Getting to your Cayman Cruise Wedding

Getting on a tender to go ashore
Originally uploaded by gailf548

Grand Cayman does not have a cruise terminal, although its in the works. You have to take a small boat called a 'tender' to get to the cruise landing.

Once you get ashore, I will meet you and take you to my spacious air-conditioned office where you can relax and get ready for your wedding in our Bridal Room while I go and apply for your Special Marriage License.

You will be married and enjoying George Town in less than two hours. Visit my new website at www.cayman-islands-weddings.com for FAQs, lots of pictures, application forms and contact details,

Cheers!

Joy

Meet your Cayman Wedding Officiant here

Downtown Fountain
Originally uploaded by CaymanIsBest

I wanted to show you the fountain near where I meet my wedding couples. These are the instructions to meet me. When you arrive in Grand Cayman the tender will bring you to the Rayal Watler Cruise landing.

When you exit this area, turn right. You will walk past a large white church, then Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. Keep walking about 100 yards and you will see a red-roofed building. This is Bayshore Mall, and this is where the fountain is located, on Harbour Drive.

The Simply Weddings SUV and your Cayman Islands Marriage Officer will be waiting for you, just walk through the mall til you see the Hagen Daaz cafe.

Find out lots of FAQs, check our wedding packages, and download our application form and contact details on my new website http://www.cayman-islands-weddings.com

Thunder Bay Couple tie the Knot in Grand Cayman

This couple have recently arrived with their son, to live and work in Grand Cayman. They were referred to me by another couple I had married recently. Because they are residents, they had to be married by Banns, and not a Special Marriage License.

Getting married by Banns, means that the couple must come in and see me for an interview and to provide the documentation necessary for their Cayman Islands wedding. The Banns must be published, in this case outside my Registry Office for 7 clear days.

This is the basic difference between a visitor wedding, and a resident's wedding. Whether you live here, or are visiting you still have to get a Registered Marriage Certificate, and in the case of clients who are married by Special Marriage License, my company gets this and mails it to you as part of your Cayman wedding package.

This afternoon at My Secret Cove

Saying their vows

Signing the Marriage Register

The wedding was witnessed by a Guyanese couple I had married last December. Since this couple knew limited people, I was happy that we managed to get another of my couples to be the witnesses required by law.

Joy congratulates the newly-weds

Please visit my website at www.cayman-islands-weddings.com to see lots of weddings and to book your wedding with Simply Weddings today.

Half-Way Around the World for this Cayman Island Wedding

It was a beautiful,quiet afternoon on Seven Mile Beach. After some heavy showers, the beach was virtually deserted, and just before sunset, the light was remarkable for this Saturday afternoon wedding.

The couple were visiting from Muscat, Oman. They told me they had been together for 18 years. I did a traditional wedding ceremony with the 1 Corinthians reading "Love is patient..." in the new English version.

The beauty of Seven Mile Beach at sunset never fails to touch my heart.

The bride's friend did the decorating, with lots of orange rosebuds set in conch shells, draping tiki torches, and the bridal bouquet.

The decorations were simple, yet elegant

The beach at the Island Club, the happy couple and friends

The "proof" shot. In the background the Island Club condominiums, a great place to stay right on Seven Mile Beach, and a great place to be married.

"We did it!"

This condo complex , the Island Club is "wedding friendly" and so I want to give them a plug. Believe it or not, not all the condominium complexes on Seven Mile Beach allow weddings, or vow renewals on their beach, and some of them are nasty about it.

If you are staying a condo, be sure to ask whether they allow wedding ceremonies on their beach before you book. You can also check with Simply Weddings to see what our experience with that particular condo has been. Another option of course, is to rent a villa if a private beach wedding is a pre-requisite for your Cayman Islands destination wedding.

Please note that Simply Weddings is experiencing difficulties as we transition to our new website, so bookmark our new site here and be sure and visit for lots of informations, FAQs and to download the application form needed to book your Cayman wedding or vow renewal.

Why this Wisconsin Couple Chose Grand Cayman for their Wedding

I have quite a few clients from Wisconsin, and Minnesota and I'm glad to know that my blog is reaching the mid-west. I try to blog as many weddings as I can, but often it boils down to whether or not I have the pictures I need to tell your wedding story.

I love when brides have the opportunity to have their dad walk them down the (beach) aisle

When there is a large group of family and friends, I like to have them form two lines and clap the bride and her escort down the aisle to the groom and his bestman. This group were all good sports, and that's why they all had a good time and made the wedding fun.

Governor's Beach today for a large group wedding

The bride and groom had requested a Unity Sand Ceremony which would involve the bride's young son.

This turned out to be one of the most beautiful Memory Vases I had seen.

The bride told me that they picked Grand Cayman because they wanted a simple, casual wedding which their family could enjoy. When I left them they were all getting ready to go for a swim and enjoy Seven Mile Beach before rejoining their cruise ship and heading for the next port.

