Getting Married in Peru: The Wedding!

What a week! I am now a married woman, since Jorge and I tied the knot last Thursday. It was a wonderful week, if a bit stressful, and some part of me still can't believe that I'm married.

We had a civil ceremony, which is the Peruvian equivalent of getting married at City Hall. The difference is that here, everyone is required by law to get married at the City Hall, and then you can have a religious ceremony if you want. Most Peruvians have a simple civil ceremony, and then have the big religious wedding at a later time when they can afford to throw the kind of party they want. Some couples put this off so long that to me it really seems like more of a renewal of vows (after 5 years you can hardly call it a wedding surely), but to each his own I guess. Jorge and I aren't planning to wait that long!

It was great to have my mom, my sister and my brother in town for the wedding . Even though it was a busy few days, we managed to get some tourism in and eat at some great restaurants. The night before the ceremony, all the friends and family went out for drinks so everybody could meet each other before the actual wedding. Unbeknownst to us, the next day was Pisco Sour day, so there was a film crew at the bar and they interviewed me. So, in addition to getting married, that weekend was my Peruvian TV debut. (Please don't look it up.)

The morning of the wedding, the ladies had our hair and makeup done in the hotel and then it was off to get married! Our wedding was at 2 in the afternoon so it was peak sun time. The poor men, including my dear husband, were suffering in their suits, and I wasn't faring much better even in my knee-length dress. We had the photo shoot before the wedding, so Jorge and I went off to have pictures taken while our guests chatted.

Finally, we all went into the 'marriage hall' where there was a desk and four chairs at the front of the room for the bride and groom and their witnesses. The chairs had their back facing the guests which I found kind of strange. The ceremony itself was short and sweet, and consisted of the officiant reading the articles of Peru's constitution pertaining to the rights and responsibilities that go along with marriage. It's some pretty romantic stuff. Then we all had to sign the marriage documents and we were married! We decided to exchange rings and read our own vows in order to make the ceremony more personal - definitely my favorite part. The whole thing lasted between five and ten minutes, and then it was time for the toast!

After about a million more pictures and some champagne, we all went to a restaurant to eat. At this point, due to the heat, the anticipation and excitement of the day, and the fact that I hadn't eaten since breakfast, I was about ready to keel over from hunger and exhaustion. After we had a delicious meal and a cold beer, it was time to say goodbye to the guests and go back to the hotel. I shared a cab with my family to their hotel while Jorge followed in a separate taxi - only four people can fit in one cab, at least for long rides. We hung out a bit there and looked at pictures, and then Jorge and I made our way to the hotel we had reserved for that night to take a catnap before dinner. The hotel was really fancy - thanks Groupon for making that happen.

All in all, a successful wedding! It was great to finally meet Jorge's family and to be able to show my family around a little bit. It would have been nice to have my father and my brother Tom in town, but that's the rub when you get married so far away from home.

I couldn't be more excited to start my life together with the amazing man I married. In fact, I'm so excited that I'm going to stop writing this and go and tell him again how happy I am with him.

Getting Married in Peru: Paperwork and Preparations

 Jorge and I got married last Thursday! It was a simple ceremony, but the whole thing was really nice especially because my family was able to come down for it. But I'm getting ahead of myself - the next post will be about the actual wedding, but this post is about the paperwork side of things.

Getting married in Peru is surprisingly easy compared to other official government processes. In terms of paperwork, it's much less burdensome than getting your carnet de extranjería (residence permit), requiring fewer documents and fewer steps overall. And the greatest part is, you don't have to pay anything at the Banco de la Nación, Peru's central bank that always has lines around the block. That said, nothing in Peru is ever easy peasy lemon squeezy, and we did have a few hiccups before finally sorting everything out.

Finally, making things official!

Every district has slightly different requirements, but here were the requirements for Surco:

1. Official birth certificate, issued in the last three months and apostilled (if you are from a country that is a Hague Convention signer)
2. Certificado de soltería, or a sworn statement of singlehood. You can get this from the U.S. Embassy (and pay a bundle) or in the U.S. county where you have permanent residence. If it's the latter, then it also has to be apostilled. I believe this also has to be less than three months old.
3. The two documents above must be translated by an official translator licensed by the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), then taken to the Ministerio to get the translation 'legalized'. (I guess they don't trust their own translators?)

Here's a list of official translators by district: http://www.rree.gob.pe/servicioalciudadano/Documents/Listado_Ingles.pdf

4. A copy of your partner's birth certificate.
5. A certificate from the district's clinic - you have your blood drawn, they take an X-ray, and then you go back the next day where they 'counsel' you and give you your certificate. Supposedly, they talk to you about pregnancy planning and STDs, but they just explained our blood types and that was it.
6. A carnet-sized photo of each person, which can be taken at any photo store and most supermarkets.
7. A copy of your passport or carnet (more on that below) and copy of your partner's DNI (national identity card), both notarized.
8. You will also need two witnesses for the wedding, who should go with you to fill out the paperwork and bring a copy of their carnet / DNI.
9. Finally, the district will issue a marriage announcement that can be published in any newspaper. You have to buy the newspaper and bring in the entire page (no cuttings) with the marriage announcement to finalize your paperwork.

I have no idea what the administrative costs are to get married in the US, but here it's not too bad. The documents you need as a foreigner and the translation will probably be the most costly thing about it. From what I can remember, here were the costs of each step:

My birth cert and apostille were about $25 together, plus express shipping to my home state;
The record search and apostille for my certificado de soltería were $10 in total (but if you go to the US Embassy in Lima it'll cost you $30 or more);
The translation for both documents was S/.160 (about $50), but I was quoted much higher prices by other translators so shop around!;
The legalization fee was S/.33 per document, a total of about $20 (the costs add up for these documents for foreigners as you can see);
The medical exam was S/.35 per person, or about $10 per person;
The wedding announcement was S/.45, or about $15;
The fee for the municipality was somewhere around S/.200 ($70) since we were both residents of Surco and we had the ceremony during normal business hours. This included an extra half hour for a toast in the room where they do the weddings;
Plus a lot of money spent on taxis to and from the various places we needed to be.

You need some additional documents if you are divorced or widowed, but that's about it. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? The tricky part is in the fact that I have not once, ever, received correct information here the first time I asked. So you need to constantly be asking and double-checking to make sure you actually have all the requirements. For example, I was told using my passport would be preferable to using my carnet. I was doubtful, but since the lady insisted so many times that that was indeed correct, I used my passport number on the health certificate. Then, when we went to present our documents, she asked why my passport had no exit date written on my last entrance stamp. I pointed out that it was because I had entered with my carnet and therefore was allowed to be here until that was no longer valid. She frowned and told me that if there was no date on the passport stamp, I had to use my carnet. Cue incredulous look and strong desire to throw things. So we had to go back to the clinic and have them re-issue the document, and then return to the district office before they could reserve our wedding date. In the grand scheme of things, not such a big deal, but I was pretty annoyed since I had specifically asked this very question.

So there you have it! If you can manage to do all that without losing your cool at least once, then marriage should be a breeze.