Documents

Getting married in the Philippines specifically in the church is not as easy as 1-2-3. There are list of requirements that one has to complete and submit before you can get married to the one you love.

Even before, I already know what are the required documents in getting married. It was part of our religion subject and also Philippine Constitution subject. And, I know the requirements for mixed marriages will be more. I inquired about it as soon as I got back here in Bangladesh, a few days after the proposal. I know it will be tougher because 1) i'm based overseas for almost 5 years now, and 2) I have a foreigner groom - and for this two reasons why we fall under "Chancery Case". This is also the same reasons why I need a good head start in processing the documents. And, I'm so glad I just did, because at least now, I know what are the documents required and where to get them, the validity dates, the schedules for Pre-Cana seminar and Canonical Interview, and even arranged with HR already my vacation leave.

In my previous post, I mentioned the roadblock I'm facing but God is really good. I'm now a little bit relax because He heard our prayers and now our schedules are fixed accordingly because the Chancery agreed with our request. As we intend to have our church wedding at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in New Manila, it falls under the Diocese of Cubao. Thus, I have to submit all our requirements there. The staff is very helpful and understanding. I only communicated to them through email.

The requirements varies from case to case. We plan to get married civilly before I go back home in order to skip some process like personal appearance in the Embassy because we don't really have the liberty of time. In our case, this are the required documents:

1. Birth Certificate or population extract - from NSO (National Statistics Office) or your county recorder/City Corporation. They only accepts the one from NSO and not the one from the LOcal/Municipal Registrar.

2. photocopy of passport

3. 2 pieces of recent 2x2 ID picture

4. Baptismal & Confirmation Certificate - newly issued and original copies with "For Marriage Purposes" notation

5. Certification of Freedom to Marry - newly issued; certificate from the Parish where I am based now, certifying that I don't have any Canonical Impediment and we are free to marry. WE, bride & groom, both need to have this.

6. Certification of Search of Marriage or Certification of Singleness - any equivalent document which will prove that a public record of marriage does not exist. The groom needs to get this prior to our intended Civil wedding. Can obtain it from the Foreign Affairs Department.

7. Certification of No Marriage or CENOMAR - obtain it from NSO. This is for the bride, certifying there's no record of marriage, with a annotation "For Marriage Purpose".

8. Certificate of Marriage - newly issued from the City Registrar. Will have to register it at the Philippine Embassy, and according to them, it takes 1-2 months until I get my Registered/Authenticated copy.

9. Publication of 3 Sunday Banns - 2 to 3 months before the wedding it has to be publish in my parish in Vigan and Quezon City, because I maintain residency to both place.

10. Pre Cana or Pre-Marriage Course Certificate - will have to schedule it with the Parish here since i'm here most of the time. We already inquired about it and they just require us to submit a letter from our respective Parish that we are getting married and we need to attend a Pre-Cana Seminar.

11. Application for "Clearance to Marry"- We have to submit all the documents mentioned above to the Chancery, and we have to attend a Canonical Interview 5 days before our wedding at Mt. Carmel and submit the result also to the Chancery. After all this things, it is only then the Chancery will give us the "Clearance to Marry" that we will then submit to Mt. Carmel.

As for the Church requirements, except for the List of Principal Sponsors and part of entourage, I hope it's all just the same requirements.

The Chancery granted my request regarding the validity months of the documents. Standard validity months is 6 months old, meaning your wedding date should be within the 6 months from the issuance of the documents, but for my case, the Chancery allowed me more than that since I'm not based in manila and they also allowed us to have the Canonical interview 4 days before our wedding :-)

So, my simple advice to overseas bride like me or to mixed marriages, inquire as soon as possible to the Parish for your requirements. It varies depending on your status/case.
images are all grabbed from google