Marriage License Requirements: Getting Married in the Philippines

Hi guys! I'm getting married in a month's time and I have been asked countless times on what are the requirements that couples need in order to get their marriage license. So I decided to blog about it.


What I did a week after I got engaged is I went to the office of the City Registrar and immediately asked for a copy of the requirements needed. This is the paper that they gave me.

The ones double checked are what I needed... 

CENOMAR*
BIRTH CERTIFICATE*
2 Valid IDs* (but they say 1 ID would suffice. Preferably 2 should be presented still)
Cedular*

*Both Original and 2 photocopies of each must be provided as mentioned by the staff. But based on my experience, they only got one copy each. But just make sure you make photocopies of all your requirements to make the filing process faster.


Oh I must mention that I am getting married by Christian rites because my fiance is Christian. So compared to those who are getting married in a Church, we have lesser requirements. For Catholic weddings, I heard that they need to secure proof that the couple has undergone PRECANA - which the church calls the Catholic Marriage Preparation program. This is conducted on a Saturday and Sunday.

The couple must both be present in the office of the City Registrar when they fill up the forms. Now filling up the forms won't take long. But the line in paying the 400 peso Marriage License fee was the killer! Based on our experience, the line was like a snake! It took us almost an hour just to pay for the fee. After paying, we went back to where we filled up the forms and we were told to get the license after 10 days. We just got our license last week! Exciting :)


Hope this helps. Congratulations in advance :)

xoxo,

AVI