Getting married abroad? Do you have all of your documents in place?

If you and your significant other have decided on a wedding or civil partnership overseas, you may need to have your identity documents, declarations or certificates of no impediment authenticated and have apostilles attached.

All of these things are achievable, but they do take time, something that must be factored in when booking your big day.

If you've engaged the services of a wedding planner in your chosen location, they'll tell you exactly what you need and what needs to be done. Every country has its own rules and procedures that need to be followed in order to ensure that the wedding or civil partnership can take place and, crucially, is legally binding.

In Las Vegas - where I got married - you still need to go to the local court to obtain a marriage licence. I went in my wedding dress on the way to the chapel! Other countries require a lot more paperwork, all of which will be needed and presented in the correct way. For example, if you need a certificate of no impediment this takes 30 days to be issued by your local registrar. It then needs to have an apostille attached with this taking on average a week when factoring postage times. You also need to make sure that you do not complete the documents too early as they need to be done within a set time before the nuptials take place.

Some documents need to be notarised, such as declarations that you make, others need only to have an apostille issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office attached, some need both. You may need to provide certificates of no impediment, birth certificates, proof of name changes and proof of address to name just a few and it really does depend on your destination.

If you need notarisation to help make your big day happen, please do not hesitate to get in touch.