Just in case you need any, here's some useful general information about Overseas marriages and civil partnerships and How to apply for a Certificate of No Impediment (CNI)
including the British Embassy appointment system and how to apply.
The CNI is available from your local registry office. It takes 22 days from time of application. It's 21 days for the 'bans'.
Please do remember the CNI has only 3 months validity, so don't get it too early.
I suggest you always check for the latest information for paperwork needed etc but in principle to apply for the Marriage License in the Philippines you should consider having the following:-
Your birth certificate
Your passport
Your C.N.I.
Your NSO CENOMAR (if needed, please check well beforehand)
Your Divorce decree asbsolute (if applicable)
Certificate of 'Pre-Marriage Seminar' (if needed, please check well beforehand)
Her N.S.O. birth certificate (This should be fresh from NSO on latest type of security paper. Check)
Her Passport (or other appropriate ID)
Her Barangay clearance (if needed, please check well beforehand)
Her community tax certificate (often called Cedula)
Her postal I.D. Address
Her CENOMAR
Her Parents signed advice form (for under 25 years)
Her Parents I.D.
Documentation costs:-
CNI - (Certificate of No Impediment to Marry) costs is about £30 from your local registry office.
Present this document to the British Embassy in the Philippines to be issued a Philippine version called a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry.
This certificate is needed for the application of a marriage license.
The cost I have is £65.00 or P4,680.00 (at British Embassy rates)
Many Brits are now reporting that you may well be required to obtain a your own CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage) from NSO (National Statistics Office) so you would be well advised to include this contingency as well.(Better to check)
Cost of NSO CENOMAR is around P415.00 per copy each
NSO Birth Certificate - (This should be fresh from NSO on latest type of security paper. Check) Cost is around P315.00 per copy
Marriage License - Apply for this in your fiancée's home town at the registry office. (or locality of where marriage will take place)
You might also be requested to attend the "Pre-Marriage Seminar" counselling sessions prior to being allowed to be married. Check and ask when you apply for the marriage license
The cost for obtaining a marriage license varies from place to place, but it's not too expensive. Usually it's paid in cash.
Application for Marriage License is typically around P100.00 with some miscellaneous charges around P50.00 and possible Family Planning Seminar around P20.00
Do remember that after you apply for the marriage license there is a mandatory 10 day waiting period while the marriage banns are published
Through the whole process always take extra time to very carefully and very thoroughy check and read through all paper work at each step before signing anything. If there are any typing errors/mistakes/mismatches it can cost you dear in both time and money.
You should reckon on allowing some cash for copying etc. Not too much say P300 max
Now to the wedding itself.
I guess the first thing to agree is location, which is all important for a number of reasons
Often the location will determine the number of people who may actually "turn-up". The number of your guests plays a great part in your wedding cost.
On a very tight budget be sure to cut down your guest list. Let your fiancee do this.
Making estimates of wedding costs is very tricky (almost impossible) but I'm going to have bash at estimating a a rough guide on what I would consider doing it on the CHEAP
A civil marriage at the city hall, with minimum of guests and minimum of neenangs and neenongs as witnesses, followed by a small party at a local restaurant.
- Wedding Rings. Plain gold bands can be bought for around P6000 for two
- Wedding clothes. Why not try buying ready-to-wear wedding dress for her and nice barong for you from a local market (Divisoria) or
similar. You're sure to find something reasonable for around P5000 for the two of you.
Alternatively why not consider renting.
Plenty of couples even get married in regular everyday clothing. Why not?
- Reception and wedding cake. As you know people love to eat in the Phils. They may well forget about your beautiful wedding, but they
will never forget the food . There's plenty of ways to have a great reception without overspending or sacrificing food quality.
Plenty of restaurants offer special wedding party deals ( even Max's Chicken). Let me suggest a budget of P10,000
An 'alternative' (but nice) wedding cake will be around P1000 - P1500. Of course eventually it's actually a non-essential
- Photographer - P1500 - P2500. Or just DIY for free with the guests
- Flowers/Bouquets - estimate for simple and basic around P1000
- Give-aways. Around P1000 (keep it simple and limited to just parents)
- Local transportation - I know its not essential but it's nice especially if wearing a wedding gown, right? Think air-conditioned taxi or
similar to handle everyone on an 'as needed' basis. Maybe P1000
So basically the whole of the above for around P30,000 which roughly equates to around £450 at todays rates.
Not too bad. Especially as there's a lot of things I've listed that you can very easily do without. Or probably your fiancee and friends can find much cheaper.
Hope it helps the positivity
Good luck
