Not a particularly useful anecdote- but maybe helpful to someone.

Just left the office in Chiang Khong trying to get a marriage recorded. While we sat at the window the dude changed his story repeatedly. The essence was "only the office chief can stamp foreigner marriages" at one point he mumbled something about due to the proximity of Laos. He also said the chief was upstairs in a meeting and then changed the story to he was in Bangkok until Wednesday. He also showed us a stack of near 20 sets of documents that he alleged were foreigner marriage packages awaiting review. He advised us to go to the office in Chiang Rai- which we had done and they told us to go to Chiang Khong. I am embarrassed for everyone involved including myself.