Legal marriage before going away (Canadian Brides)

Last night I found the mouse in the toilet again.



So I looked around, and I found Renji, the calprit.



Then, he decided it would be fun to get his twin in on the action. He talked Ichigo into dragging the scratting cardboard pad across my freshly vaccumed floor.







Then Ichigo, realizing he had been caught, took refuge beside Dad's hockey equipment.



Baby Toed watched the action from ontop of his new favourite bed: the receiver.



That's my story.

~~

That's amazing!!! What great pics. How can you be mad at faces like that? I love Toed on the receiver....just hangin'.

Love the new profile pic btw Heather!!

Too funny Heather!! Very cute!

My FI and I are also planning to getting legally married here before we go. I have "get marriage license" on my to-do list for November and we're getting married in January. Does anyone know how long the whole process takes, including hunting down and picking up all the paperwork?

I'm in the same boat here. I think once you have your marriage license (on my to-do list as well) you just have to find your marriage commissioner and book an appt. I think they give you a certificate right away and if you change your name you need to bring that with you to your destination just in case there's an issue with your passport. Still i'm not 100% on this.

Did anyone else who did this get a certificate right away or did you have to wait? Also is it just a temporary certificate and then you have to get a real one from the registries office? A timeline on this would be helpful...

Since you've already gone through with your legal ceremony part, do you mind if I ask which marriage commissioner you used and if you liked him/her?? There have been a couple that I looked up online that didn't seem too bad but some just seem completely from the 70's or something! I also don't get why it is that they charge the same price whether performing an entire full-length ceremony in front of 150 people or a five minute ceremony in front of six people. It just seems like such a waste. Anyways, recommendations would be nice if you have them!

You could probably contact a marriage commissioner or JP to find out the timing for all the paperwork. I'm not sure if Manitoba is different from Alberta, but from what I understand here when you go to apply for your marriage license they hand it to you on the spot (along with the paperwork to register your marriage through your officiant). And then when you do your ceremony, they can issue a marriage statement/document right away too but it's not actually a legal document. The part that takes a while I believe is getting it registered legally with the government which is when they issue your legal Certificate of Marriage. In this document you can state your preferred name change if you are assuming your husbands last name. This is not a legal name change though (the legal name change is the one that they actually change the name on your birth certificate... the assumed name is on your wedding documents and any other documents you wish to use it on and you can go back to your name on your birth certificate at any time). I have no idea how long it takes to get your official Certificate though - it's a government thing so I wouldn't expect it to be very fast!!!

Hopefully the explanation I gave above clarifies a few things but just to add that while bringing your marriage documents with you (or a copy at least) is smart, if you did not do a legal name change then as long as your birth certificate (and drivers license if you haven't changed it yet) matches the name that is on your passport then you shouldn't have any problems. I guess it all depends on how far in advance you are doing your legal ceremony before your destination/symbolic ceremony.

The certificate you get from the marriage commissioner is NOT a legal document, but gives you something to hang on to while you wait for your official government issued certificate to be processed and arrive. You could call the Service Alberta and see if they can give you an idea of how long it takes for the marriage to be registered and for you to receive your certificate. Either that or a marriage commissioner in the province might have an idea.

So helpful! Thanks Meghan!!!

As a bride to be for the second time, I looked into this for that exact reason. You can get divorced here in Canada should that happen, it just takes a little longer for all the paper work to make it over here from Mexico or the DR. Thats all.
However if you get married in Cuba - both of you must go back to Cuba together to get divorced.....so we arent going to cuba....lol
Hope that helps!