Question for anyone doing the legal part at home

[jandl2013]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmcdonald 

We hope to go to the courthouse just a few days before we leave.  Something very simple and short with just the two of us.  

 

That was my plan now the fiance wants to do the whole church thing. I wanted to keep it simple now I have another thing on my to do list.

Your fiancé sounds like mine...i just originally wanted to go to the justice of the peace. He refused.

[Jennkn87]

I have been going back and forth with this decision as well. Mine is a little more complex as well. I have read good and bad things about the legal ceremony in Jamaica. My TA says it's all fine and dandy and easy...except you pay sooo much extra!! If I can get married at the courthouse here in the states and no one has to know about it..for less than $50 or whatever it is now..I think that sounds like a GREAT idea!! Who wants to pay $300+ for a legal ceremony down in Jamaica!! My other issue is...I work in the healthcare field, in Radiology, which the field is VERY tight right now, no jobs available in or around the small town we live in. I currently work part-time at one hospital and PRN at another....with all of these new changes in healthcare reform and whatnot...they raised the bar on me getting insurance anytime in the near future at my part-time job. I get kicked off my parents insurance this coming December! BLAH! My FI has insurance through the family business....so if we were to get married beforehand, I could get insurance through him. The only problem is...I don't want to get married THAT much before the ceremony in Jamaica...I would like it to be TOTALLY secret, not even letting our parents know we were doing it (His family would only cause THAT much more drama with this whole wedding planning process, I'm afraid). I'm kind of at a loss for what decision to make. As I was reading through all of the older posts, you don't realize what all the legal issues could be if you get married in another country. Jamaica doesn't make you do blood tests and such, but it still seems that the legal thing at home is the way to go!!

[Make2dayAmazing]

Great thread, thanks. This is something we have started to talk about and not exactly sure what were are going to do yet.

[beccafries]

I like the idea of 2 wedding Anni....lthe legal date and DW date

Something else I thought about..... I know we say the legal in the states is just paperwork etc...but really... it's not...

Now, what if something happened before your DW.......now... it WOULD really matter..and it will NOT just be about paperwork.

So, that 1st wedding date...is VERY IMPORTANT  

[diadiamond]

We're planning to have a simple "city hall" ceremony then dinner afterwards with our immediate family.  We're hoping to have our city hall wedding near our actual anniversary.  Then about a month or so later have our symbolic wedding in Cuba.  Since our anniversary is in hurricane season we've opted to do the legal part near our anniversary and have a symbolic Cuban destination wedding after hurricane season.  Most of the people we plan to invite were uncomfortable travelling in hurricane season.  

[mysticjade]

Originally we were going to get court-married with close family only, then do an interfaith DW soon after. But my FI admitted he wanted to get married at his parents’ church, so we’re splitting the ceremonies up (Catholic at home, Hindu in Jamaica). The problem is that my FI has a huge family. We were going to just invite close family & friends to a buffet place after, but now he wants them all to come to the church which means we’re struggling to find a good restaurant that can accommodate 100 people. Really don’t want to rent a hall, it’s pricey and it’ll make everything think the church is the “real” wedding.

[Meandhim]

We are getting married either before or after we go just to avoid the huge amount of paper work, and costs. We are not telling our guests because as far as I'm concerned our DW is our REAL wedding with real vows and real meaning, although it's not legal. 

 

We were thinking of legally getting married after the wedding as a surprise for our grandparents who can make it down south and are feeling a little left out. So our Idea is that we pick them up under false pretences....go get legally married somewhere with them as witness's....and then take them out to dinner.  

 

So is this a bad idea or a good one...opinions needed! please help?

[acw271011]

I'm very surprised at the difficulty expressed about getting married in Jamaica! We did and it really was easy peasy! No hassle. Not expensive. And we were both divorced! I would highly recommend it! No muss. No fuss . No bother!

 

I like the idea, for those getting married ahead of time, of doing it secretly and not telling guests. I think it takes away something. My son got married in a courthouse in march because he married an american girl and they had 90 days to get married, even though they had been together for a while (just long distance commuting). But then they turned around and had a "proper" wedding in September. Proper why? Does that mean their courthouse wedding was improper? I still don't understand why you would have a wedding 6 months after getting married. Which do you use as your anniversary date? In my mind, your anniversary is the day you get married. Ergo, March. But my daughter in law uses the September date. To me that doesn't even recognize the day you actually became husband and wife, which is the day it begins. It sort of takes away from the magic of it. Why wouldn't you refer to it then as a vow renewal instead of your wedding?

 

Sorry - just my old lady opinion.

[kellisbaby]

We're probably just going to go to city hall the month before.  Maybe dinner afterward???

[Traci Felton]

Does getting married at the court house right before affect passport documentation due to name change?

You just don't change your identifying information until you return from your DW.