Marry

Get married somewhere you have always loved, or go home and marry where your family came from. I handle the licence, the paperwork, the flights and the rooms, and I bring in a planner for the day itself, so all the two of you have to do is turn up and say I do.

The wedding is the easy part

Every CARICOM country asks you to be on the ground for a set time before it will let you marry, and it asks for your documents in a particular form. Both of those vary a great deal from one country to the next, and neither is written anywhere obvious. People find out at a counter, with family already in the country and a date they cannot move.

That is where I start. I work out which country fits the time you and your guests can actually take off, tell you exactly what to bring and in what form, and check it long before you are anywhere near a plane.

Then I get everybody there. Flights for the two of you and for guests coming in from wherever they live. A block of rooms held together, so your family is not scattered across three hotels. Somebody at arrivals when they land, and transport for the whole of it: the run from the airport, getting around during the stay, and moving everybody to the ceremony and away again on the day, which is the bit that quietly goes wrong when forty people are relying on taxis they have not booked. Visas for anyone not travelling on a CARICOM passport. A way of paying for things on the ground, because local suppliers rarely want a foreign card. And a planner on the day itself, briefed and kept moving by me, so you are not running a project from another country.

It does not finish when the register is signed either. The certificate has to be applied for. If you are going to use it where you live, it usually has to be legalised first or nobody will accept it. Then comes everything a new name touches, from the passport to the bank. That is months of quiet paperwork from several time zones away, and it is part of the job rather than something I hand back to you afterwards.

That last part is quoted on its own rather than folded into the booking, because it runs on long after the trip is over and not every couple needs all of it. We work out which pieces actually apply to you in the consultation, and you know the cost before anything starts.

What is left for the two of you is the part you actually wanted. How the day looks, and turning up to it.

Who this is for

Two different weddings

Both end at the same registry counter, but they start in very different places.

Coming home

Marry back home

You live in New York or London or Toronto, and you want to marry where your family is from. Not an island somebody picked for you off a brochure. The church in Kingston, the yard in Grenada, or a resort an hour from where your mother grew up, with the people who are still there.

The venue is rarely the hard part. The hard part is that your documents were issued somewhere else, your guests are scattered across several countries, and being a citizen of the place does not make you a resident of it. I have made this move myself, twice, and it is the same paperwork.

What I sort out

Whether your foreign paperwork will be accepted, before you get on a plane with it
Where you stand on residency, which is almost never what people assume
Guests coming in from four different countries on four different fares
Relatives already on the island who need collecting, housing or driving

Already in the region

A wedding somewhere else in CARICOM

You live in Trinidad and you want to marry in Saint Lucia. Or you are in Barbados and you have always wanted the Grenadines. You are not emigrating. You just want the wedding somewhere other than home.

This is the cheaper of the two, and easier than most people expect. The flights are short, your guests do not need visas for each other’s countries, and getting in is straightforward for a CARICOM national.

Worth knowing

Free movement gets you in. It does not get you married, and the country’s own waiting time still applies to you.
Marrying there gives you no right to stay there, which surprises people
Pick the country to suit the leave you have and the whole thing gets simpler
Guests can often make it a long weekend rather than a week off work

What you can ask for

Three ways people use me

Most couples want the first. Plenty end up wanting all three.

The couple’s wedding plan

Everything between deciding to do it and being legally married.

A shortlist of countries that fit the time you can take off
The marriage licence, start to finish
Your document list, checked before you fly
Flights and accommodation for the two of you

Guest travel and room blocks

The part that quietly eats your evenings if nobody takes it off you.

Group flights by departure city, not just yours
A room block with a rate and a deadline
One travel page you send to everyone
Transfers, so nobody is haggling at arrivals at midnight

What your guests see →

Staying on afterwards

You are already in the region. Going home on the Monday is a waste of a flight.

Extending the trip either side of the day
Moving to a quieter island once the guests go home
Upgrades and honeymoon stays
Open-jaw tickets, so you fly home from somewhere else

Where

Where I can do this today

A country goes on the open list once I have confirmed its marriage procedure with the registry itself, not before. The rest are being worked through.

Open now

Being confirmed

I am going through these registry by registry. Tell me which one you have in mind and your date, and I will confirm it for you and come back either way.

