Legal Ceremony

tcram · 10-02-2008, 01:59 PM

I noticed a lot of the brides to be are doing legal ceremonies at home. Is that because you don't want to have to worry about getting everything translated and wait the 2-4 months back home to get your marriage license? I thought about doing that but my FH said what's the point in going away to get married if we're going to do it here as well. I've read so many different things about getting the marriage legalized in the US. Some say you just have to pay like $60 to get it translated and wait 2-4 months and then I've also read that you have to pay like $600 to get everything translated. I'm so confused with all this.

For those of you doing the legal ceremony at home before you go do you still have to do the blood tests and everything? Are you still married in the US and Mexico or is it just a vow renewal in Mexico?

If we just get married in Jamaica can we come home and get it legalized right away or is there still that waiting period.

EricaG · 10-02-2008, 02:37 PM

We weren't going to do the legal ceremony before going down. After a few people had suggested doing the legal ceremony at home first and also joining BDW and seeing how many people do it, we also decided too. We are doing a vow renewal ceremony in the Dominican since we are already legally married which saves us $$, then we also don't have to do any of the paperwork before going down or after we get the marriage certificate back.
We have been legally married for almost 2 months now but we don't really feel like it. We are looking forward to our wedding and that is the day we will be celebrating for our anniversaries. Our weding is when we will exchange our wedding rings, and share our vows in front of our loved ones.

~Andrea~ · 10-02-2008, 03:02 PM

It's really easy to get married in Jamaica. I'm providing my WC with our paperwork a few months before and that's all we need to do. We will be considered legally married in the US and do not need to complete any paperwork here. We'll just have to wait for our marriage license to come in the mail a few weeks after the wedding to complete my name change.