Beach Elopement In Varadero - Please Help!

Lindsey24 · August 5, 2014

Hello!

My fiance and I are planning to elope to Varadero, Cuba on Setember 6, 2014. We will be doing a completely symbolic ceremony and plan to do all paperwork back here in Canada afterwards. What we're planning is so small and simple, I don't think it would be considered a 'wedding'. We are staying at the Barcelo Solymar, and though they have a wedding package deal, it really wouldn't be appropriate for us. It will only be the two of us and a close friend. We're going to be on the beach, have no real decorations, provide our own music (ipod and speaker), no real officiant except for our friend saying a few words, taking our own pictures. We're planning for it to take about 20 min or so, and then we'll have dinner at one of the restaurants and go off-resort to celebrate.

What I'm wondering is: do I need to get permission from the hotel or would we be expected to pay for anything? We're not going to need anything from the hotel and simply want to stand on the beach for a few minutes to say some words and have our first dance. I've tried contacting them but no one has been able to answer my question. If I can't get in touch with anyone before I go, would I be safe to assume that I could somehow get away with this? Do the resorts own all of the beaches in the area, or could we possibly find a more remote section and do it there?

I know this is an odd question and situation, but any thoughts?

Sabes44 · August 5, 2014

I would make sure you contact the hotel. Not that you need their package but if its their private land you could get in trouble. Here in California, there are city, state and county laws and you can't just get married anywhere. Of course you could just chance it, but I wouldn't want to chance doing something illegal in another country if I could avoid it.