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Let's suppose a couple was married by a Reform rabbi in a standard reform ceremony (with egalitarian ketubah, and many other modifications to traditional kiddushin). If the couple later become baalei teshuvah, are they required to perform kiddushin again (or, I suppose, if the first wedding didn't count, for the first time)?
Is the case any different if the couple was married in a Conservative ceremony?
Related: Are civil divorces not recognized by Orthodox rabbis?
R' Yosef Eliyahu Henkin (פירושי אירבא סימן ד) held that it does not actually matter if the wedding was valid, as they are living together with intent to be married. Rav Henkin adopted the novel view that even if their intent to be married is not necessarily through Kiddushin, and even if they don't know that consumation of marriage can create Kiddushin, they are still married. According to this opinion, the question about the wedding itself really becomes moot.
However, most opinions did not accept the view of R' Henkin.
I was told that R' Elyashiv held that there is a problem with the normal procedure of a Reform and Conservative wedding which would invalidate the Kiddushin. Kiddushin is effected by the man giving something of value to the woman. R' Elyashiv understood that a two-ring ceremony is not a "gift" from one to the other, but is rather an exchange. The bride giving a ring to the groom in reciprocation to his giving a ring to her invalidates this as an act of Kiddushin. I was once at a Conservative wedding where the officiating Rabbi was sensitive to this issue - after the groom gave the ring to the bride, the Rabbi announced "The Kiddushin ceremony is now over. However, Cindy has indictated that she would also like to give a ring to Joel, which will be done now." I think this would obviate R' Elyashiv's concern, but it is atypical to your standard Reform or Conservative wedding.
One of the biggest deal-breakers in the ceremony -- more than the language of the ketubah -- is if the witnesses were shabbat-observant. There are other issues in non-Orthodox ceremonies, but that's by far the biggest.
In theory the Talmud talks about situations where a couple would have in mind that if the wedding ceremony itself isn't valid, they would still want to be married vis-a-vis halacha; as we are all witnesses that they are living together as husband and wife, that could count. However it's not clear whether this applies to couples who aren't cognizant of traditional halacha.
Note that the penalty for adultery is far worse than that for premarital relations, so rabbis lose a lot more sleep about "maybe her divorce wasn't valid before she remarried" than "maybe this happily-married couple didn't have a valid marriage."
Hence if a baal teshuva couple tells their rabbi that they didn't have shabbat-observant witnesses, he may very well recommend (if it won't burn bridges) that they undergo an Orthodox wedding ceremony. I've seen one of these. They ask everyone to stay for after davening on Sunday morning so you have a minyan, it takes ten minutes. (And no you don't need a band, a caterer, photos, any of that.)
On the flipside, though, an Orthodox rabbi will play it safe and always ask that a divorcing Jewish couple go through an Orthodox divorce ceremony (a Get). It can't hurt.
I heard from R. Nota Greenblatt that although we are are stringent in accordance with R. Henkin's view that the marriage is valid, and we would require a get, even in the event that she is dating a kohen and would be prohibited to him from an actual get, she may marry the kohen. Even though a rabbinic prohibition exists after giving an invalid get, this prohibition only applies where giving a get indicates an actual divorce. In contemporary America, however, where so many non-halachic marriages take place, followed by gittin that are mere chumros, this decree wouldnt apply, and she would be permitted even to a kohen.
(Although this seems contradictory since why obligate a get in the first place if it isnt valid, it isnt a contradiction because we are extra stringent with the get because hinged on it are biblical prohibitions of adultery, and mamzerus isues. Marriage to a kohen is a much lest stringent prohibition.)
The Talmud in Kidushin says that 'Ein adam oseh be'ilato be'ilat znut'. Which means that a man living with a woman does not have the intention for an act of prostitution, rather means to make her his wife. Whether this applies today is questionable, but here they did intend to get married, so I would assume it applies. The main problem is when they split up whether she needs a full divorce - Get, or not. If she does but doesn't get one - future children would be Mamzerim which is not good.
