Getting married online...then have a real wedding?

A friend of mine who’s a military spouse was telling me how her and her husband got married online... It sounded crazy to me, but their biggest issue was that her husband could never get his leave approved and they lived states away. It was almost impossible to plan a wedding. My partner brought it up as a possibility due to how long things take to process in the military. Keeping in mind us getting base housing along with all the other paper work. I’m very new to all of this and I’d like to know what our best option is. I suggested going to the courthouse instead...because there’s no way we’re getting married on the internet (no disrespect towards those who did). We’d have a real wedding with family after this, of course. I guess the main purpose of this is to avoid any waiting/complications after the wedding. We could settle in our house on base right away rather than waiting..