non-denominational officiant? and some other questions

[ITmickey]

Hello all,

We are planning a disney wedding for december next year, and I've been lurking the wedding TR's for a while, and have learned a lot, being one of them that we grooms posting here are a minority ( I saw that in another TR)

Anyhow, the question I wanted to ask if someone knows/recommends a non-denominational officiant. DSTBW and myself believe in a greater something/someone, but do not want to get married 'by the church', just by 'the law' (civil wedding is the name?) adding some vows we are taking from a book, referencing that something/someone.

Also this other one may come as a silly question, but we are
from south of the border (and I don't mean that place up florida road ) and things are a little diferent here, regarding wedding laws.
Would that kind (non-denominational) of officiant/ceremony would be recognized by florida law, to get the legal status of married couple? We need some 'official' recognition/document in order for us to validate the wedding back here in Mexico.

We have read about getting the marriage license but we are unaware if there's a proceeding we should follow after the ceremony to 'register' the wedding.

I hope the last question was not very confusing

Thanks in advance for anyone that can help

 

[StitchBride]

We went with Rev. Jack Day for non-denominational....there was no talk of anything religous, just about family and happiness and love which worked for us. He lets you pick from a bunch of example ceremonies or completely write you own. I pilfered from all over the place but stuck with mostly traditional vows. I don't know how it actually works for non-US citizens, as far as filing, but in FL, you apply for a license, which you use at your ceremony, whatever ceremony you want, but someone authorized by the state of Florida, and they sign it and typically mail it in for you. About 2 weeks later, you get your actual marriage license

HTH!

 

[hiwaygal]

Hi ITmickey!

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

Nearly all of the officiants Disney recommends are happy to perform the ceremony to your requirements.

We were kind of in the same situation as you, we believe in a higher power, but didn't feel comfortable with a full on religious ceremony. We used Rev. Kevin Knox and he also provided a packet of information that actually had two different ceremonies in it one religious and one civil. There are also special touches you can add that are described in his packet (how to include children, how to remember loved ones who have passed, etc.).

We used his civil ceremony as a basis and added some touches of our own (bits and pieces of stuff we liked that we found on the web). We asked that he not wear his robes or any "religious uniform" for our very casual ceremony and he was fine with that.

I'm not real sure of how things work in Mexico with regard to making sure the marriage is legal. In the US officiants are usually registered with the state to perform wedding ceremonies and they sign the license and send it back to the local courthouse to make it all official.

In our case, we actually were legally married here at home just a few days prior to our Disney wedding (this worked out to be cheaper for us, Florida licenses were about three times more than what we paid in our home state). If you decide to get your marriage license in Florida, I think I would contact the county courthouse (I believe Osceola is the nearest) and ask about their requirements for international couples. Here are the phone numbers for two in the Orlando area:
Osceola County, Florida
2 Courthouse Square, Kissimmee, Florida Phone: (407) 343-3530

Orange County, Florida
425 N. Orange Avenue, RM#355, Orlando, FL Phone: (407) 836-2067

You can also ask your Disney coordinator as I'm sure they've dealt with this a lot!

Hope that helps!

 

[ITmickey]

StitchBride and Hiwaygal:

Thank you very much for your answers! They come in helpful.

What happens is, here in Mexico a religious wedding is not recognized by the state. Basically, the civil one is mandatory to get the married status for all things legal (it is commonly performed by someone directly working for the courthouse, title is 'civil judge'). If besides that, you want to perform a 'church' or religious wedding, is up to you. But if you marry only by the rules of your church or denomination, the state does not recognize it. Thus my confussion.. But as you both made clear, Florida State hands over a document saying I got married by someone recognized by the state, then I'm ok and mexican goverment will be happy.

This explanation was just for general information purposes

Again, thank you very much for the info!!!