Anyone gotten married in a third country?

Hiya~

Steven and I are considering having a destination wedding in the Caribbean, and surprisingly it seems that our families are ok with the idea and will come to it.  Just wondering if anyone else has done this and how they went about planning it.  Are there any extra visa concerns I should have?  

Apparently the UK and US both recognize legal weddings done in Jamaica, and you only have to be there one day before the wedding takes place.  Also, you just have to go and register the marriage certificate with the courthouse there after the wedding for it to be legalized.  So I think we should be ok for applying for the spousal visa.  

If you have done this, did you get legally married there or did you just have a vow renewal there after a legal wedding in the UK?  

OK, I just have way too many questions and seem to ask them over and over in different ways....sooooo sorry about that.  Just want to have all my bases covered, and other people's experience and advice is so valuable!

Doh'  It appears it may take up to 3 months to get a certified copy of my marriage certificate if done in Jamaica.....ARGH!  Guess we'll have a legal wedding in the UK after all OR maybe Florida...hehehe

Krissy, if you guys decide to marry in Florida, I could recommend a great place that we stayed at this past December in the Florida Keys. It was on Islamorada, and it's stunning. I have loads of pictures from our stay there. The resort is called The Cheeca Lodge and Spa. While we were there, there was a very intimate ceremony on the beach. I was on the pier taking sunset photos, when the bride and groom joined me there and asked that I take their pic for them with the sunset in the background. It was georgeous!

Good luck,

hugssss
tebs

thanks for the tip, tebs...i've ordered a brochure from them.  it looks fantastic, so maybe we'll have it there..hehe

by the way, love the heart icon by your name, tebs...too cute!

ahh, thanks it's a combo of my first and middle names (Teri Elizabeth)  

I will knock up a web page tomorrow with my pics of Islamorada for you. The pics on the Cheeca website dont' do it justice really.

There is alot to do there. We went out on a dive at one of the reefs there,, it was georgeous. They do snorkling tours tho too, if you don't dive  

There is a great place down the road from it called Theatre of the Sea, where you can swim with dolphins and seals too

I fell in love with the Keys, and would live there in  a heartbeat, but property is astronomically expensive.

hugssssssss

Steve and I want to marry in Gibraltar, as it's just across the border from where my folks live in Spain AND a British Overseas Territory.

What's driving me NUTS is, not a single Consular/ Visa/ Government/ Home Office/ Foreign Office  can give me a straight answer: if we were to marry in the UK at a Registry Office, then we would have to file paperwork, do the interviews and all that other stuff. We don't even have to register our marriage to our Council upon our return to the UK. 

It seems as though *so far* we just have to turn up in person a couple of weeks before our date, and then on the day itself, but no one is exactly sure...

No interview, no paperwork, no nuttin'!  This sounds too good to be true... Is it?
I am getting so stressed already...

Anybody else out there with similar experience?