Question for anyone doing the legal part at home

[Diva]

City hall/courthouse, cheap and fast! Whoever wants to come on down can come!

[MDLady]

I spoke to our rabbi and he suggested that we get married in the US before our wedding travels and then he will just perform the ceremony. Being legally married in a foreign country is a pain, many countries have their own rules and laws.

 

I am planning on just going to a courthouse in the US and getting the marriage license without any parties. The party will be in Aruba!!!! This is just paperwork

[liljuicy]

We are just going to do it at the courthouse too, probably the week before we go. Want to make the day in Cabo totally real so it will be just us at the legal. Maybe go to a romantic dinner after!!! This reminds me I need to call tomorrow to make our appointment!

[hiccups]

We're doing it at City Hall prior to the DW. Just the parents will be there since they may not be able to come for the DW so at least they're a part of the wedding somehow.

[michelle10]

Cheap and quick at City Hall with whomever we can get for witnesses. We will consider our Jamaican wedding the "real" one!

[dianep]

we were in vegas a couple of weeks ago and were halfway tempted just to do the legal part there (our mexico ceremony is now in just under 6 weeks). we, too, didn't want to have the hassle with getting birth and divorce certificates translated and certified into spanish and having blood tests done.

 

my mom is a licensed pastor, so she is able to do the legal part for us. we just want to sign the required form(s) and be done with it. no ceremony, no vows, etc., so the mexico ceremony feels like the real thing.

 

our mexico ceremony is on may 15. we met 3 years ago on may 4 - i think it would be kind of fun to do the legal part on our anniversary. we'll likely just end up doing the signing in my parents' living room or something. my dad and my siblings can't make it to mexico, so they could come watch us sign if they really wanted to, though there's not going to be much to see!

[aaronlori]

There hasn't been a reply to this thread in a while. But first I was hesitant about doing the legal stuff here in Canada first however I heard someone explain it to me this way. We are getting married in the Domincan Republic and at our particular resort most couples who end up doing the civic ceremony end up having the judge come earlier in the day to sign the papers and then the wedding coordinator does the ceremony anyway. Or the judge comes, but he speaks spanish and the wedding coordinator translates and thus is still doing the ceremony. So, I figure at least this way I save money, and I can write my own ceremony.

 

However, we are not telling ANYONE about the legal stuff before hand. When people ask about having everything translated we are just saying "yes, we are getting all that taken care of" and if they are keeners who know all about this stuff, I will lie and say yes we have everything sent to WEDO in the states and then to the embassy. I am not against fibbing if it keeps people happy, ha ha ha!

[harkatea]

Some places you can do all of the paperwork in one day.  I'm glad to hear others aren't going through the hassle of trying to get it through the embassy in a foreign country as well.  It just seems like a lot of money (in our case $600 +) for something that is $25 in the states.

 

But I do have one question: does making a big deal of the civil ceremony in the states take away from the destination wedding?  We both kinda think of the civil ceremony as just the paperwork, so we're not really sure if we want to use it as a celebration point, or ignore it so everyone can focus on our real wedding (happening in Thailand).

[Lasallebabe]

Hi Aaronlori;

 

I'm going the same route as you----doing the legal ceremony here first without telling the guests! A couple of people for witnesses and that will be it! I'm sure no one will be the wiser at the ceremony in the Dominican.
 

Originally Posted by aaronlori 

There hasn't been a reply to this thread in a while. But first I was hesitant about doing the legal stuff here in Canada first however I heard someone explain it to me this way. We are getting married in the Domincan Republic and at our particular resort most couples who end up doing the civic ceremony end up having the judge come earlier in the day to sign the papers and then the wedding coordinator does the ceremony anyway. Or the judge comes, but he speaks spanish and the wedding coordinator translates and thus is still doing the ceremony. So, I figure at least this way I save money, and I can write my own ceremony.

 

However, we are not telling ANYONE about the legal stuff before hand. When people ask about having everything translated we are just saying "yes, we are getting all that taken care of" and if they are keeners who know all about this stuff, I will lie and say yes we have everything sent to WEDO in the states and then to the embassy. I am not against fibbing if it keeps people happy, ha ha ha!

 

[islandbride8]

 

 

Originally Posted by harkatea 

 

But I do have one question: does making a big deal of the civil ceremony in the states take away from the destination wedding?  We both kinda think of the civil ceremony as just the paperwork, so we're not really sure if we want to use it as a celebration point, or ignore it so everyone can focus on our real wedding (happening in Thailand).

 

 

This is exactly what we are doing.  I'm looking at it as just one more thing we have to do before we get married in the Dominican.  We aren't exchanging rings and are just going to go through the motions of whatever they make us do.  Both sets of our parents are the only one's who will be there and no one else will ever know.  The pastor who is doing our DW is bringing a marriage certificate for us and our witnesses to sign to make it "appear" legit, lol.  i'm really nervous about feeling married before our DW, so i'm going to think of it as only paperwork and told FI that he is absolutely not allowed to refer to me as his wife until DW