How to : Destination wedding/elope

Destination weddings should be looked into further information for legal documents and customs of what they offer and having someone to help out visa and paperwork needed to get done. Its not an easy process though the document may not be valid here when arriving back.

Eloping may be the better alternative to be on the safe side and have your legal document here in Canada itself. Your honeymoon can be Japan to enjoy the time and views you two want to do.

View quoted message Japan is on our bucket list too!
Honestly I think "anywhere but here" is on there too after being trapped in our bubble for so long...

View quoted message We don't have friends or family in Japan, but we always wanted to travel there. I would have never thought of Reddit though! Thank you so much for the tip!!!
And yes, we're thinking of getting legally married here and have our symbolic ceremony in Japan, just the two of us. Less paperwork this way. The easier, the better! 😋

We had looked into eloping in Ireland. Ultimately we realized the expense and stress of getting married away wasn't right for us. I had found a site with instructions about getting legally married there, but they also mentioned that they offered symbolic ceremonies if you chose to get legally married at home.
Logistically it may be easier to get legally married in Canada (where there is a bunch of information/instructions on each provincial website) and then have a symbolic ceremony in Japan.
Do you have friends or family in Japan who can help with the logistics? Looking for a Reddit thread about eloping in Japan might also turn up people with experience too!

I have been doing my research for this as well but for an elopement in Santorini Greece! From what I’ve found, most other countries will allow a “symbolic ceremony” that is exactly like a real one just not official. You can sign the appropriate papers on your arrival back in your country. And it sounds like hiring a wedding planner for your destination is the way to go so you are not fumbling with cultural customs and risk offending anyone.

If you're eloping in the traditional sense, where it's just the two of you and you run off somewhere to get married, you can find a church or pop-up chapel (like the ones you see in Vegas) and get it done in-and-out. Contact the Canadian embassy or consulate in the country you're planning to get married in and they'll tell you what documents you need to get married.

If you're doing a destination wedding, I highly recommend finding a local wedding planner who knows the area, their laws and hospitality rules so they can ease you in planning and give suggestions in a place that you're not familiar with.

So I believe you’ll actually have to sign the papers here because it gets very complicated if you do it in a different country. That’s the only thing I know as I’m not personally
Doing a destination wedding. Good luck and congrats