Customs in Mexico - declaring wedding stuff

Hi all,

For all that past brides who married in Mexico...did you declare all of your wedding stuff that you brought down there such as your OOT bags and contents; reception and ceremony decor (candles, vases, etc.), your make up, etc??

I guess, i'm kind of confused on what you should declare and not. I know there's a 300 dollar limit, i believe (please correct me if I'm wrong...)

So, what are you suppose to declare? I'm leaving in 4 days and want to gather all the reciepts together just in case!

Any info or help would be appreciated!!!!!

THank you!!

Good question! I thought you had to declare when you came back to the U.S.? I've only crossed the border a few times in my life, and most of them when I was a child, so I don't know for sure.

If that's the case, then you wouldn't have to declare anything, right? You won't have it with you anyways.

Actually, would you have to declare it in the first place since its purchased before you leave? Ok, I don't know. :-| Sorry

You only have to declare items you purchased in Mexico when you return.

But....if you have all your OOT bag items or decorations in one suitcase, it may raise a flag. They may assume you are taking all of that stuff in to Mexico to sell. Maybe separate all those multiple items?

I got a red light going into PV which means they got to open my bags and search through them. One entire bag was full of all favors, OOT stuff, etc.

The girl searching through my bag was on her cell phone and barely paying attention so maybe I lucked out, but she searched through boxes of stuff that was obviously not for personal use and she waived me on.

Maybe they're only looking for dangerous stuff? Not sure but it wasn't a problem for me.

We brought two totes full of items (that were majorly damaged by the airline) we had a green light but we were still stopped and asked what was in them. They opened to inspect briefly but I explained they were items for our wedding.. no problems.

The declaring of items is for the way back. They also want to make sure you aren't bringing in items to sell.. so make sure you say they aren't for resale. If you ship, packages should also be marked as such. I wouldn't risk shipping.

Thanks, Ladies!

I guess I'm a bit confused with the whole customs, etc...Anyway, i'll find out soon!

I just hope I don't get stopped!!!

Even if you get stopped you should be fine. It's funny, the weekend of my wedding the President of Mexico and every Mexican governer were in PV for a Navy anniversary or some big celebration, so going into the PV marina was strenuous. The security checkpoint was more intense than the airport's with the President being there and all.

They gave us a hard time about everything because most people entering the marina aren't bringing luggage, but we were on the way to the wedding so I had my dress, suitcase, etc. They let us in but we held up the line for like 10 minutes while they called in superiors to approve us. The airport was a breeze!

i haven't heard of anyone having a problem bringing stuff in...

we brought down a ridiculous amount of stuff including 3 cases of wine. I think as long as you tell them that it's for a wedding they're not going to bug you.

I got stopped at Mexico customs. I didn't even get to press the red/green light button. They x-rayed my bags and then opened them. They wanted to see all of my receipts for everything. The guy started pulling out his cell phone and adding up my receipts. I didn't bring all the receipts and when he noticed that each receipt was for 8-10 dollars he let us go. My brother had one of my bags and didn't have receipts the guy gave him a hard time, but let him through. He had my freeze dried rose petals and those were taken away....can't bring real petals into the country.

My dad was also asked for receipts. He had my vases and sand ceremony stuff.

You should try to split up your stuff between a few people and make sure they have receipts that don't total more than $300.

hope this helps. My experience was in Cabo last Monday.