Catholic Marriage in Mexico- Requirements

[Maura]

no actually, it was very simple (it was just tedious doing everything, filling out the paperwork, meeting with the priest multiple times, doing precana, making sure the precana certificate and letter from our priest allowing us to marry outside the parish got to the priest in MX etc etc)

 

we did our local prep through Assumption Catholic Church on the corner of Illinois and Orleans downtown because that is closest to our house. we signed up for precana through the chicago diocese at Family Ministries

[Bernie]

thanks so much maura. I had another question- did you have to send all the paperwork to mexico or did the priest do all of that.

[Maura]

our priest in chicago sent the paperwork to the priest in Louisiana (who is a family member that we are flying to MX to marry us), and the priest in Louisiana sent the paperwork through the chancery to MX

[mkdela]

Mine worked pretty much the same way. I did my pre-cana (marriage prep) with the priest at my home parish in New York. He did all the paper work, and he sent it all to the church in Mexico. I had to follow up on my own to make sure they received it. The position of the church in Mexico was that as long as I'd met all the requirements for a marriage in NY, it would be sufficient from their end. We got married by a priest from the parish in Cancun. After the ceremony, he gave us a Catholic marriage certificate, and I sent a copy of that along with our legal marriage certificate to our priest in New York for him to have on file. The Catholic Church in the U.S. definitely recognizes the marriage as a Catholic marriage.

 

Good luck!!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bernie thanks so much maura. I had another question- did you have to send all the paperwork to mexico or did the priest do all of that.

[Bernie]

thanks mkdela!! So you also got married legally before you went to Mexico?

[mjm160]

We had our catholic wedding in mexico & our civil service at home - after mexico. Looking back, I wish I had the civil service first.

 

Just some advice- Request from your local priest that you want copies of all the documents that they are sending to Mexico along with the tracking number. I verbally told and gave written instructions to our local diocese where to send the paperwork (direct to the hotel and our WC would hand deliver to priest) and they ending up sending our original documents to a Church in Cancun (not the church we were getting married in)! They promised they would send to our WC and somehow that didn't happen. It took our WC 4 days to find our original paperwork. I was a nervous wreck! Make sure you tell them exactly when & where to send your docs.

Good Luck!

[mkdela]

No problem!! Yes, we got married at city hall the day before we left for Mexico. I wanted to have everything done and "official" when we were away on our honeymoon, rather than dealing with it when we got back. I brought our legal wedding certificiate with us to Mexico but I don't think we needed it for anything.

 

Also, I tried to have my documentation sent to my wedding coordinator but my parish priest wouldn't do that, he said he had to send it directly to the church. He did keep a copy of everything that got sent, though, so we weren't too worried about it getting lost. What I did do was have my wedding coordinator call the church in Cancun and give them a heads up to look out for my papers as soon as I knew that my priest in New York had sent them. Then I had her call again a week later and confirm they had been received and that nothing was missing.

 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bernie thanks mkdela!! So you also got married legally before you went to Mexico?

[Bernie]

Thanks so much mkdela!!! I'm going to asked the WC if I need to bring the wedding certificate with us as well.

Thanks mjm for the advice on making copies of all the documents. I would be a nervous wreck too if that would happen to me.

[JessiTaylor]

and years later this information from the OP is still accurate!

 

only difference i would note:

"an Affidavit of Freedom to Marry for each party signed by a competent person (e.g. parent, relative or close friend) and the signature witnessed by a pastor/priest/cleric of the person vouching for your freedom to marry."

 

I am the non-catholic one in the 'mixed marriage'. And i had to go to the catholic church in my parish back in England for this form, but then I had to take it to a solicitor for it to be a proper affidavit (though my mum did sign it as the competent person). Not sure if this is specific to England, or if it is specific to that church...but it wasn't witnessed by the priest, it had to be done legally

[lizbraun]

Good Morning! We are getting married in Catholic Church in Cabo and were told a couple different things. Do you have to be in Mexico any amount of time prior to the wedding ceremony? Liz