Hamming it up in Grand Cayman, the gang's all here!

Thank you Daniel, for your wonderful pictures today

These pictures were taken on my Olympus camera by Daniel, who did an excellent job in capturing the whole event. So today's blog-post was brought to you by Joy & Daniel.

I hope that you will visit my new website Simply Weddings - Grand Cayman. Here you will find lots of answers to your Frequently Asked Questions, tips for your Destination Wedding in Grand Cayman, and most importantly, Contact Us forms and other neat things.

Of course you can get right to us by emailing mywedding@candw.ky as well.

How to make sure your Cayman Islands wedding is legal.

The question I am asked most often by visitors who want to be married in the Cayman Islands is "Will my marriage be legal when I get back home?"

Joy, a Civil Registrar, with a newly married couple, and their two witnesses to the marriage

Every so often I try and address this question, and this is what you have to do, in easy steps.

1. You have to get a Cayman Islands licensed Civil Registrar/Marriage Officer to perform your wedding ceremony, and then register your wedding with our public records office (also known as the General Registry).

2. You will need a Special Marriage License issued by the Governor's Office, which gives you permission to be married in the Cayman Islands once certain requirements have been met.

3. This Special Marriage License is issued to the Civil Registrar/Marriage Officer who must sign off that your documentation is correct.

4. The Cayman Islands Marriage Law requires your Civil Registrar/Marriage Officer to give you a "Certified Copy of the Marriage Register" at the time of your wedding ceremony. THIS IS NOT YOUR LEGAL MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE.

5. As soon as possible after your wedding ceremony, your Civil Registrar/Marriage Officer will file your marriage with the government authorities.

6. Immediately after the filing you will be able to get a Registered Marriage Certificate, which shows that you have been legally married in the Cayman Islands, and that your marriage has been registered with the public records office.

7. Your Cayman Islands Civil Registrar/Marriage Officer or your wedding planner should arrange for this document to be posted or delivered to you within days of your wedding.

8. Your know you have the correct document if it looks like this:

• the reverse has the words "Secure Copy"
• the front of the Registered Marriage Certificate has all your details, the names of your witnesses, and the name of your Civil Registrar/Marriage Officer.
• on the left hand side you will see a number and some initials eg VJB 501 This tells you that that particular wedding was number 501 for that Marriage Officer/Civil Registrar.
• the coloured Coat of Arms of the Cayman Islands is a watermark in the middle of the document.
• On the bottom right you will see the raised seal of the Registrar General.

If you have lost your Registered Marriage Certificate or if you neglected to get one from your Marriage Officer, you can email me at mywedding@candw.ky

Simply Weddings- Grand Cayman Wedding Celebrants and Planners is the company of choice for visitors and residents wishing to get married in Cayman. Our wedding packages all include the legal requirements for your Cayman wedding, including the Registered Marriage Certificate.

Cayman Islands residents must be married by Banns of Marriage, following the an interview and the completion of a document called a "Notice of Marriage". Call the Simply Weddings office at (345)949-9933 to make an appointment. Residents are responsible for obtaining their own Registered Marriage Certificate from the General Registry, Citrus Grove, Goring Avenue, GT unless special arrangements have been made with the Simply Weddings office.

The Fierce Dinosaur & The Other Lovely Dinosaur on Seven Mile Beach

At first this appeared to be just another vow renewal on Seven Mile Beach. In fact, it was quite a special afternoon. The couple who were accompanied by their 7 year old daughter, were celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary. They are from Pensford, Bristol in the United Kingdom and were vacationing in Grand Cayman.

Mother and daughter had matching dresses & bouquets

The wife is a wedding photographer in the UK and Rebecca Davidson, Cayman's premier wedding photography shot the event. (These unofficial shots, I hastened to say, were shot by me on my Olympus 370).

What made the event so special was that the wife read a story about "The Fierce Dinosaur and The Other Lovely Dinosaur" which touched everyone and reduced us all to tears, since it was light-hearted but full of significance for them. The husband, not to be out-done composed and read an original poem called "Seven Mile Beach" for his wife.

Signing of the Vow Renewal Certificate

The Certificate has the details of the couple, date, place and is signed by witnesses and countersigned by me as the celebrant.

Toasting the occasion with champagne and sparkling cider

Mary Molly Hydes beach is part of Seven Mile Beach

This couple put a lot of thought into making this a special afternoon for each other and their daughter. Special touches made it an afternoon that everyone who took part will remember.

Please visit my new website Simply Weddings - Grand Cayman for details on weddings, and vow renewals in the Cayman Islands. There you will find answers to Frequently Asked Questions on Destination Weddings, cruise weddings, visitor weddings and resident weddings. You can download our booking form, view pictures and testimonials and choose from many beautiful beach and other locations for your wedding ceremony in the Cayman Islands.