough to get married, then you really should be old enough to make your own life decisions without worrying about Mommy and Daddy approving. You're going to do what you want to do anyway - so at least be adult enough to do it properly and not sneak around. If you can't do that - neither of you are ready to be in an adult and committed relationship. IMO.

[JETX]

"What I need to know is whether legally a marriage license can be signed again by our pastor (he also would not know that we had been previously married and we don't see the need to tell him) or if we would have to get a divorce or annullment to have another signed."
*** You can only have ONE legal wedding (at a time). Once that is done, you are married in the eyes of the law. Any other 'ceremonies' you decide to have are just that.... ceremonies.

I would suggest that you let your pastor in on the secret, since you won't have a second marriage license to be signed.

If you really insist on a second license and all, then you will need to terminate your first marriage LEGALLY, then you could get re-married as new (used?).

thank you for the letter of the law. That is what I was looking for. In all actuality, this will probably not ocurr, but I was interested to see how the legal aspects of it all worked.