To those who got married legally before Cabo- BIG QUESTION

Hello everyone! I know a lot of people say it is easier to get married legally in the US at the courts by a JP. The more I read, the more I agree (don't tell my fiance...he's been saying it the whole time. I hate when he's right )

My question to those of you who have done it...Is is possible to go the courts and not do vows, just do the paperwork. I know I sound crazy, but if I agree to do it before hand I don't want to make a big deal out of it, so it doesn't "feel real" (do I make sense yet? haha ) I told me fiance the only way I'll agree is if we DO NOT get dressed up, go down, sign some papers, and thats it. I want Cabo to feel like my wedding day. I know it sounds stupid! When you go to the JP, do you have to do vows and stuff? I'll wear pajamas if I have to just so it doesnt feel like we're getting married.

Why am I so freaked out about this?

i think someone hired a notary so they could do it without vows.

honestly it does not take away from the wedding day. we made it special, but in it's own silly way. it was so wonderful to have a legal day that was so relaxed & just the two of us + witnesses.

nothing could have taken any excitement from the wedding day.

I loved my legal day. It was fun, it was personal, and it wasn't about a big to do.

I wore flip flops and DH was in shorts.

I wouldn't have changed it for anything.

the vows we had at our legal day and the vows we had in mexico were very different. and although the legal day vows were pretty, they didn't really mean much to us. on the other hand, the mexico vows were ones that we had picked out because we felt an attachment to them- so when the time came to say them, it really was incomparable to legal day.

if you do a legal day, you have to decide that you are going to love that day, not feel weird about it. it will be an entirely different kind of feeling than on your wedding day, but legal day is still something to have fun with- whether your parents are there, or if you do it alone in vegas. if you have fun with it, then it won't take away from your wedding day, it'll just be different.

It's good to hear you girls about your legal day. I was thinking about the same thing - the whole, what do you wear-and what about that vows thingy.

Thanks for sharing!

I'll throw one more question in, what is the max amount of months 'before' the official wedding (April 25, 2009 for me) can you do your legal day?

Our legal day was super casual like Becks described, we wore jeans. We didn't write vows or use rings. Afterwards we went to lunch then we went home, it was very chill.

I had 3 ceremonies in 3 different places over the span of 4 months and none of them detracted from the others, the DW where I wore the dress and wrote the vows was the big one but they are all unique.

Samanthag, you can do your legal day whenever you want, the courts have no interest in your non-legal DW wedding because it doesn't count to them anyway. I think most people here do theirs relatively close to their DW, mine was about 2 weeks before the DW. It's all up to you and your hubby-to-be

What you mention is exactly what we did -- we didn't make a big deal of it AT ALL. We did have to saw vows though, legally. But we went on our lunch hour on a Wednesday, had NO guests, no rings, no nothing, to keep it as non-wedding as possible. We went to Wendy's and had a Frosty afterward, that was the extent of our celebration. Then we both went back to work. It was perfect! And the wedding felt like the real wedding.

our legal day was super relaxed. went to the courts after work one night, and asked the judge to give us the super short version and to say it all really fast. it was kind of funny, he was saying them so fast we had NO IDEA what he was even saying! He could have been talking about life on mars for all we knew. We did have to say "I do" but we had no idea what we were i-doing about!

He did say the "you can kiss the bride" and Joe leaned towards me and I said "NO!!! we have to save that for Mexico!"

it was super relaxed, i had on jeans, flip flops and a knit shirt, and fi had on jeans, flip flops and a polo. no rings, no one with us, just the judge, 2 random witnesses and that was it.

we did go out for Mexican after.... just to tie it all together... and ended up wasted and got home and passed out on the couches. ha, good memories!

thanks for the info! I am feeling better about it and my fiance thinks it will be soooo much easier for mexico.

I guess I just have to do whatever makes me feel content about it all. I think my pajama idea might work...just kidding (maybe?)

I love the idea of mexican foos after...any excuse for nachos and margaritas!