Ok thanks! You've both been really helpful!!
Kate

I think we were all posting at the same time! February would be ideal! I think Feb/March/April are the best months.

Hi, just wondered if anyone has any first hand experience at getting married in the Caribbean (!!!)?

We are looking at Mexico (Cancun) or Dominican Republic, particularly.

Looking into booking with a tour operator such as First Choice, Virgin or Thomson.

Is the paperwork an expensive business? and complicated? Do the Tour Operators help as much as possible with this?

A friend of my fiance just got married in Dom. Rep. and has seemed to sway me a bit more, unfortunately I cannot speak to them to ask questions at the moment, and just needed to find out any information or recommendations.

We have thought of Cancun as we have been there before and think that there will be something for everyone in our party there, all different ages, or Dom. Rep. and it seems to be quite popular for weddings there! Not really looked too much at other places as I don't know too much about them.

Thanks for any help, Kitty

Hi Kitty

We got married on 25th May 2006 at Iberostar Paraiso Del Mar just outside Playa Del Carmen in Mexico.

Paperwork wise we had to get certified copies of our birth certificates, which are easy to order on line and then we had to sent the to the fco to be stamped. Luckily I work in London so I had an extended lunch break and did it myself. We didn't need to get anything translated into Spanish as this was organised for us when we arrived but this may have changed quite recently due to a change of wedding co-ordinators.

There were 25 of us altogether and they accomodated us really well, making sure we were all able to sit together at dinner & breakfast & everyones rooms were all together in the same block (except for ours as we got upgraded).

We decided on flowers, decorations & the cake when we arrived and as I had been emailing the co-ordinator before we arrived we had arranged to have our dinner in the Mexican restaurant & private party by the pool.

My dress was collected from my room a day after we arrived and was delivered back, steamed, the day of the wedding.

Everything was perfect, except that it rained but it was fine. We also hired a proffesional photographer (Claudia Rodriguez) but I think they now charge you an extra $300 if you book someone else. Also Claudia is the only outside photographer they allow in the hotel.

We booked through Eclipse Direct (part of First Choice) and got a pplpace free as there were so many of us.

Let me know if you need any other information.

Stacey

Hi Tinykitty
Me and my partner are getting married in Mexico in September.
12 family members have all booked to stay in the Iberostar Tucan with First Choice.
It was not originally booked as a wedding package, just as a holiday. We then decided to look into getting married while out there and was quoted £979 for the wedding package at the hotel.
when you compare to the prices of doing it here in England this is a bargain.
You need to get certain documents legalised to get married in Mexico.
We needed to have both our Birth certificates and my Decree Absolute done as i have been married before.
First you have to get the documents copied and certified by a solicitor we were quite lucky here as a friend is a solicitor so we got this for free, once this has been done you have to send the copies to the Foriegn & Commonwealth office for legalisation which cost £19 per document, and took around 3 weeks to be done, if you live in the london area you can call at the Foriegn & Commonwealth office for a same day service.
When you are getting married in mexico you have to have a blood test and a medical certificate which are done in the resort. i have emailed our wedding co-ordinator at the hotel and she as informed me the cost of this for both of us is $150 US Dollars. Also all the documents you take have to be translated into Spanish as the actuall marriage is in Spanish but you have a translator included in the wedding price, also it states in the First Choice Brochure that the cost of the documents to be translated to Spanish is around $40 per document, but our wedding co-ordinator as informed us that we dont have to pay this so it must depend on what hotel you are planning to get married at.
In total for the actual wedding we are looking at £1250 approx to get married on a beach in Mexico, beats doing it here.
Hope this helps you and if i can be of any further help please ask.

Regards

Iberostar Tucan reviews HERE

Pippy

Hi

Just wanted to add our, admittedly biased, voice to the discussion. Things been so busy lately we can't always get onto this forum as often as we'd like. But if you are cosidering various places for a wedding we'd also recommend the Dominican Republic - it has a wealth of attractions, places to visit, things to see, from historic relics and buildings, to spectacular landscapes.

We have added a checklist of things to consider when arranging a wedding in the Caribbean on our free-info site my sister and I have been developing - so I hope it may be of some interest/help in making successful plans for your big day wherever you choose in the Caribbean!(the page is listed on the left hand contents bar of the home page - see sig file)

Just a quick note about 'extreme weather' - As far as hurricanes go - they are a fact of life in the Caribbean although severe and damaging hurricanes are relatively rare. The stronger winds and storms tend to occur from September through end November (so this is the best time to avoid visiting the Caribbean to reduce the odds of experiencing the worst) - although it is true that the 'season' begins much earlier as one respondent points out.

(Note: The odds are that at some time all parts of the Caribbean - which is in the World's 'hurricane belt' - will occasionally suffer at the hands of a 'stronger than usual' storm...This would mean that places that have suffered recently, according to probability, are LESS likely to suffer again anytime soon, whereas those places that have not seen hurricanes for many years are statistically MORE likely to suffer in the nearer future.

It always amazes us that some folks who get caught up in a storm, afterwards say..."but it hadn't happened for 50 years" as if this should make a place safer...statistically it MUST be riskier! Just a thought, to address the suggestion that longer periods without hurricanes are a 'good' thing - when of course according to the Stats it must in fact be the reverse!

BUT naturally whilst predicting exactly where hurricanes will make landfall is almost impossible - for instance, we KNEW months in advance that it would be a bad year - well before New Orleans got hit...because the NOAA hurricane forecasting center had noted the exact weather patterns occurring just as they did before the terrible storms of the 1930's (Which makes it even more amazing how badly prepared the US was to cope!): You can keep in touch with predictions here when thinking of pre-booking: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/)

Our favorite time in the DR is January through March - but I realize this period will not always suit everyone's wedding plans! Nonetheless we think its the nicest time of year if you can book then.

