Required documents and procedures

There are two ways to get married in India: a court marriage (by Special Marriage Act) and a temple marriage (by Hindu Marriage Act).

If you opt for a court marriage, you need to notify your marriage one month ahead of  the marriage. If you will have to get a U.S. visa afterwards, you might want to get a lot of pictures taken at the court. (We did, and we took more pictures at a restaurant where we invited our friends). This is because the US consulate may require you to show them a photo album. I think by law the album is not required if it's a court marriage, but it seems they are much more satisfied with a photo album anyways.

To have a temple marriage,  each of the couple have to be a Hindu, a Sikh, a Jain, or a Buddhist. Otherwise, you have to declare that you will convert to Hinduism. If you have a temple marriage, the priest has to sign a form and you have to go to the court to get the official marriage certificate. 

Meena had her last name changed, partly because she thought it may be facilitate the U.S. visa application. I'm not really sure if it was the case, but anyways if you opt for a name change, you should go to the Japanese consulate before you submit the old passport, because there they prefer the old passport, and afterwards you will go back to the Japanese consulate with a new passport to file marriage registration (with the old name) and a name change. 

Procedure		Required Documents  (besides application forms)
Notice of Marriage	ONE MONTH before the marriage at marriage registration office. Both of you have to be present, but our agent did it all through mails and faxes (so I wasn't in India during this process).	My: Passport Meena's: Passport
Marriage	At a marriage court. We got the marriage certificate on the same day, but it may take 1-2 days. We took a lot of pictures to parepare for the US visa application. Actually, taking pictures is prohibited in the court, but that seems to have been "no problem" if court people know the photographer.	I prepared - my passport, my birth certificate and marriage eligibility certificate (both translated by the consulate general of Japan in the US), letters from my landlord and my employer (both notarized), proof of years of stay in the US (employment letters etc.), apartment rent proof, 4-5 month pay stabs, a letter of consent from my parents (and English translation). Our marriage agent required NONE of these. But you still should prepare them.
Name Change	At the passport office. We used an agent and it took them 4 business days to issue Meena's passport with a new name.	Meena's:  Passport, ration card (she used voter's registration and high school release form instead), and The marriage certificate
U.S. Visa	U.S. consulate. Here we did not use any agents. First you will make an appointment for your visa interview. You have to have all required documents in addition to the fees in demand drafts. Be sure to get the latest information about requirements, payments etc. because they seem to keep changing.   Yes the interview was intimidating, but the consulate was very well organized and at least getting H1/H4 is easy as long as you have all the documents ready.	At the application (appointment): [H1] Fee, possport, passport copy, H1 notice of action, petition copy, labor certificate copy, Ph. D> diploma, list of length of stay in the US, employment letter, job history (past employment letters etc.) [H4] fee, passport, passport copy, marriage certificate, photo album,  At the time of interview: All of above in a provided folder, appointment letter, fee receipt, additional info. form (job description)
Report to Japan		My passport and the family register. Meena's OLD passport with Japanese translation, NEW passport with Japanese translation if there was a name change The marriage certificate with Japanese translation

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