I am a USC and married my wife in Lima in August. It is complicated and took months to take care of everything. Luckly her municipality worked with us a little, and we still were down to the wire getting the tramites(beauracratic paperwork) completed. We had both a civil and catholic wedding.
Luckily, my state, Maryland, will provide a certificate of no marriage, for a low low cost of around $100. I also had to get a notarized copy of my passport, take it to the county courthouse to get the notarization certified. Same with a paper which gave my wife the right to operate on my behalf in Lima which I had faxed earlier so they would at least start the process. I also requested a new copy of my birth certificate from the state. After everything was certified at the courthouse, except the state documents since they already had the state seal on them, I went to DC to the Peruvian consulate. $30 a page, and a few hours of waiting, and they were legalized for use in Peru. I then overnighted these documents(another $70), along with new original I had obtained of my baptism and confirmation to Lima. Luckily the churh down there took the other documents, including a pre-marriage investigation and counseling by fax, when faxed directly from my church here.
I arrived in Lima on a Thursday, my parents came as well. We had a big wedding, close to 200 people in a private club. My parents and myself were my family's total at the function . We had a lot to do, I arrived at 5 in the morning, and had to go for a blood and saliva test at the muncilpalidad. They waved the 8 day restriction after much complaining by my wife, since we wanted to use my vacation time for a honeymoon week after the wedding, it had been 10 months apart. Then we had to produce a certificate saying I lived with her parents in Lima, we grabbed a notary, took him to her house, and showed our proof that it was my residence, of which there was none, but only he knew, and he was being paid . The only way this happened was a bribe by her friend's father who was a lawyer there. So we return to the notary's office and he prepares the legal documentation.
We were planning on a civil wedding on Friday and the religous was all set for Saturday night. The municipalidad wanted more paperwork, and the blood tests ended up not being ready Friday. We ran around and finished the paperwork Friday, I don't remember all they wanted but is was pretty easy, just waiting in some lines. I think they make up the paperwork requirements as they go, because the list kept changing, so it is impossible to be prepared for everything ahead of time.
Anyway, we were married at a civil ceremony in the municipalidad with both of our immediate families present(except of course my brothers and sisters that couldn't make it to Peru). After that we seperated and she got prepared, and did the bridal photos, while I memorized my spanish lines for the wedding that night in my room at the private club. It all went great and we had our honeymoon. Unfortunately, some of the last paperwork I needed to sign with her local church wasn't completed. A priest form a different church near the private club performed the ceremony and aparently they didn't communicate very efficiently. So we were able to lie to the priest at her church and sign the papers as if we hadn't been married yet. Yeah lying to a priest, I know...
But all is well, in the end I have both the Peruvian and Catholic marriage certificates for the visa process. I figure the Catholic certificate shows we went through the extra process since it requires consultations and counseling. Oh, and of course just the cost of getting all of the correct documentation was probably more than total fees I'll be paying for the visa. Much easier to do a US wedding $35 bucks and 10 minutes in the courthouse in my state.
Getting Married in Lima, Peru
in Mexico, Latin & South America
Posted
I am a USC and married my wife in Lima in August. It is complicated and took months to take care of everything. Luckly her municipality worked with us a little, and we still were down to the wire getting the tramites(beauracratic paperwork) completed. We had both a civil and catholic wedding.
Luckily, my state, Maryland, will provide a certificate of no marriage, for a low low cost of around $100. I also had to get a notarized copy of my passport, take it to the county courthouse to get the notarization certified. Same with a paper which gave my wife the right to operate on my behalf in Lima which I had faxed earlier so they would at least start the process. I also requested a new copy of my birth certificate from the state. After everything was certified at the courthouse, except the state documents since they already had the state seal on them, I went to DC to the Peruvian consulate. $30 a page, and a few hours of waiting, and they were legalized for use in Peru. I then overnighted these documents(another $70), along with new original I had obtained of my baptism and confirmation to Lima. Luckily the churh down there took the other documents, including a pre-marriage investigation and counseling by fax, when faxed directly from my church here.
I arrived in Lima on a Thursday, my parents came as well. We had a big wedding, close to 200 people in a private club. My parents and myself were my family's total at the function
. We had a lot to do, I arrived at 5 in the morning, and had to go for a blood and saliva test at the muncilpalidad. They waved the 8 day restriction after much complaining by my wife, since we wanted to use my vacation time for a honeymoon week after the wedding, it had been 10 months apart. Then we had to produce a certificate saying I lived with her parents in Lima, we grabbed a notary, took him to her house, and showed our proof that it was my residence, of which there was none, but only he knew, and he was being paid 
. The only way this happened was a bribe by her friend's father who was a lawyer there. So we return to the notary's office and he prepares the legal documentation.
We were planning on a civil wedding on Friday and the religous was all set for Saturday night. The municipalidad wanted more paperwork, and the blood tests ended up not being ready Friday. We ran around and finished the paperwork Friday, I don't remember all they wanted but is was pretty easy, just waiting in some lines. I think they make up the paperwork requirements as they go, because the list kept changing, so it is impossible to be prepared for everything ahead of time.
Anyway, we were married at a civil ceremony in the municipalidad with both of our immediate families present(except of course my brothers and sisters that couldn't make it to Peru). After that we seperated and she got prepared, and did the bridal photos, while I memorized my spanish lines for the wedding that night in my room at the private club. It all went great and we had our honeymoon. Unfortunately, some of the last paperwork I needed to sign with her local church wasn't completed. A priest form a different church near the private club performed the ceremony and aparently they didn't communicate very efficiently. So we were able to lie to the priest at her church and sign the papers as if we hadn't been married yet. Yeah lying to a priest, I know...
But all is well, in the end I have both the Peruvian and Catholic marriage certificates for the visa process. I figure the Catholic certificate shows we went through the extra process since it requires consultations and counseling. Oh, and of course just the cost of getting all of the correct documentation was probably more than total fees I'll be paying for the visa. Much easier to do a US wedding $35 bucks and 10 minutes in the courthouse in my state.