Legal Ceremony or Symbolic Ceremony??

[lgarner83]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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

It's 3 business days. This wasn't an issue for us as we didn't want our wedding to be the day after we got there anyways lol.

[boven]

My FI and I have also deliberated on this issue and have decided to quietly get married in the States and have a symbolic ceremony in Mexico. We decided this for two reasons: cost and personalizing the experience. In addition to the hassle with translating the paperwork and completing blood work, having a legal service in Mexico will cost an additional $1500 according to the numerous wedding coordinators we have communicated with. We also would like the flexibility of having a loved-one officiate the ceremony as opposed to a stranger.

 

Hope this helps

[[email protected]]

My husband and I are getting married at the Hilton in Los Cabos in July. When we started out planning, the hotel planner told us that in order to have a legal ceremony, it would have to be in Spanish. Since we wanted it to be in English, she told us that people do it a lot and just get quickie married legally at home. So we were planning on it just being my husband and I, but I let it split at a family dinner and my dad almost had a heart attack that he wasn't going to be there on the day that I "legally" got married. So then we ended up having all of our parents (both are divorced-we have two step-mothers.) So we called the court house and they said we could get married there during the week for only $10 but it was certain hours only. And since we wanted our parents there and they couldn't take the day off, we had to go with a retired judge ($200.) The court house gave us a bunch of names and numbers and we found one. We coordinated dates and times and came up with a time and place. We got married in my mom's living room on a Saturday morning. I thought it was going to be very awkward and business like, but once the judge started talking about marriage, I lost it. I composed myself by the time I had to speak my vows, but it was much more of a big deal than I thought it was. Afterwards we all went to breakfast at our favorite spot (very informal.) My mom tipped off the waitress so she brought out blueberry pie at the end of breakfast as our "wedding cake" and it was very sweet. Afterwards, my husband went to work. So it was very nice, necessary but meaningful. It's a secret between us and our parents, and our actual anniversary will be our July date in Mexico. But like some have said before, it takes a load off. Plus, you can get a head start at name changes and such. You have to change your social security card (free) by going to your local office with your marriage certificate ($11) and driver's license. They send it to you in the mail in 7-10 business days. The license was easy too ($15) but note that you have to get your picture taken again. I actually did this yesterday and have had a cold all week, and looked horrible so alas, for the next 10 years it will be bad, but oh well. Then for work, I had to send the scan of my social security card to change my corporate email and work documents. I'm still researching how to change bills and such. You can get an amendment in your passport that will add a page to show your old name and new name, but only if you got your passport in the same year you get married. Since I got my passport last year, I have to get a renewal which will only show my new name and since my tickets are issued in my maiden name, I have to travel with my marriage certificate. Hope this all helped. Sorry for rambling on.

[Tifuhhknee]

Has anyone brought their own state's paperwork and had an ordained friend/family member come along to officiate? I know someone who is ordained, but we aren't super close so she will not be coming. Just wondering the legality of everything, I know I can't have her sign off on the document, then us go to Mexico and just us sign it for the ceremony (so the religious one but us go ahead and sign that during ceremony). This is all so confusing. May talk someone for sure coming into letting me spend $30 to get them ordained online and just bring our own paperwork. Then we can have the religious ceremony and after it ends have our witnesses, the ordained person, and ourselves sign? I'm just not sure how all of this works... don't want my marriage to not actually be legal!

[BethAnne]

Samantha-

I am a Jan 2011 Dreams Riviera Cancun bride to be and me and my fiance were very much on the fence about this topic in the beginning of our planning. We really wanted our destination wedding to feel like "our big day" at that very moment but after reading about all the paperwork and documents and blood work $$ it takes to do all that, we started reconsidering. First, some resorts say 300$per couple for blood tests, 100$ fee to change documents into spanish, then more fee's to translate back into English and sent to you home address (which could take 4-6 months to arrive) Also, i've been told by our travel agent if the slightest thing is off in documents (like they werent done right, or names are spelled differently on airline tickets and passports) they will not go through with your wedding. We don't want to take that chance. So finally, we've agreed a few days before we leave we'll go to the courthouse (literally in Pj's haha) and be very informal about it. you don't have to exchange vows or rings, we'll just sign the papers, and we agreed we'd shake on it instead of kiss. This way when we get to Cancun it'll feel real and exciting!

I hope this point of view helps in your decision making process.

Good luck!

[Lolita29]

I'm actually with Jen, we will legally be getting married by the end of this year so that we can get a bigger tax return (my mothers idea) to put towards our wedding in May, but our wedding anniversary will actually be our May wedding.

[MplsBride]

We were planning on doing the legal and religious ceremonies in Cabo, however, just yesterday we changed our minds. Here's why:

 

1. We would need 4 witnesses who've been there for 3 days. We're having 30 guests, but only 2 will be there 3 days before the wedding (most are coming 2 days prior and staying 2 days after). We didn't want to have to pay the resort to provide us with witnesses

 

2. More paper work. We'd need to bring divorce decrees (for my fiancee), and birth certificates. In our state, all we need is our ID.

 

3. No blood work needed in our state (MN). That saves us $100 ($50/person in Mexico)

 

4. Don't need to do translations with the certificate for it to be useful in the US. They give it to you in spanish, you need to pay extra for it in English (so I read). You need mulitiple copies in English for name changes, documentation in the states, etc.

 

5. Easier to get copies, if needed, in the future if we do it here.

 

6. Cheaper. It's $125 in MX but only $40 here.

 

We both view the religious ceremony as the "real" one... and even in MX you have to do TWO ceremonies, and they do the legal one prior to the religious one anyway.

[aeluzu]

My FI and I are going to have our legal work done here in the states. We were both turned off by the bloodwork in Mexico. Also, I agree with some of the previous ladies that the paperwork holds no candle to the significance of the ceremony and vows in front of family and friends. I'm a bit confused by which date we'll use for our anniversary though? I would rather use the ceremony date. Any thoughts on that?

[MplsBride]

Aeluzu - I think of the religious ceremony as the anniversary date. Think of the paper work as just another step to take in getting married... you're doing "legal day" so that you can get married in Cabo!

[jrb]

Interesting points. Can we bring the paperwork with us and get it signed by the rabbi we are bringing with us down in Mexico??