Getting married in Antigua and Barbuda
Planning the day from somewhere else? I handle the licence, the documents and the travel, for you and for everyone flying in.
Antigua counts a beach for every day of the year, and the Georgian dockyard at English Harbour is still a working one. Barbuda next door is quieter still, with pink sand and almost nobody on it.
Timing
Little to no waiting once you land
Every country asks you to be on the ground for a set time before it will marry you, and Antigua and Barbuda sits at this end of the range. What exactly applies to the two of you depends on your circumstances, and sorting that out is where we start.
Best suited to: Couples who want the ceremony and the honeymoon in the same place, without a long run-up.
What Antigua and Barbuda actually requires
Antigua and Barbuda runs two different licences, and which one you use changes your trip from a fortnight to a couple of days. Visiting couples want the special licence.
Checked with the current published requirements in September 2026. Countries change their fees and their rules without announcing it, so treat this as a solid starting point rather than the last word.
The licence
Special Marriage Licence
Most visiting couplesWritten for non-residents. There is no fifteen day wait, and once the application and documents are accepted the licence is typically issued very quickly, often within a day.
Ordinary Marriage Licence
Requires at least fifteen consecutive days in the country immediately before you apply. Fine if you were already spending a long stay, impractical for most weddings.
How long you have to be there
On a special licence there is no residency period. You can apply soon after arrival, provided your documents are complete and in the right form.
Where it is handled
The Ministry of Legal Affairs. Both of you normally have to attend in person to sign the forms and declarations.
What to bring
- Valid passports for both of you, and be ready to show the pages carrying your entry stamps
- Original or certified birth certificates showing your parents' names
- If single, a declaration of single status, which is often sworn locally rather than brought with you
- If divorced, the original Decree Absolute or a certified copy under court seal
- If widowed, the previous marriage certificate together with the death certificate
- A Deed Poll or equivalent if either of you has changed name
- A notarised affidavit of parental consent if either of you is under 18
- A certified English translation of anything not already in English
What it costs the country
Expect the special licence to be in the region of US$150 at the time of writing, with the marriage officer charging separately, usually around US$100 more for a ceremony away from the court house. Fees are set by Antigua and Barbuda and change without notice.
What catches people out
None of these are hidden. They are just the things nobody thinks to check until they are standing at a counter with the wrong piece of paper.
Choosing the wrong licence is the expensive mistake here. The ordinary licence’s fifteen day residency has caught couples who booked a week and assumed one licence was the same as another.
Both of you normally have to appear at Legal Affairs in person, which means office hours, which means not a weekend and not a public holiday.
Some documents may be asked for notarised or apostilled even though many are not. It is worth confirming for your specific papers rather than assuming, because getting a document legalised from abroad takes weeks.
The single status declaration is usually sworn on the island. If you were planning to arrive the night before, that is one more thing competing for the same morning.
You can absolutely do this yourself
Everything above is on this page precisely so you can. Plenty of couples do, and if you are marrying in Antigua and Barbuda with two passports, two clean birth certificates and no previous marriages, it is not a hard process.
What I am for is the version that is not that. A certificate that does not say what it needs to say. A divorce in another country. Office hours that do not fit your flights. Thirty guests trying to reach the same island in the same week from four different airports. And a planner who needs briefing, chasing and paying while you are in another time zone.
Getting married in Antigua and Barbuda, in order
- 1
Before you fly
Gather passports, birth certificates, and the divorce or death paperwork if it applies. Decide at this stage that you are using the special licence, and build the trip around it.
- 2
Arriving
Give yourself a day or two before the ceremony. The law allows this to move quickly, but Legal Affairs keeps office hours and both of you have to be there.
- 3
The licence and the day
Complete the application, swear the single status declaration if you have not already, and collect the licence. Your marriage officer then conducts the ceremony and signs the register.
- 4
Afterwards
Request the official marriage certificate from the Registrar General or Legal Affairs. That is the document everything else depends on later.
What I take off you
I handle the legal side and the travel, and I bring in a local planner for the day itself so you are not managing that separately either.
- The marriage licence for Antigua and Barbuda, start to finish
- The exact document list for your situation, checked before you fly
- Flights into Antigua and Barbuda for the two of you and for guests coming from different countries
- Accommodation, including a block of rooms held together for your guests
- A local planner for the day itself, brought in and managed by me
- Airport transfers and moving everybody around on the day
- One travel page for your guests, so you stop answering the same question forty times
- The marriage certificate afterwards, legalised if you need it recognised outside Antigua and Barbuda
You don’t have to do this yourself
I can handle the licence, the documents and the travel for a wedding in Antigua and Barbuda 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.
A few corners of Antigua and Barbuda
Somewhere to start if you have not settled on a spot yet.
Nelson’s Dockyard
A UNESCO World Heritage site in English Harbour and the world’s only continuously working Georgian-era dockyard, with a museum, restaurants and historic naval buildings.
Shirley Heights
A hilltop lookout with panoramic views over English Harbour, best known for its Sunday evening steel-band and sunset party.
Devil’s Bridge
A natural limestone arch at Indian Town National Park, carved by the Atlantic. At high tide, waves force geysers of water through blowholes in the rock.
Betty’s Hope
Antigua’s first full-scale sugar plantation, with a restored working windmill and a visitor centre on its history.
Marrying in Antigua and Barbuda
How long do we have to be in Antigua and Barbuda before we can marry?
Little to no waiting once you land. The exact requirement depends on which licence applies to you and on your circumstances, and it is one of the first things I pin down, because it decides your flights and everybody’s leave.
What do we need to bring to Antigua and Barbuda?
That depends on where you were born, where you live now and whether either of you has been married before. The form the documents take matters as much as having them, and getting it wrong is what sends couples back to a registry a second time. I work out the exact list for your situation and check everything before you fly.
We are CARICOM nationals. Is it easier for us in Antigua and Barbuda?
Getting in is easier, and staying long enough is simpler. The marriage licence itself is the same process as for anyone else who does not live in Antigua and Barbuda, so do not assume free movement covers it.
Does marrying in Antigua and Barbuda let us live there?
No. Marrying in Antigua and Barbuda, or marrying a citizen, does not by itself give you the right to remain. That is a separate immigration question. If moving there is the real plan, tell me at the start and we sort both together.
Looking at more than one country? Compare the twelve and I will help you pick.
What it costs
$100
A Move Planning Consultation covering your wedding in Antigua and Barbuda, the licence, the documents and everybody’s travel, is $100, and it comes off the booking if you go ahead. Tell me what you have in mind and I will tell you what it actually takes.