San Andres (Quick Wedding Overview)

[valleydude]

The whole process was very simple. We arrived in San Andres on Friday, went to the notary's office, did the paper work, and we were married on Saturday at 2:30pm. The paperwork consists of a very simple form where you fill in the blanks.
I ______ hijo/hija de ______ etc... Later they type this up offcially.

All I needed was my passport. My wife needed her birth certificate, the death certificate of her previous husband, and ID. 

The cost for the notary as of this writing was $120.000 COP. They will test you on your Spanish. This is verbal and if they feel that you do not understand enough Spanish they will require that you have a translator. Additional $40.000 COP. Depending on the number of copies you want/need factor in a couple of extra pesos. I believe it was $3.000 COP per copy.

Our whole costs/fees with 4 extra copies were $170.000 pesos.
If you want to get married on the beach it is $320.000 for the notary and fees.
You can also do a church service which will cost more as well. We got our appointment the next day, I imagine that a beach, or church service might not get an appointment as fast, but it is possible.

Everyone in the notary's office was cool, easy to deal with etc...
My brain was dead, and they weren't very helpful with English. I am not sure if they could have been more helpful or not. I personally don't get pissed if someone doesn't speak English, so I never questioned it. I just rolled with it in Spanish. When I'm in Colombia, I expect, prepare, and do my best in Spanish. Unless offered, I usually don't ask for English. I just never think of it. I don't have a "Speak English!" attitude in South America.

Like I said, my brain was dead, so my Spanish was about nil in the moment.
They said I could rest up and try my Spanish test again, but I found it easier/better to just pay the translator.  Our time was limited, and 20 bucks was worth it. It was nice to have someone on hand that I could just ask if I had a question. By the way this Spanish test is just basic communication. They will just start asking you questions to hold conversation in Spanish. It could be literally about anything. If you never talked about a pet rabbit in Spanish and that is on their mind, you will probably fail.

The whole service was about 15 minutes and we received our papers/certified copies first thing on Monday morning. I didn't find out until after that they will let you add on your own little vows. From my observation, I believe just about anything and everything is possible. If you want to add vows, and get married in a tree house, as long as you pay the fee and build the tree house it is probably cool.

They did have a photographer there, but I did not know this until the time came. I am not sure if he is always there or if was there by coincidence, but they can have him available for you. For us, the cab driver asked if he should stay and I ended up paying him to hangout and be the photographer. I gave him my camera and said "take shots when you think it is a good moment".

Sorry this is getting scattered, I am thinking of other things as I write:
Notary closes at 6pm, so don't sweat a late afternoon flight. The notary is only 10 minutes from the airport. Also, don't sweat going to the notary on the morning of your flight to get your papers/copies/ etc...there is plenty of time. The notary's office is a lot calmer in the morning. I paid $240 per person with 3 days notice on Aero Republica from CTG. Those that came in on Saturday were getting Monday appointments.

I just thought I would throw some info out there for the others.

Back to work...

VD

[jediknight]

thanks for sharing your story, i'm sure others will use this info in the future when planning their wedding as an alternative to getting married in one of the other cities. it seems like its very easy plus you are in a great place for a honeymoon, that's where my wife and i went after the wedding. take care

JK

[papi]

$300K to get married on the beach...what a deal! Where did you stay?? I stayed last time at the Sol caribe

[utopiacowboy]

The thing that is strangest about the whole thing is the Spanish test and the fact that no one there spoke English. No wonder the true San Andres locals dislike the Colombians. English is their native language and they regard the mainland Colombians as outsiders at best.

[Kiltboy1]

True UT

When i was in San Andres, i was speaking spanish with one of the Native guys and then i said something to myself in English and he said" MAN, WHY YOU NOT TELL ME YOU SPEAK ENGLISH, IS MY LANGUAGE MAN" of course all in a kind of jamacian accent and i see the way they look at mainland Colombians, with true distaste.

KB

Easy marriage for sure there, mine was a pain in the ars in  colombia in 2001.

