Seem To Be Waiting Forever For The Judge To Confirm.

[plb2010]

My fiancée and I are planning to get married in a civil ceremony at Riu Palace Bavaro Beach in mid-January 2015. We reserved the day/time back in late August and got a partial confirmation from Riu that the date was held but that it was all contingent on the judge’s schedule. The sales rep told us that theer is only one judge in the area and that it would take up to 20 days for him to confirm.

 

Fast forward to early November and Riu is still unable to provide final confirmation. All of my inquires keep getting polite but vague replies informing me that they are still waiting on the judge. Has anyone else run into this problem as well? Is this long of a wait normal?

 

Obviously we are getting worried as we cannot really plan the wedding, invite guests, etc until we get a confirmation of the date. As a fallback, we’ve started investigating the possibility of getting married at the Civil Office in Punta Cana and then have a symbolic ceremony at Riu. (I've rady elsewhere that this is possible.) Has anyone done this? Is it really possible? Any advice would be most welcome.

 

--Pete

[TAkathy]

If you're in the US you could also get married here before leaving for Punta Cana.  Maybe you can do that in Canada as well if you live there.

 

Then, as you indicated, you don't have to worry about having the beach ceremony being legally binding.

 

I have no input on the delay in getting the judge OK but at least you could have a fall back Plan B.

[acw271011]

If you're in Canada you could definitely have your legal wedding here before going to the DR. A lot of couples do that just to avoid the worry of translating documents and having them notarized, etc. And as TA Kathy said, then you wouldn't have the concern of trying to do your legal wedding in the DR.

 

Good luck!

[plb2010]

 Thank you both for your suggestions. We have discussed the idea of getting married in the US or Canada (I’m a US citizen and she is Canadian) and then having a symbolic ceremony in the DR but it takes some of the magic/romance out of it—and increases the chance that some guests will opt not to travel so far for what will only be a symbolic event. So,… we have a plan B but…

 

I guess we will have to be patient and hope the judge is able to confirm our date soon.

[veryvalentine]

Does it take the romance out of it though?  You are still exchanging vows and declaring your commitment in front of your guests and to each other.  It's also a celebration of your commitment and I can't imagine how it still wouldn't be special. 

 

I'm also torn on the symbolic versus legal wedding...

[kmk2016]

Does it take the romance out of it though? You are still exchanging vows and declaring your commitment in front of your guests and to each other. It's also a celebration of your commitment and I can't imagine how it still wouldn't be special.

 

I'm also torn on the symbolic versus legal wedding...

I agree. The signing of a piece of paper to make things legal is not a big deal... It's the ceremony itself and the moment in which you pledge your love in front of family and friends that means the most to me. We are doing a symbolic ceremony and are only doing a very private legal ceremony back home upon our return. Our friends and family will all be witnessing the true union of our marriage in Mexico... It will be our REAL marriage... We are just opting to do the legal paperwork at a later time.

[plb2010]

Well,… perhaps a watched pot does boil. We heard this morning from Riu and the judge has been confirmed for our date. What a relief.