Legal Ceremony or Symbolic Ceremony??

[Samantha23]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm brand new this site and have read about a few couples who have gotten married at a court house in their state and then had a symbolic Ceremony in Los Cabos in order to make things less chaotic. I can see why this would be in some ways less stressful. I would just like to get an idea from both points of view. So how did you/are you ladies going about this part of the wedding?

[lgarner83]

Hi Samantha

 

It IS a bit of a pain to get all of the documents in order in order to have a legal ceremony in Los Cabos. I am in the middle of trying to organize exactly what documents are required and it can be a little overwhelming! THAT BEING SAID, we have discussed the alternative, and both of us agree that we want our ceremony in Mexico to actually be the moment we become married. We want that exciting, giddy feeling of ACTUALLY being pronounced husband and wife right there in that moment. Something just doesn't sit right with me of going there already married- which date would we celebrate our anniversary on? lol Also, I want my family and friends that are paying a lot of money to come see us get married, actually see us get married!! Those are the main reasons why we are just dealing with the hassle of the document crap in order to have a legal marriage.

[Samantha23]

Thank you for your point of view, I really appreciate it

[bride7474]

Initially my FI and I decided that we wanted to get legally married in Cabo. After finding out that you have to get blood taken, I quickly changed my mind. I bruise extremely badly after needles, and didn't want to worry about having to cover that up for the wedding photos. We are getting legally married in Canada the day before heading down to Cabo. Our parents and brothers will be the only ones invited to attend the ceremony in Canada.

[ilovemypitbull]

We're also getting legally married at home beforehand. In fact, even though we're not getting married until next May or June (2010) we're going to get it done legally before the end of this year because it will save us $6000 in taxes. We're both very practical people and having our ceremony be legal is not worth $6000 to us that we could put to very good use. I don't know your financial situation but it's worth looking into...

 

In our hearts, the day of our ceremony will be the day we're officially married, regardless of what some piece of paper says. Our parents think it's a very smart decision but we're only telling immediate family.

 

Whatever you decide to do, it's your wedding day and it will be fabulous and emotional and meaningful no matter what.

 

- Jen

[Samantha23]

Thanks to all of you!

I think we will be having a Legal Day. I just feel like it will be less stressful for the both of us to do it that way. I know there will be four family members with us when we go, but I want it to be nothing but paperwork. Our true wedding will be in Los Cabos.

Thanks again!!

[Jacilynda]

Another thing to consider is not just blood tests, etc. You have to wait a while before getting your certificate and it has to be translated. I've heard of this taking like 5 months!!!

 

We decided to get legally married at home because we have a minimal budget for our wedding and doing it at home saved us $1000. We're now having a family member perform our wedding. Also since I'm a stay at home mom I don't have insurance any more so we decided to get married last August so I could have insurance. I don't even really feel like we're married! we still call each other FI and honestly legal day to me didn't feel anything like a wedding and THE moment. So our wedding will actually be our 1 year anniversary! So we're going to eat the top tier of our cake for our wedding HA!

[blondie25]

I also wanted to add that for legal ceremony u need to saty 4-5 days in mexico prior you date so if u will be getting married on a saturday let say ... u have to be in mexico by monday (weekends dont count )... my wedding is on a thursday so i needed to arrive to mexico friday .... this was my main reason for doing symbolic ceremony

[JCruz]

Thanks everyone for sharing. I'm struggling with this as well. I'm leaning more towards getting married legally at home and just doing a symbolic wedding because of the hassle of all the paperwork. And as Blondie25 mentioned, the number of days you have to be in Mexico before getting married.

[Soon To Be Mrs. Gomez]

I would say it's easier to do legal ceremony at home because anything that helps with less stress is better.