Legal marriage before going away (Canadian Brides)

rubyringo · 09-29-2008, 07:27 PM

Hi Girls,

just wondering if anyone can give me some direction on this.

We're having a symbolic ceremony but we'd like to get legally married right before we go. We're not making a big fuss over it.....we're just grabbing a witness and keeping it to ourselves.

So my question is, how do you go about doing this. Do you just go to a registries place or court house? and what documents do you need with you?

thanks for your help :)

mineaux · 09-29-2008, 09:46 PM

We did this....We went to a registry and got the marriage license. Show proof of ID. Paid $ 80. for that. You have 3 months to use it.
Then I just googles marriage commissioners in my area, and we found one that we just went to his house with our 2 witnesses and signed the papers....No formalities, we did have to say a few vows, but instead of smoochin we jus shook on it. That cost $50
the commisioner sent the license away for us. (registered it) We recieved a lil certificate right there, but had to order the "real" one from any registry.
Hope this helps! :)

Sloan · 10-01-2008, 09:55 PM

Check out your provinces government website - it'll have all the necessary info you need to get legally married in Canada IE all the documentation, costs and paperwork...etc. They should also have info on what you need to change your name, if you're changing your name that is.. Im in Ontario so our gov website is Government of Ontario, Canada / Gouvernement de l'Ontario, Canada Hope that helps! Good luck!

heather007 · 10-10-2008, 01:17 AM

Thanks so much for posting this. I really want to have the legal wedding here before we go to, just for peace of mind. I really also like how you didn't kiss, that's a good idea. :)

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SBertling · 10-28-2008, 03:51 PM

This is what I'm doing as well - no hassle, no stress when we get to Mexico! We have a marriage commissioner coming over the night before we leave. I was relieved when we decided to do it this way.

EricaG · 10-28-2008, 04:25 PM

We did the marriage commissioner as well, as actually got a list of them from the registry agency when we got the marriage licence.

Virg · 10-28-2008, 05:52 PM

Ladies, quick question, other than avoiding the hassles of your DW legal wedding requirement, and avoiding a scam, are there any other reasons to do this?

What about in case of...gulp..divorce, is it easier to file for one if you are married in your province/country?

lizzie287 · 10-29-2008, 09:27 AM

I'm also curious about that. My stepmother suggested getting married by a justice of the peace in Canada and just having the ceremony in the Dominican, because having a foreign marriage certificate could potentially cause problems down the road. And of course I wondered, what problems

It seems to me (though I haven't done a lot of research) that with a Mexican wedding I would definitely get married here first. Now if you were to do that, do you get the bypass all the bloodtests and residency requirements that they have and just get on with the wedding? And (el cheapo here) do you save anything on a wedding package that includes legalization of documents, etc.?

jcarson · 10-29-2008, 01:32 PM

My research has indicated (at least in BC, Canada) that all you need to do is get the marriage license translated and then register it with Vital Stats. If something should happen in the future (ie divorce needed), then everything is registered and you can just do what you need to do at home.

For us, we decided to do everything (including the legal) in Mexico. Our resort only requires us to bring a birth certificate and passport with us. We need to arrive 3 days before the ceremony and have a blood test, which is done by a doctor at the resort (the doctor will come to our hotel room to do the test). The resort will take care of anything else required. Since both of us have been married before, this is actually easier for us then getting married at home and proving the marriage, divorce and name change (to and back). The requirements for a legal marriage are different for each resort and vary by country.

Good luck!
Jennifer

heather007 · 10-29-2008, 09:38 PM

From our research, we have found that it saves a few pennies, but nothing to write home about. Personally, I wanted to have a legal ceremony here first for two reasons:

1) I really don't want a foreign Doctor taking my blood, I'm too afraid of people making mistakes.

2) I don't want to stress out down there. We are arriving three days prior to the wedding and our WC told us that shouldn't be an issue. However, I have some friends who got married in Mexico in April and still haven't gotten their documentation from there yet.

We are going to have a legal ceremony here. Nothing fancy, probably get my parents to be our witnesses, and instead of kissing, we are going to shake on it [just like how Mineaux did].

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