Can you believe that we are in the 6th month of the year already! that means Destination Wedding season is just around the corner for those fortunate bride, grooms and guests who are about to attend an upcoming Destination Wedding.
This months blog post we wanted to share with you the process for getting your legal marriage taken care of in Canada before you head off on your exciting adventure to somewhere tropical for your "Symbolic Destination Wedding" (Symbolic means that the wedding is not a legal ceremony, this is the most popular way of having a Destination Wedding when you are getting married overseas especially in the Caribbean).
Which brings us to the next question; "If my marriage in Mexico is a Symbolic Wedding then how do I get legally married?"
When we book a Destination Wedding 99% of our couples choose not to have a legal wedding in the foreign country they are traveling to.
There are many reasons why people choose not have a legal wedding ceremony in a foreign country since there are many inconvenient procedures to do so, such as;
- Blood work needs to be done in certain countries for both the bride and groom
- You need to arrive at the resort at least 5 business days prior to the wedding date along with your witnesses.
- There needs to be a formal translation of the wedding certificate into English
- It is more expensive to have a legal wedding ceremony VS a symbolic ceremony - judge/minister fees are higher and there is a cost for the documentation, blood work and translation.
- Ease and Convenience of having your marriage certificate filed from within Canada especially in the unforeseen case of misplacing your marriage certificate.
- It can take up to 12 months to receive your marriage certificate back from the foreign country, in some cases even longer.
We can assure you, your guest's will not know the difference between a Symbolic vs Legal and no one needs to be advised prior that your Destination Wedding is a Symbolic Wedding and that you are legally married or you will be legally married after you return.
If you do choose to have your legal Ceremony in Canada prior to departure than we recommend treating your legal ceremony as a wedding rehearsal where you can practice your vows and try new poses together.
We also suggest what can be very special is having your witnesses being 2 x people that are unable to attend your Destination Wedding, whether it being your Grandparents who are unable to make the travel or a dear friend who is unable to commit due to personal reasons, it is a great way to make them feel special and still be part of your Wedding.
Now to the actual processes of having your legal Wedding Ceremony in Canada;
Depending on which Province you will be having your wedding in you will need to follow each link (which is provided below along with the marriage commissioners).
You will need to contact/visit the Vital Statistics office where you are getting married, once you do so you will need to provide Identification for both yourself and your fiance, (there are restrictions per Province such as legal ages, language restrictions, who you are not legally allowed to marry including specific family members - you will need to read these carefully depending on which Province you are legally getting married in).
You are then given a Marriage License application and a Registration of Marriage application which you will need to complete and take a long with you to your legal ceremony.
Once you receive these applications they are only valid for a certain amount of days e.g. BC they are only valid for 90 days therefore you must have your ceremony prior to the 90 days otherwise you have to pay for a new application. (there are also fees involved for obtaining a Marriage Certificate and for applying for your License, please check with the local Vital Statistics office for exact costs).
Your next step is to contact a local Marriage Commissioner (links below per Province) where you will need to organize with him/her when they are able to conduct your ceremony, they will also give you more in depth information on what you need to bring along for the legal ceremony day, how many witnesses, witness information and of course what their fee is to legally marry you. The commissioner will take care of sending away the application and then once it has been processed you will receive your marriage certificate in the mail, wait times will vary per Province.
Here are the links that you will find helpful for obtaining all of the correct information for your legal wedding;
Marriage Information
Alberta: http://www.servicealberta.ca/1822.cfm
British Columbia: http://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/marriage/howto.html
Manitoba: http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/GettingMarried.html
New Brunswick: http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/services/services_renderer.200799.Marriage_Licence.html
Newfoundland and Labrador: http://www.servicenl.gov.nl.ca/birth/getting_married/
Nova Scotia: http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/life-events/getting-married.asp
Ontario: http://www.ontario.ca/government/get-married-ontario
Prince Edward Island: http://www.gov.pe.ca/health/index.php3?number=1020364
Quebec: http://www.justice.gouv.qc.ca/english/publications/generale/maria-a.htm
Saskatchewan: http://www.gov.sk.ca/life-events/getting-married/
Marriage Commissioners:
Alberta: http://www.servicealberta.ca/1156.cfm
British Columbia: http://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/cgi-bin/search/marriage_commissioners.cgi
Manitoba: http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/pdf/marriage_commissioners_wpg.pdf
New Brunswick: http://www.snb.ca/e/1000/1000-01/pdf/SNB-GettingMarried_E.pdf
Newfoundland and Labrador: http://www.servicenl.gov.nl.ca/birth/getting_married/marriagecommissioners.html
Nova Scotia: http://novascotia.ca/just/Court_Services/jplist.asp
Ontario: http://www.ontario.ca/government/religious-marriage-officiants-listed-municipality
Prince Edward Island: http://www.gov.pe.ca/health/index.php3?number=1020362
Quebec: http://www.justice.gouv.qc.ca/english/publications/generale/celebrant-a.htm
Saskatchewan: http://www.justice.gov.sk.ca/Default.aspx?DN=1b5f781f-bc4c-424d-a44f-cc8e75fb32bb
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