* Suriname is the one country I cannot arrange a wedding in unless one of you is a resident there. Suriname will only marry a couple where at least one partner actually lives in the country. Resident means living there with legal permission to do so, on a residence permit or as a citizen who lives there. Holding a Suriname passport while living somewhere else does not count, and neither does visiting, however long you stay. If that is not you, pick another country and I will make it work.

Being straight with you

What I do, and what I don’t

I am not the person arranging your flowers. I am the person making sure the licence, the travel and the planner all land on the same day.

What I handle

Working out which country suits the time you and your guests can actually take off
The marriage licence, start to finish, for the country you choose
Getting your documents right before you travel, so nothing is turned away at the counter
Bringing in a local planner for the day itself and running that relationship for you, so you are dealing with one person and not five
Flights for the two of you and for guests coming in from different countries
Accommodation, including a block of rooms held together for your guests
Somebody at arrivals, and transport throughout: airport runs, getting around during the stay, and everybody to the ceremony and back on the day
Visas for guests who are not travelling on a CARICOM passport
How you will pay for things locally, so you are not relying on a foreign card at a vendor’s counter
One travel page for your guests, so you stop answering the same question forty times
Applying for the marriage certificate once the day is over
Getting that certificate legalised, so it is accepted where you actually live
The name change afterwards, from the passport through to the bank

What I can’t do

Register the marriage. The registry issues the licence and records the marriage, not me.
Be your florist, photographer or venue. Those are specialists, and the planner and I engage them rather than pretending to be them.
Set the fees or the waiting times. Every country sets its own and changes them when it likes.
Advise on whether your marriage will be recognised where you live. That is a question for a lawyer there.

You don’t have to do this yourself

I can handle the licence, the documents and the travel for a wedding abroad for you. I work out what your country and your destination actually ask for, get the paperwork in order, and keep it moving, so you are not the one chasing offices and re-reading forms to figure out what happens next.

Tell Jo about your plans →Or call 868-723-6644

What I’ll ask you first

Have these to hand and the first conversation gets somewhere instead of being a warm-up.

Which country are you thinking of, and do you have a tie to it?
Where is each of you travelling from, and on which passport?
Roughly how many guests, and which countries are they coming from?
Has either of you been married before?
How much time can you both take off?
Do you want a religious ceremony, a civil one, or a civil registration with a blessing after?

Questions

The ones people actually ask

How long do we have to be there before we can marry?

It depends entirely on the country. Some let you marry almost as soon as you land. Others want you there a full fortnight before you can even apply. That one number shapes your flights and everybody’s leave, so working out which country fits the time you actually have is one of the first things we do together.

We are CARICOM nationals. Does free movement mean we can just turn up and marry?

No. Free movement decides how easily you enter and how long you can stay. The marriage licence is a separate matter, and you are treated the same as any other non-resident. What free movement does give you is an easy entry, which makes meeting a waiting period much simpler than it is for someone flying in from outside the region.

I was born there but I live abroad now. Does that make it easier?

Not usually, and this catches people out. Being a citizen is not the same as being a resident, and it is residency that most registries care about. Somewhere like Trinidad and Tobago you are treated as a non-resident if you have not lived in the country for a good number of years. Bring it up early and I will tell you where you stand.

Does marrying there give us the right to live there?

No. Marrying in a CARICOM country, or marrying a citizen of one, does not by itself give you a right to remain. That is a separate immigration question. If living there is the real goal, say so at the start and we plan for that alongside the wedding.

Do you plan the wedding?

I organise it. The day itself is run by a local planner, because someone has to be standing in the room and that someone should know the venue. What I do is bring that planner in, brief them, and keep them moving alongside the licence and everybody’s travel, so you are answering to one person rather than coordinating a committee from another country.

Can you guarantee we will be legally married?

No, and be wary of anyone who says they can. The registry decides whether a licence is issued. What I do is make sure you meet what your country asks for, that your documents are right before you fly, and that you are there long enough to qualify. If something is going to be a problem, I would far rather find it months out than on the morning.

Planning to move there rather than just marry there? That is a different process, and worth starting separately.

What it costs

$100

A Move Planning Consultation covering your wedding, the licence, the documents and everybody’s travel, is $100, and it comes off the booking if you go ahead. Anything that carries on after the wedding is quoted separately, and we go through it in the same conversation so there are no surprises later.

Tell Jo about your plans

Something on this page wrong, out of date, or missing? Email marry@expeditionswithjo.com and it gets fixed.