Wherever you decide to have your happy day - we wish you all the very best

Ruth (bizzy)

I would also like to add that our wedding at The Iberostar Paraiso Del Mar was in English.

Hi, im looking at booking our wedding in the dom rep, Ive just read the reviews about the paperwork costs, I had not realised this was extra, I assumed that the package I was looking at in the brochures ie first choice and thompson covered all paper work costs is this not the case then? as we are on a pretty tight budget as we will be travelling with our children aged 15 11 and 2yrs, we shall need to have two rooms which bumps the price up a bit. Im also looking at October as I really shouldnt be taking the kids out of school and hoped to covered most of the holiday by the school hols lol.

thanks Michelle x

Hi Michelle

No paperwork is included in the cost. You are responsible for sorting out all paperwork and then have to send coipies to the holiday company to make sure everything is in order.

The only thing included in the price is what is stated in their wedding crochures. This normally includes ceremony, flowers, cake & a few other bits & pieces.

Stacey

Thanks for the help in answer to my message (it's taken me a while to reply, couldn't find it as it had been merged and I missed a PM).

While I am here I wanted to ask another question. In the First Choice brochure I noticed that Witnesses to marriages taking place of the in North Dominican Republic cannot be related to the bride or groom... whats the difference between the North and South? Are there any other bits like this for marriages in the South or in Mexico, that anyone knows of?

Also, with the paperwork (translation) and the blood tests etc you need in Mexico, does it get quite costly? We don't live in London so it's not an option for us to just pop into the FCO to get things sorted. Do the travel agents guide you through here.

And another question (although may be more suited to a wedding forum!) how do you go about giving notice to get married abroad?

Any tips on Hotels in Cancun? So far I have looked at Riu Cancun or Crown Paradise Club. There potentially could be up to 30 of us travelling. Are hotels ok with large groups? Or are there specific Hotels that allow large parties?

Kitty

Hi Kitty

Sorry you missed your PM until now.
If you go into your profile and tick 'yes' for the option of pop-up window on new private message, you won't miss future PMs

Also, if ever you can't find a post (I almost always send a PM if I merge/move posts unless I'm late for work or just running out of time), just click on your username and all your posts will be displayed.

You may find some hotel ideas in THIS topic.

Pippy

Thanks for the reply, ive been into travel agents today and got some rough prices for Nov 07 cant actually sort and book as brochure dont come out until august 31st, apparently because ive been divorced I will need my decree absolute translatted into spanish which should cost £150 this was the only cost I was quoted by the first choice wedding coordinators will there be anymore charges? we are looking at either dom rep or cuba, we wont have any witnesses with us so will be leaving it down to the coordinator in resort to find us apparnetly we may have to pay for that.

Hi Michelle, I am getting married in the dominican on 24th August and this is my second marriage, the documents you will need are a statutory declaration for you and your partner, both of your full birth cetificates, and your decree absolute, all 5 documents have to be legalised by the foriegn and commonwealth office first @ £19.00 a doc, then they have to be stamped at the dominican consulate @£55.00 a doc, and then all documents have to be translated into spanish they will do this at the dominican consulate @55.00 a doc, a solicitor may charge any thing from £5.00 to £30.00 for your statutory declaration its up to them what they charge so its worth shopping round ours cost £5.00 but were quoted upto £30.00 probably depends on if they want the work!! In totally our documentation cost us £655.00. on top of our wedding package of £619.00, then the cost of the holiday, we booked through first choice and we were made aware of the cost of the docs before hand, so no nasty suprises after we'd booked, only 4 more sleeps before we fly out, hope this has been of some use to you. sarah

Hi sarah

Thanks for letting me know about all the relevant charges, the travel agent mentioned only the divorce one so im glad now that im aware of extra charges and we can budget for these, where abouts are you getting married in dom rep? I bet you are really excited how long ago did you start to plan and arrange things? thanks again and good luck and congraulations xxx

we got married in the dominican republic hotel gran ventana on the 2nd August 2006 it was amazing would highly reccommend it everythink was done for us. but as everyone else said the paper work is pricey but definiatly worth it .

Hi Michelle, glad the info was of some use, we are getting married at the iberostar Hacienda Dominicus in bayihibe, which is on the south coast, we booked the wedding and holiday in may last year as soon as the brochures were out , were so pleased we did as the last year has flown by. We are so looking forward to going now, the hotel seems ideal for the children with plenty to keep them entertained which im sure you will understand is a great bonus. When are you looking at getting married? will you be having many guests travelling with you? Thankyou for the good wishes. sarah

Hi, think ive decided now on Cuba and would love to be able to get married on 8th december as this was the day we met in 2002, but looking at my calender that falls on a saturday next year so now not sure if weddings can take place on a saturday does anyone know this? There will just be me and max plus the kids who will be 15, 11 and 3 (on 30th Nov). Max is winding me up saying that he wants to get married in shorts and bow tie I said no way, he is adament he wont be wearing a suit of any kind, what sort of thing could he wear other than a suit? suggestions and ideas anyone?

Hi Michelle if you get married in cuba you won't need a statutory dec for you and your partner, only full birth certificate and your decree ab so you will be saving there, cuba looks lovely, my partner is wearing a linen shirt and trousers, they need to be comfortable and not to hot, I think i would draw the line at shorts and a bow tie!