Hello, I plan to get married in the philipines in march. I need to know how long I need to stay there so I can book my flight. I will fly to manila and go to the britsh embassy to give my https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa.../Affirmation_of_marital_status_March_2014.doc and then get a flight to cebu, hopefully on the same day. If I booked a flight for 3 weeks would that be long enough to get married. We are looking to get a civil marrage. Also wondering how long it will take to get the marriage certificate after we have got married as I believe we need it for the spouse visa we are looking to apply for next year. Many thanks for taking the time to read and help. Tristram.
Hi... Allow more time than you think.. We married in the Phils and it took two trips, two weeks each. After the affidavit you need to attend a seminar...pre-marriage counselling. Sometimes the seminars are only held on certain days of the week. Where we married they were held just twice a month! You will need time to arrange everything too... remember we are talking Philippines time here. We had to be interviewed by the judge who married us before the wedding too...when she was available. I don't mean to sound negative or put you off I just want you to think about it and plan it very well. Good luck!
You need to work around that seminar date because it can really make a mess of your arrangements if you don't. Work backwards from the seminar date to allow you to do your affidavit the day after you arrive, and add ten days after the seminar - ten working days - to find out when your licence will be made available. Then of course you will need to book your venue. You will be stressed if you don't stretch this out to four weeks or 30 days. It's your wedding! Give yourself the luxury of time, rather than the massive pressure of trying to cram everything in to the absolute minimum.
The wedding certificate from the Barangay will take a couple of days to a couple of weeks. It's the NSO certificate which will take time. We paid a little extra <cough> to *accelerate* the process. Don't be too shy to ask, but be discreet about it. Your fiancee will guide you. There is a Filipino way of doing things. Trust your future wife to get it all organised. Do as I, and probably most of the husbands have done, and follow like a sheep. Let the women organise it while you sit in the shade and sip thoughtfully on a San Mig Lite or better still, a Red Horse.
(Some would say that as a Derby County fan (The Rams), I have an intimate knowledge of the subject of sheep.) My plan was for a civil wedding, no religion, 30 people maximum and a reception back at home in the house, lechon baboy and a bottle of JD, and crank up the videoke. I put my foot down on all of the above conditions. My obedient wife-to-be nodded her acquiescence, neatly sidestepped my firmly-placed foot and did it her way. She explained to me that firstly, were we to go back to the house,*anybody* could have come to the reception to wish us well, even if they didn't know either of us, and it would be our duty to feed and water them, and that no, I couldn't put armed guards on the gates to shoot gatecrashers or even taser them, and that upwards of 500 people might turn up once they heard the videoke, and yes, I would need at least half a dozen pigs, and worst of all my JD might get shared out. I capitulated and left it to her, and went and had a beer. So, I was married in a hotel function suite by a priest with 100 guests and the reception followed. There were candles and cushions and a veil and thirteen coins and I had not a Scooby Doo what was going on. The theme was a rather tropical pink and gold, which I helpfully and tactfully likened to something similar to an unfortunate explosion in Barbie's underwear drawer. Butterflies were everywhere. Hanging off the glassware, from the ceiling, stuck on the walls. We gave away our souvenirs (some garish plastic and glass Chinese-manufactured bingo prize) with our home-made seeded paper in the shape of a butterfly inside - (the seeds being for plants which would attract butterflies, and therefore give the green-fingered recipients another reminder of our day.) The priest was Ilocano, and even when he tried to speak English, I had no idea what he was saying, and neither did my Cebuano bride. The video of us taking our vows is hilarious, with us mumbling our responses like a pair of Drunk Elvis' into the microphone. Our dance afterwards, (for which we had rigorously practiced beforehand) failed to be the showstopper we planned as we failed to realise that marching my wife backwards and forwards during a natty foxtrot would prove to be a bit more difficult than we envisaged because my bride was now wearing a dress with an eight-foot long train. We also failed to take into account that short-of-stature Filipino guests would at the same time be attempting to pin money onto my suit. Discretion being the better part of valour, my impromptu insistence that we just sway in time to the music proved to be the correct thing to do, as permanent and serious injury was avoided, either to the happy couple (being impaled), nor guests (being trampled underfoot). But it all went well, and I couldn't have wished for a happier day nor a better wife. Trust your fiancee Tristram, and leave the arrangements to her. All you need to do is make sure that you're there for a month, brought your paperwork and your suit, shirt, tie and shoes and you'll be fine. And I hope, just as happy as we are. "Wise men say; Only fools rush in........"
Put a tear in my eye... through laughing! Nice one, I wish both of you all the happiness that love can bring
