Official Aruba Community Forum - View Single Post - Legally Married at Home vs Civil Aruba Ceremony

Flamingo78 · 08-17-2009, 02:43 PM

Although it is a bit tricky, I think that it is well worth it to get the proper paperwork and get married in the city hall in Aruba the day of your wedding ceremony. We did it recently, and about 20 of our family members (out of 72 guests who joined us in Aruba) chose to join us, and were glad that they did. There wasn't a dry eye in the room! Mr. Betto Christiaans did a beautiful ceremony, and I treasure the pictures from that morning. I also did not want to have 2 different wedding dates, so having them happen on the same day was great.

We had to get official copies of our birth certificates with a raised seal, then send those to a state to have an official apostille seal put on it, both needed a signed a letter of intent to marry (which I typed myself based off of an example I found while researching online), valid passports and copies of passport pages of your witnesses, and official single status forms from our state from approximately age 18 on. If either person is divorced or widowed, you need additional paperwork.

I would say that it took a couple of months to get everything back, but there was confusion about what we needed. They require you to send the paperwork at least a month in advance. I faxed all the paperwork to the City Hall in Aruba for approval (probably 2 months ahead of time), and also faxed to our wedding coordinator for review. The wedding coordinator went to the City Hall and got approval, then booked our requested date and confirmed it with me.

I was nervous too, and almost decided to get married in our local city hall before we left, but I'm glad I didn't do that. You'll be fine! Any questions, don't hesitate to ask... the process is a bit intimidating!

08-17-2009, 02:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
Flamingo78 Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Renaissance Island! Posts: 37	Although it is a bit tricky, I think that it is well worth it to get the proper paperwork and get married in the city hall in Aruba the day of your wedding ceremony. We did it recently, and about 20 of our family members (out of 72 guests who joined us in Aruba) chose to join us, and were glad that they did. There wasn't a dry eye in the room! Mr. Betto Christiaans did a beautiful ceremony, and I treasure the pictures from that morning. I also did not want to have 2 different wedding dates, so having them happen on the same day was great. We had to get official copies of our birth certificates with a raised seal, then send those to a state to have an official apostille seal put on it, both needed a signed a letter of intent to marry (which I typed myself based off of an example I found while researching online), valid passports and copies of *passport pages of your witnesses, and official single status* forms from our state from approximately age 18 on. If either person is divorced or widowed, you need additional paperwork. I would say that it took a couple of months to get everything back, but there was confusion about what we needed. They require you to send the paperwork at least a month in advance. I faxed all the paperwork to the City Hall in Aruba for approval (probably 2 months ahead of time), and also faxed to our wedding coordinator for review. The wedding coordinator went to the City Hall and got approval, then booked our requested date and confirmed it with me. I was nervous too, and almost decided to get married in our local city hall before we left, but I'm glad I didn't do that. You'll be fine! Any questions, don't hesitate to ask... the process is a bit intimidating!