Convalidation Ceremony in Catholic Church...?

My husband is a non-practicing Methodist, I am Catholic, though I've not been to M since my mother ped away Christmas of '05. My husband and I dated from Valentine's Day in '06 and married May 30, 2008 with the Justice of the Peace at our local courthouse. I have read up on having a Convalidation ceremony, to restore my state of grace and to be able to participate in the Sacraments again. I am not a "cradle Catholic", at the same time, my mom, half-brother and I went through the RCIA cles and were baptized into the Church in 1996. When my mother ped away, that was the last time I went to Confession and received absolution, so I know I'll have to do that again, I have no problem with that because there are a lot of heavy burdens that I need lifted from my heart and soul. I was however scared to find out that my husband and I are considered "living in sin" and that it is a mortal sin. I know I will have to confess this to the priest, but am unsure how to bring it up? As far as the ceremony goes, I don't know how to go about doing it. We want our close family and friends there to witness it and share in the joy of making our marriage valid in the eyes of God and the Church. My husband, does not want to convert to Catholicism, that's why we married at the courthouse, because I was unaware of other options for us at the time. It wasn't until after we married that I found out that we could have gotten a dispensation or even still married in the Church without a M. My questions are mainly, what goes on with getting the Convalidation? I've read where we will have to fill out paperwork (marriage investigation, inquiry form or premarital doent) but I don't know what those are. I can easily get a copy of my Baptism record from my old parish, so again, no problem there. I guess what I would like to know is this; is it OK to have our family and friends there? Are we going to be saying vows again? Can we exchange our current rings, or do we have to have new ones? How would we word the invitations? And the reception would be small and very informal, like a BBQ or potluck type thing. There may be music as well. I'm just terribly confused about everything because I want to make things right and get back into the Church and my husband is very supportive of me wanting to do this, he doesn't mind having this ceremony and has even told me that he's willing to do anything to make me happy and put me at ease, spiritual-wise. Can anyone please help and explain what's right and wrong with having this kind of ceremony? And how to go about it?