Hush hush legal ceremony

[Billandstina]

That sounds great...... Could you tell me what happened at your ceremony?  Did you sign any papers there since it was symbolic?  You see I am in a predicament, my parents and extended family are coming all the way from Scotland to Jamaica for our wedding, but my Fiance's parents cannot make it to Jamaica due to health constraints.  We thought it would be a nice gesture to have legal ceremony here with his parents, then the ring/exchange etc at the DW.  I don't want anyone to know other than his parents and the witnesses.  But was unsure if it would look "not legal" at the destination.  Your thoughts? 

We didn't want to make our legal signing anything special in our minds since we want our destination to be THE wedding etc. We even talked about doing the whole courthouse legal stuff AFTER our ceremony in Mexico. We decided to do it on my FI's bday so we'd forever remember it as his birthday, not our anniversary and only celebrate it on June 15th (the day in Mexico with all our guests)...long story short its his birthday on Monday which happens to fall on Memorial Day this year. My parents kept hinting they didn't want any anniversary present for their Amniversary on May 1st so we decided to do all the legal signing that day. My parents, my FI and I snuck down to the courthouse and said the basics of what needed to be say and even though we didn't want to kiss it just sort of went with it! Lol! We didn't exchange rings though and nobody knows!! Now we'll share our secret anniversary with my parents and its a great secret that made it very special without making me feel any different or taking away from the main even in 3 weeks! If anything it has made us much more relaxed! We'll be doing the symbolic ceremony in Mexico and exchanging vows and rings and nobody there will have any idea that its not the "real" thing, because for us it will be. I am a tad bit nervous about June 15th though because with only my parents, FI and the judge at the courthouse I broke into the giggles as soon as he started the vows...I guess it was nerves and it all seemed really surreal to me! I'm praying hard I'm not a giggling or sobbing mess in Mexico!! Lolol! We shall see!!

[ucfjennifer]

We are going to have a small legal ceremony here with family that cannot join us on our cruise. We aren't going to tell anyone else and I've been told nobody will be able to tell the MX ceremony is symbolic.

[alyssajean22]

My man and I are doing ours before we go to Mexico (Nov 14 is fats approaching!!) We are having small hushed family only ceremony in calgary at my aunts house. The cost to legal is so expensive and my future sister in law said that he exes sister did it all legal in mexico then didn't send any of the paperwork they got translated in so they weren't even legally married. We are just going to use our November day as our anniversary day. All we are doing is June is low key document signing haha.

[MelB2012]

Originally Posted by alyssajean22 

 

My man and I are doing ours before we go to Mexico (Nov 14 is fats approaching!!) We are having small hushed family only ceremony in calgary at my aunts house. The cost to legal is so expensive and my future sister in law said that he exes sister did it all legal in mexico then didn't send any of the paperwork they got translated in so they weren't even legally married. We are just going to use our November day as our anniversary day. All we are doing is June is low key document signing haha.

Same here. We keep refering to "June 7th" as "We're going in for paperwork."

 

November 15th will be our anniversary day, and the day we really celebrate our marriage. Our parents and my brother know, as well as a close family friend we asked to "officially unofficially marry us." We dno't want to lie to our guests. If asked, I will probably tell them the truth. We just didn't want to run into any issues with marriage legalities and what not. We won't wear our wedding bands until November - I didn't even get his band engraved, so there's that extra surprise in November.

 

I think a lot of us DW brides are on the same page on this topic. It's reassuring.

[brownsugarbride]

We're definitely planning to make it legal here in the United States.  It's less than $50 to get a license in my state, but I'm curious about the total cost of getting married in Mexico (beyond time costs). I love a bargain!

[elissae]

We had our legal/civil ceremony in Playa del Carmen, Mexico on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013.

 

Rather than waiting on all the paperwork in order to have it legalized here in New York State, we got a marriage license prior to departing for our DW. 

 

We arrived home from Mexico, Saturday, April 6th & were legally married in our home on our 8 year dating anniversary, Monday evening, April 8th by my hubby's best friend who was ordained online.  Close family and friends came over for it.  It was perfect!

 

I felt it was the perfect day to solidify it all - and it was symbolic to us. xoxo

[itsjuliez]

Hi all -

My first post here

I just started planning for our DW which we plan to have in February/March 2015! Yes I know it's a long time from now but with my fiance going to nursing school plus other things coming up in the next year - it just seems perfect for us! Plus it will allow our family and friends to save up to join us

My question is how do you go about getting a judge to do the ceremony in Mexico(or wherever else) without it being legal? We're planning on making it legal here in the states but don't want to take away from the actual ceremony at the destination. How does that work?

Thanks in advance!

 

& I apologize if this is such a noob question! lol

[Billandstina]

Most places offer you one for free or with a fee depending on the package you choose. Ours comes with a Christian preacher or a justice of the peace-type person so nobody will be any the wiser that its not technically "legal". Welcome to the boards!

[itsjuliez]

Originally Posted by Billandstina 

 

Most places offer you one for free or with a fee depending on the package you choose. Ours comes with a Christian preacher or a justice of the peace-type person so nobody will be any the wiser that its not technically "legal". Welcome to the boards!

 

 

 

This is good to know! I thought it was much more complicated lol! Thanks so much!

[Billandstina]

Surprisingly that was one of the easiest things! Lol! Now whether they speak English or we understand them is another thing... I asked for a copy of the words from my wedding coordinator at the resort and I'm tweaking it...so we'll see what happens! This is good to know! I thought it was much more complicated lol! Thanks so much!