Getting Married in Nicaragua
This article isn’t my standard how-to-guide for Nicaragua. But hopefully you enjoy it! Plus this way I can give the video some background.
I imagine very few of you are planning on getting married in Nicaragua. However if you’re thinking about a big group trip, or anything like that, some of this info might be useful!
Back in February I got married to my much better half, and favourite doctor. We tied the knot here in San Juan Del Sur. The wedding ceremony was at the Catholic Church here in the center of town.
Padre Mario was great and did us the honors. If you’re Catholic and / or coming down here and want to go to services, the ones he does are great. From my (admittedly limited) church experience I think he’s excellent.
For the reception we picked Pelican Eyes. It’s a beautiful spot with three pools that used to be a resort and has now been converted to a private community with individually owned villas. The top two pools are private for owners & guest only.
The bottom pool area, however, has the La Cascada restaurant which is open to the general public and has gourmet food, hand crafter drinks, and a panoramic view of the bay. It’s closed due to the virus at the time of writing, but it will reopen soon.
One of the huge pluses for La Cascada is the perfect location only a couple blocks from the church. Chef Eric Gabriel up there does phenomenal food and has done plenty of weddings. He also caters high end events both at and outside of the restaurant. You can also find him on Facebook if you’re looking for large event catering. He’s the man and y guests were all blown away by the food.
I’d like to give a huge thanks to all my family and friends who came from long distances to celebrate with us. Also a giant thank you to Meli’s side who came down as well and has made me feel like part of the family. Ahora soy Nica!
Our wedding planner Bruno Pomares from Detalles Events and Decorating made everything so much easier for us. I work a lot. As mentioned in previous articles on how I leverage my time.
So to be able to lean on an expert with a staff for an event like this was totally worth it for us. Bruno has done tons of weddings in town and also does events if you’ve got something like awedding, family reunion or corporate event coming down and want the “detalles” dialled in.
The dance group was awesome and gave the whole ceremony a great mixed Canadian-Nicaragaun feel. Here it’s common for weddings to have traditional folk dance along with the dance for the wedding party and guests. You can check out this article from Tourism Nicaragua for more on traditional dance in the country.
And a big shout out to Spiros Vathos for the video. He’s back in Europe at the moment waiting this virus out, but if you’re getting hitched in Nicaragua or Costa Rica when he is back, he’s the man!
For this of you that know us we had actually gotten the paperwork a couple years back and to get legally married here in Nica. But we hadn’t done any sort of ceremony. There were multiple reasons for that. The main one being Meli was still in medical school and doing up to 100 hour weeks at the Military Hospital in Managua.
We wanted the marriage licence early though. For a long time we’d know we were going to get married. (Actually I told my friends I was going to marry her the day I met her.) She took slightly longer to convince :) So we were happy to go the paperwork well in advance. It also made a couple other big things easier for us.
The first was residency for me. I could have applied as an investor, but I have a penchant for buying and selling property here. And for investor class residency one needs to hold the assets for longer. The second was taking Meli back to visit Canada. The visa application process is a lot easier with the marriage paperwork!
Meli jokes I married her for the Nicaraguan green card :)
There you go! I hope you enjoyed the video and found some of that info useful. If you’re thinking of having a big event down here send me a message and I can connect you with some of the great people I worked with.
Cheers!
Want to know more about San Juan Del Sur? Contact me!
Joel Stott-Jess
Cell / WhatsApp: (+505) 8176 8624
Skype: joelstottjess
Joel Stott-Jess is a New York Times featured agent / broker in San Juan Del Sur.
Originally from Alberta, Canada he has been doing business in Nicaragua since 2014.
An investment consultant, serial entrepreneur, surfer, and outdoor enthusiast he is an expert on the real estate and business markets in Nicaragua. He also operates The Central Investor, a real estate and investment blog focused on the entire Central American region.
Thanks to his lovely Nicaraguan wife, a medical doctor, he is also well informed on health care services in the country.
