Hi ladies! I just read all the comments on this thread and I feel so much better! We're getting married April 2014 and we want a civil ceremony, but I've made the request 3 months ago and the judge in Punta Cana is not able to confirm our date yet... I am so stressful because I wanted to go ahead with my invitations a year before our wedding so the clock is ticking! Since last week, a few people told me about the symbolic wedding because it's less complicated and since there's one judge to do all the civil weddings in Punta Cana you have to be very flexible with your date, which I'm not! We were so torn between a civil and a symbolic wedding especially concerning our guests reaction of "not being official" there... it's very nice to see that I'm not alone feeling like this! And by any chance if someone is getting "legally" married in 2014, can you let me know if you had some news from the civil judge!?? Thank you!!