Getting Legally Married Before, Or After The Trip?

[DestiBride]

I had a civil ceremony in Punta Cana, DR a couple of weeks ago and I didn't think the paperwork was overly stressful. I'm not sure if the requirements are very different compared to Mexico and Jamaica, but we did all of our paperwork through a third party vendor called wedo.com and they will also translate the marriage certificate for us when it comes through. Yes, it was something extra to do (and I guess anything extra will result in certain amount of stress) but I enjoyed having a "real" and legal wedding on the day. For me, it was worth it. They say our wedding certificate should arrive in the mail in four weeks. I've heard that it may take longer but I'm not too worried about it. Waiting an extra month or two to change my name is no biggie... 

[Dreamteam17]

We are getting married on our 3 year anniversary then having a symbolic ceremony in Mexico. We wanted to avoid the blood tests and having to wait 4 days to be married. We are even considering keeping our anniversary date the same as it's been significant to us for this long. I kinda like getting married here before cause I always wanted to get married just him and I at city hall but then I also wanted a real wedding , so now I get both !! We are keeping it low key tho just signing papers no saying "I do" we want to save that for when I walk down the isle.

[BusyBee280]

We are getting married on our 3 year anniversary then having a symbolic ceremony in Mexico. We wanted to avoid the blood tests and having to wait 4 days to be married. We are even considering keeping our anniversary date the same as it's been significant to us for this long. I kinda like getting married here before cause I always wanted to get married just him and I at city hall but then I also wanted a real wedding , so now I get both !! We are keeping it low key tho just signing papers no saying "I do" we want to save that for when I walk down the isle.

 This is kindof what we are planning also- We thought of having one of our friends marry us, but felt it would be easier to just go to City Hall- Since we are planning an AHR also, its kindof like getting married 3 times!!! lol I guess doing things this way we end up getting the best of all worlds.

[Dreamteam17]

This is kindof what we are planning also- We thought of having one of our friends marry us, but felt it would be easier to just go to City Hall- Since we are planning an AHR also, its kindof like getting married 3 times!!! lol I guess doing things this way we end up getting the best of all worlds.

Yes exactly !!! What is a AHR?

At home reception !!! Got it

[helenk]

When we started the wedding planning process and decided to do it in Jamaica we had every intention of doing the legal wedding there. THEN when I found out it takes almost 3 months to get your marriage certificate mailed to you - I said forget that! I don't want to wait an additional 3 months to go through all the legal stuff - changing my name, etc. We have been together for 11 years, so an additional 3 months probably wouldn't hurt. But I HATE waiting to do important stuff. I like to just get it out of the way. So I want to start the name changing process as soon as we get back home. We won't tell anyone of course and our anniversary will be our wedding in Jamaica. I just have to look into what the courthouse ceremony entails here in Houston. 

[shan0487]

We had planned on getting married before we left for Mexico, but we bought a house a month before we went to Mexico so we kind of ran out of time...so we ended up getting "legally" married over a month after our mexico wedding date in our house with our parents, siblings and grandparents.  So it all worked out nicely- aside from my husband saying for that month inbetween time "Well we aren't legally married yet...." that got really old real quick haha   The date we celebrate is 11/23/12 which was our wedding in Mexico. 

[nikkicraig10]

We are having a symbolic ceremony in Mexico. The deciding factor for me was having to wait the 4 business days - I want my wedding over before the halfway mark of the trip, so that I can relax! (And less chance of my FI having a terrible sunburn)

 

Is it a hassle to get married at a city hall? Do you just have to make an appointment? We are honeymooning in Vegas after we get back from our DW (we wanted a little trip separately), so it would be fun to get legally married in Vegas, but then I feel like my real wedding would kind of be a sham for all the guests that came to witness it.. when at the end of the day we weren't actually married.

[ASAtobe]

We are getting married the tuesday morning before we leave to head to Mexico. I couldn't imagine waiting 3 or 4 months to technically be considered married!! Or possibly longer I have heard some horror stories too!! We are only telling 2 people and thats only because we have to! We have to have witnesses at our court house!

[tarynh86]

I am getting married prior to going away to avoid hassles and complications. Another thing to consider ia if you ever get divorced you have to travel back to where you got married to get paper work signed.

[Dreamteam17]

So we got married today at city hall, I thought it was just going to be paper signing but it was all the wording and legal stuff. We didn't say "I do " though. I wasn't expecting it at all, I cried and we got our first wedding picture !! Lol not sure how I am going to make it through the real wedding ceremony with out balling like a baby.

They said to wait 4 weeks to apply for the long form marriage certificate. This is what I'll bring to Mexico. And I can wait till after Mexico wedding to change my name cause I don't want to apply for another passport.

We are not telling people so our Mexico wedding is the real deal to them. It will be to us too as I'll have my dress on and we didn't do rings today so he left that part out.

I am officially a married woman !!! Great to tell someone lol