Goa and marriages!

I'm back from a 2 week vacation. I had gone to Goa and Bombay (Mumbai). Let me take this opportunity to say that I am getting married next year on Jan 8th 2012 in Goa. My fiance is working in Dubai and I will be leaving Muscat in December to join him. My trip to Goa was to sort out all pre-wedding formalities. I must say they don't make it so easy. Incase there are any Chrisitians wondering what they are required to do I will list a few things you need to get in order - 

1) Ensure you have a "Confirmation" and a fresh "Baptism" Certificate (by fresh I mean you will need to ask for an extract from the church where you have been baptised, a few months before you tie the knot. As far as my understanding goes they ask for a "fresh" copy because - a baptism certificate extract is only needed in order to get married. Extracting a recent copy shows that you have not been married previously.) 

2) Enroll for a marriage preparation course at your present Church. Once you have completed it, they will hand you a certificate. Once you have this certificate ask the Church to give you a "No Objection" certificate - which states that you have not been married previously in that particular church and they have no objection to you getting married.

3) Once you have these certificates in hand you will need to do a civil marriage (this is how it's done in Goa - I am not sure about other states in India). You will need to visit the marriage registrar's office (make sure you go before to take an appointment) and complete a few forms he tells you to. The normal procedure is that he will call you back after 2 weeks to obtain another set of signatures. Incase you do not have time to go after two weeks (say, you are living abroad), show them a copy of your ticket and visa and ask him to give you an exemption. You will need to pay Rs 2000 or so. He will then hand you over a provisional certificate, the final which you can ask anyone to collect on behalf of you after a period of 2 weeks. This can then be couriered to wherever you are.

4) Make a trip to the local church where you wish to get married in Goa and meet the priest. Ask him to do a pre-nuptial enquiry (different priests insist of having it done differently. Some states allow you to do in the country where you are residing). For my fiance and me the Goa priest insisted we do it in his church, which we did. He told us we will need a final "No Objection" certificate from him before the wedding date. So we have set an appointment to meet him again in January.

It is very important to meet the local priest (where you are getting married) so he can advise if your set of documents is complete.

I think that should complete it all. You can start this whole procedure 6 months before you tie the knot. If you do not have a "Confirmation Certificate" as mentioned in step 1 then maybe you will need to visit the Church where you reside and inform them that you wish to appear for the ceremony (this might have to be done a year in advance).

I may have missed something out. It sounds simple now that I'm putting it down but when I went about it I had no prior information. I had to go around asking various people. Everyone seemed to have a different opinion of how things were done. 

This trip to Goa had indeed been successful. By the way I am now legally married :)