symbolic wedding question

[gabbya]

I apologize if this has been answered before. I am planning on legally getting married before our DW and having a symbolic wedding when we get there. But I wasn't sure how far in advance I needed to have the legal marriage and if there was any required documents that I need to bring with me in order for them to perform the ceremony. Can someone please help?

[~Nicole~]

I'm not positive because I'm doing a civil ceremony, but I believe it depends on your hotel. I would send your WC a quick email just to make sure.

 

Any other ladies have some info??

[beach2009]

Hi Gabbya, I'm having a symbolic ceremony next month in Mexico and we don't need any legal documentation.

[hanna]

We did a symbolic and just booked the "renewal of vows" ceremony - which was cheaper too. Just bring your marriage certificate and you will be fine. We actually brought our own officiant which happens to be one of our good friends, so he performed the ceremony which was really nice because it was very personalized. Since it isn't "legal" you could actually have anyone perform your ceremony for you, doesn't need to be designated by the resort.

[wsarah2107]

Is it a law in Mexico that if you have a legal wedding it must be performed in Spanish

[MEYER2BE]

Has anyone been to a "renewal of vows" ceremony? I'm wondering if you would know it was a renewal if nobody said anything? The reason I'm asking is we are getting married in the U.S. before we head down to Mexico for the symbolic ceremony. I don't want my guests to know we already got married in the U.S. I'm not sure how they would feel if they traveled down to Mexico under false pretenses. Or should we tell our guests we did the paperwork back in the U.S. in order for it to be legal. I don't know what to do, help!!!

 

I need some feedback on this, thanks!

 

~ Erica

[sunsetbride1]

We are getting legally married in the US and doing a renewal of vows package in DR. I asked our WC; she will perform our ceremony in DR and they do not require any legal documentation.

 

We have told our guests that we are doing the legal part of our marriage in the US to be with his elderly grandmother BUT we are not exchanging vows, rings or considering it to be our actual wedding day. Basically, the US marriage is legal and symbolic for his grandmother; the DR wedding is our 'real wedding' in every way.

 

Honestly, none of our guests minded at all ... no one even questioned it; especially when I explained what a process it was to get legally married in DR (costs, translation, etc).

[VioletVol]

Same with us, some of my family have given us a hard time, but just joking around. They all agree that it makes more sense to marry here to save the expense, time, etc. Getting there so many days in advance, all the translation fees, the spanish ceremony...it just made sense. But I honestly think it isn't something you have to tell anyone if you don't want to. Its between you and your hubby to be. But no clue on the timeline. I'm hoping to get married legally the day before we leave, we want it to be as close as possible to the real wedding day. But we'll see if that's possible.

[BlakleyBrideToBe]

We're planning on do the same thing. I didn't even think about what documents if any that we need to bring with us. Thanks for thinking of this.

[NaM]

Hi. We also are doing the legal part back home and symbolic in Mexico and we don't need to bring a thing with us except our passports. Much less hassle!!