Immigration marrige???

Hi ladies

I’ve been with my partner for almost 9 months now and we are thinking about getting married because we want to expedite my visa process (we are not in the United States).

We don’t want to do the “big wedding” or ceremony for a couple more years but we know we want to be with each other long term.

Should we just have the wedding now? Or do you think it’s okay that we get our liscences now and wait for a ceremony?

We don’t care much what other people think but do you think our families/friends will want to be part of a ceremony later if we are already married? Should we even tell them we did it?

Thanks!