Getting legally married in Mexico
The How and Why
Getting legally married in Mexico is easy. I know that for many of you, young couples reading articles and different reports on the different websites can look confusing, but we assure you that with our experience of 20 years you will have your wedding certificate in no time. We will inform you in this short article of the steps that you need to take to get married to your foreigner fiancee, like many of you are requesting in this long and difficult year.
You need very few requirements to get legally married in Quintana Roo, our State. First of all, if you have never been married, you will need the copy of your passport and copy of your visa entry to Mexico, front and back. If you are divorced, you need to send us a copy of your divorce decree. We will proceed to translate it from English into Spanish with a certified translator.
Once in Playa del Carmen, we will accompany you to the Laboratory to have your blood tests taken and the doctor’s certificates of good health, necessary to the City Hall to start the process. In Mexico, every person who wants to marry has to present these documents.
The process will take about 2 weeks to book the date and, if the Justice of Peace is available, the wedding can be held on a beach or the location that you dream and prefer. A fee is due to the JP for the gas and time out of office.
Getting legally married in Mexico does not mean that you are legally married in your country, the documents have to be apostilled by the Governor of our State and we will organize that for you and send you everything via Fedex. Once you will receive the documents at your residence, you will start the process to validate the wedding certificate in your country. That can take up to 45 days, depending from the various offices, but it is generally done in 3 days.
Once you are married and your wedding has been registered in your country, you are set and can start the different processes due for immigration, if your spouse is from another country. Remember that a lawyer or an immigration expert may be needed, although we have many clients who have done the process themselves.
Getting legally married in Mexico has become very popular in this time of Covid, where many couples of different nationalities have understood the challenges of being in love and engaged to a foreigner. Like all things, it takes some practical challenges, but it is incredibly romantic and with the help our our Senior Planners, you will be able to live, work and experience life in the same place as your companion.
That outcome is what makes us proud to offer such an important service, nowadays.
Many thanks to Alessandro Banchelli from AB Photostudio, Del Sol Photography, Quetzal Photo. Many thanks to Marce Delgado for the legal assistance.
Bay wedding in Paamul
We often cry at weddings, but this time it was lighthearted, relaxed and vibrant. People often ask me why I chose to become a wedding planner. The answer is pretty simple! When my husband and I were searching for our perfect planner, we had real difficulty finding someone who ticked all of our boxes, we wanted someone we could relate to who was trustworthy, vibrant, personable, full of passion and who was able to plan and deliver a wedding that truly reflected us.
Eventually, we found her and she made the whole process such a simple and enjoyable one.
Now, I am the lucky one who is able to create for my couples what our planner did for us and I truly love the whole process! From our first coffee catch up, to hearing all of the funny little stories that you’ve made throughout your own journey together, to the new journey you’re about to embark on in becoming a married couple.
What i really love at weddings, is the beautiful stories that surround the air. How you met, how you came together, what emerges from your family and friends: the atmosphere you create and feed for the family and friends that join you. It is magic!
Jamie, the bride, wrote to us: Maria, thank you so much. Yes, the wedding was wonderful. Due in large part to Paula – she gave a beautiful ceremony that a lot of the guests commented on later that night – it was heartfelt and touching, and it just felt like it was being said by someone who truly cared.
The restaurant could not have been more perfect. We were so worried that the seaweed would ruin our day that we actually drove out there that morning to check on it, but it could not have been in better shape. They really do a great job of caring for the beach there. Really impressive. And I say the same for the staff at Paamul. The staff went above and beyond. The food was incredible. I already wrote a review for them on Google.
So she wrote and we are extremely happy that another couple has lived a great day! What makes our job real is the people behind the ceremony. Real, vibrant, fun people who want to celebrate life, love and family. We love it!
Grazie to Alessandro Banchelli from PhotostudioAB, Kalu from Paamul and Paula Riquelme, super minister!!
Maria
Why we do what we do
Profit is only half of the story. Discover the rest.
Read on to understand why we love what we do (so much) and why we are so grateful to the people of Mexico who have taught us to be real.
Gandhi once said: Be the change you wish to see in the world. I love that because it puts in our hands the authority to do something to change what we do not like. Why do we love Mexico so much? Because it’s helping us to learn this: you can really do more for others and doing that you become something different, something less selfish and more joyful. Like in the Velveteen Rabbit: you become Real.
We have been in business in Mexico for over 20 years. Things have been great and we are still alive. Clients have been wonderful, happenings happened in the right way, we have been lucky and, maybe, diligent. But the real amazing fortune has been to live and learn from Mexicans. When I arrived in Mexico, this is Maria speaking, I was extremely (inadvertently) Eurocentric. I thought that I was coming to live in a Third World country. Little did i know that the limitations were all inside of me and that opening up to this country has been a real blessing. Real good has been done to me. It’s almost impossible to define the Mexican spirit to the ones who do not live or deal with Mexicans. From the outside Mexico looks like a dangerous, messy, chaotic place. I won’t deny that.
But the spirit of Mexico is a pure, genuine open heart that gives. Only in Mexico can you read a letter to “Dear friend robber” on the door of a business, explaining that there is nothing to steal since “i am a poor devil like you” (real story). Only in Mexico they can steal from you (just a little :-))) and you love them nonetheless because they make you feel happy they are in your life.
There is a true difference between us and them: They take life in a joyful, disenchanted, free way that we only dream of. The real teachers have been my maids, the workers of the garden, the people that have helped me to organize weddings. The real teachers have been the most humble people in all moments of the day showing me generosity without money, joy in loss, security amongst dangers, hope in despair.
I have only received beauty, laughter and real help from all the Mexicans that I have encountered. The price? To open myself to a different way of life, to let go of my (false) securities and my beliefs to grow more and experience a different possibility of being alive… like a MexiCan.
