Bring our own officiant?....

[J&MWedding]

Hi again Everyone!!

I posted my first thread this morning, but I don't think it was put on the PV thread.

Anyways, does anyone have info, website etc about whether you can bring your own officiant?

We are having our best friend be ordained and we want him to marry us in PV. Does this make it legal if he is performing the ceremony?

I've been on numerous websites and I can't seem to find a solid answer.

 

Thanks for any help!

[ACDCDCAC]

we did this BUT one major thing, you HAVE to have him legally marry you AT HOME in the US first (cali for you), all the legal paperwork has to be signed, sealed and delivered via US methods basically. your marriage will NOT be legal if your officiant only does the ceremony in PV. any more ?? just ask, i did it!

[ACDCDCAC]

ok to expand on this, you can have him legally marry you at home a month, day, week, before, after, 3am the day you fly out to PV.... 3 weeks later, a year later (ok you get the point) whatever day you actually consider to be your "real" wedding day. you do not need guests or a venue, it can be at home in your kitchen wearing pink fuzzy slippers. it can be as low key or as high falootin as you wish. its just another day to some of us, and to others its just as important as the mexico wedding. according to cali laws you may need some witnesses to sign, so maybe your MOH and BM? bottom line is that for the US to legally recognize a marriage performed in mexico by your own officiant and not a public official of mexico, some form of vows and basic i do's and the signing of the paperwork has to happen and be filed at home.

 

phew! ok, hope that helps

[K&Rwedding]

I checked into this and the answer was NO. To be legally married it would have to be done by a Mexican officiant or Priest. YOu have to go through all their legal bs first. Which means going to Mexico 5 days before the wedding and doing your blood work and watching videos. Crazy stuff.

 

But he can perform your ceremony, you would just need to be legally married in the states.

 

BEst

[J&MWedding]

Thank you both so much. That does answer all my questions! I think we are going to do it here in CA right before we leave for PV- it will be easiest. We'll just pretend we aren't married while we are in PV

[beach_knot]

Has anyone from IL, even better COOK county, done this

 

Our friend is becoming an officiant to perform the wedding in Mexico. I was under the impression that the officiant didn't need to be present in IL when preparing all of the legal paperwork. As long as the officiant signs the document(s) directly following the ceremony (which can be any where) and returns the paperwork to COOK county IL w/in 10days of our vows - our marriage was legal.

[brittbrodin]

My dad is a pastor and is going to marry us in Mexico (hopefully I can get through it w/o completely breaking down!! . I live in Cook County and have some of the same questions as you do. I don't believe the officiant actually has to be present during the legal part of it. I think he can just sign the paperwork later? I need to look into this more, because my dad lives in Minneapolis so I hope he doesn't have to fly in just to sign the paperwork!

[beach_knot]

I hear ya - our officiant lives in CO!! Hopefully we'll get some clear answers soon. Thanks! Keep in touch

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by brittbrodin My dad is a pastor and is going to marry us in Mexico (hopefully I can get through it w/o completely breaking down!! . I live in Cook County and have some of the same questions as you do. I don't believe the officiant actually has to be present during the legal part of it. I think he can just sign the paperwork later? I need to look into this more, because my dad lives in Minneapolis so I hope he doesn't have to fly in just to sign the paperwork!

[KatieT]

I am so confused as to whom I will have officiate my wedding. I think it will probably end up being someone personal, but I guess I am not too familiar with the process of becoming ordained.

[amandalsu]

I know two couples that were married in Mexico. One did the legal Mexican officiant and the other had someone ordained in the US perform the ceremony in Mexico. They both said having someone ordained from home is much better. The one with the Mexican officiant said they could hardly understand him, he showed up late and in jeans. Plus they had to take time out of the ceremony to sign all the paperwork and do finger prints. This really cut into their photograhers time.

 

The one that had a friend ordained said it was easy to do online and they just had to file paperwork when they got home to make it legal. I don't have information on where to find info on being ordained yet though.