Fee for Marriage license

[macbosnia]

Hello all,

I'm about ready to post all of my marriage documents to Mr. Christiaans. Does anyone know the options for paying the marriage license fee? Do I send a U.S. check? Or a money order? Pay by wire transfer? I've been trying to find this specific info online and can't seem to put my finger on it.

Thank you,
Mac

[Andrea J.]

contact this person.
good luck and best wishes


cayetano.christiaans@aruba.gov.aw

Click here for marriage requirments

Originally Posted by macbosnia

Hello all,

I'm about ready to post all of my marriage documents to Mr. Christiaans. Does anyone know the options for paying the marriage license fee? Do I send a U.S. check? Or a money order? Pay by wire transfer? I've been trying to find this specific info online and can't seem to put my finger on it.

Thank you,
Mac

[Dicentra]

macbosnia,

I got married in Aruba last year. What we did was pay in cash (US$) on the day of the wedding, we didn't send the license fee ahead of time. I don't know whether or not he takes checks.
Do you intend to send the original documents ahead of time as well? If so, I would recommend against doing that. We faxed copies to Mr Christiaans about a month or 6 weeks before the wedding date, and hand carried the originals and gave them to him personally. Less chance of them becoming lost that way.

[macbosnia]

Hi Dicentra,

That's really helpful. I faxed all the documents today, but I didn't know I could hand-deliver the cash and original documents on my wedding day? Everything I've read so far sounded like I needed to send documents by courier. Is there a risk involved in NOT sending the originals by courier ahead of time? I would much prefer doing it the way you did, I'm just nervous about not following instructions. I don't want to show up at the court house on my wedding day and be told I can't get married. Does Mr. Christiaans confirm receipt of the fax? Or did you have any other indication that you were ok to go (re: documents) prior to your wedding day?

Many thanks!
Mac

[Dicentra]

Hi Mac,

I hope someone else will chime in to confirm, but unless things have changed since September 2009, it is okay to bring your original documents on the wedding day. I believe it was Mr. Christiaans who told me that himself. I spoke to him on the phone a couple of weeks before my wedding at which time he confirmed both receipt of the faxed documents and the date and time of the legal ceremony. He did not call to confirm, I had to call him and only reached him after many attempts. I had also sent an email to which he did not respond. I'll admit I was pretty nervous about it for a while. *I want to emphasize that this is NOT a criticism of him; I understand he is a very busy man with many responsibilities besides marriages.* I'm just telling you what I experienced and what you might expect as well.
(There is another thread on this topic that I started at the time, looking for advice when I was in panicky bride mode. As it turned out, I was able to reach him shortly after.)
I'd also like to add that Mr Christiaans is a very kind and gracious man who performed a beautiful ceremony. I was expecting it to be just cold hard "legal stuff" with signing papers and whatnot, but it was so much more. He even took pictures of us with our camera. It was just really lovely. Also, the Civil Town House is a beautiful building.
So, in a nutshell, things were difficult and a little nerve-wracking for a while, but it all worked out and was completely worth it.
Please let me know if you any other questions, and congratulations on your upcoming marriage.

[Bryan Morris]

Macbosnia, this is all truth above. As mentioned in your other post you can scan and email a PDF. Travel with the originals and cash for payment on the day of or a day or two before if you don't want to be dealing with any transactions on on the day of, you will be getting to the island a few days prior to the wedding I presume.

So go ahead and email them to him and call to get a confirmation within a few days. As Dicentra said, you'll have to call quite a few times. I'm local and I just go down there and even like that I wait quite a bit at times.

Bryan Morris