[papi]

i get a kick out of the accent there although i noticed a lot less English spoken this recent trip. The colombians are taking over. I love SA even though it is reportedly profoundly less interesting than other areas

[valleydude]

We ended up staying at the Nobelhouse. (Though I didn't use any of their wedding planning.) We actually got the room on line and I saw good reviews. Overall we were happy with it. It was simple, but did the job. Sure I would like to have stepped up a few notches, but I've never been there and went with reviews, but I have 0 complaints. I would recommend it.

I should probably be a little more clear about the Spanish test... It's not like: "Ok, we have to test you" what happens is they start talking with you in Spanish and gauge you from there. Later we put 2 and 2 together. They did in fact say they were checking my Spanish. All the papers were in Spanish as well.

The notary didn't say a word in English. Nobody at the notary's spoke any English with me. I saw another Gringo in there with a wedding planner and she spoke English however she spoke Spanish with the staff and translated it back to the Gringo.

I didn't find out until 2 days ago that the primary language was English. The only one's that went out of the way to speak it were at the hotel, and at a little Pirate Museum. Everyone at this museum spoke English. Later they didn't even want to change back to Spanish. I said: "Hey, go ahead and speak Spanish for her" and they didn't want to.

Gotta run, chickee is online!

VD

[Dennis]

ValleyDude,

Did you deal with any Wedding agencies in San Andres or just go to the Notary.  My fiance wants to get married there in July and we are trying to get things arranged.  We were looking at the SAI Wedding site but if we can have the wedding without the agency bit then that sounds better to me.

[valleydude]

I didn't use any wedding planning services for the wedding. The people who run SAI Weddings also own the hotel. It was just coincidence that I ended up there. I was just looking for a hotel on the internet and ended up staying there. Afterwards, I became aware of the fact that it was the same people. On another note, they didn't push/try to sell us any services after they found out we were getting married. I also know that they would have helped us if needed. They seemed to be real nice people. In other words, they weren't the type to hold resentment that I was getting married and not using their services.

I think SAI's smallest package is $400 dollars, I think it would be worth it if you wanted some hand holding, and some details taken care of, or to have a person handle minor details/answer questions before going. If you don't want this or a wedding planner, you will not face any problems doing it yourself.

My head was spinning because I wanted details before I went, because I do not know who/what/where on the Island. I couldn't find anyone that would just do individual services, so I decided to wing it, but I was ok. I was sweating 3 things before I went: The flowers, photographer, and what if I wanted to get married on the beach?

I paid the cab driver to take pictures, and I told him in private: "When I say take me to the hotel, I want you to stop by a florist before going to a hotel" he did this and it surprised my wife. We got the flowers and had pictures so everything was great. (Of course though these things are obvious, but it gives us a good story) If you want professional pictures, I don't suggest the cab driver and you may want a wedding planner.

At the notary's they asked about and offered getting married on the beach, so I imagine that could be done through them as well. Here is the info: http://www.paginasamarillas.com/pagamanet/web/companyCategory.aspx?ipa=1&npa=Colombia&ies=28&nes=San+Andr%e9s+y+Providencia&idi=1&txb=Notaria

When you call the notary's office, they might tell you that you do not need an appointment. I was stressing over this. I had my wife call 3 times to confirm this. She thought I was crazy, and I wanted to be sure the notaria was available. She was right, no appointment was needed. I was crazy and making it something more difficult than it really was.

I'm not sure where I could elaborate more, so if there is anything else I can do, feel free to ask.

VD

[Dennis]

ValleyDude,

One last question, my fiance talked with the Notaria today and likes him and wants to just use him for the wedding.  Thanks for all the information.  My Fiance was a little worried when the Notary asked that we send him the money in advance.  I didn't see a problem with it because we will have a record of the transaction.  Is this the normal way he works?

Thanks again we are planning to have our wedding on July 2nd on the beach in San Andres 

[valleydude]

I am not sure if that would be the normal way he works. At first it sounded a little weird to me too, but from what I saw he could very well have reasons for this. There is only one notary on the island and everyone seemed to know everyone in that office, so I imagine he has a lot to lose if he decided to start taking people's money. Especially since they try to promote this.

I wasn't given the pay in advance option, but my wife only talked with someone in the office and not the actual notary. I personally would have liked the idea of sending the payment for the feeling that my appointment was secure; but we paid at the window on the day before without any troubles.

VD