Getting a Marriage License here in the Philippines (for Filipinos) is fairly easy, unless there are discrepancies. All you have to do is present these documents:- NSO certified Birth Certificates. Just call the NSO Hotline (632) 737-111
- Parental Consent (for minors) and Parental Advice for (for 21-25 yrs old), but it depends on how strict your municipality is.
- CENOMAR or Certificate of No Marriage which you can get from NSO as well. This one’s tricky. Not all cities require this. QC didn’t ask us while I know Makati does. So ask your city hall first before procuring because this actually takes some time. Spare yourself from the added cost and leg work.
- Certificate of Attendance in Premarital Counseling and Family Planning Seminar conducted by the Division of Maternal and Child Health at the Municipal/City Hall in the same municipality. This by far is the most awful and useless requirement among the rest. I heard a lot of horror stories about it saying that it’s usually packed with people from all walks of life. You’re there and yet you can hardly hear or understand the speaker. Maybe the speaker doesn’t care and you look around and see that they just want to get this thing done and over with. Couples just attend for the sake of getting the document. It’s crappy. It’s just so bureaucratic.
This certificate, I think above all the requirements mentioned in the list, should be taken with more concern. For Catholic Weddings, some parishes actually give one-day seminars and stay-in-weekends like Discovery Weekend (DW) or the Catholic Engaged Encounter (CEE). While these are helpful I still personally believe that every couple should go through a REAL Premarital Counseling Session that should run on a long-term calendar. A day or a weekend just won’t suffice. Believe me, there’s a LOT to discover.
It all depends on the engagement date actually. If you got engaged this month and plan to marry next year then I highly and sincerely suggest that you should go into a Year-Long Premarital Counseling. In fact, it should be a very important part of the Wedding Plans. Now I’m not sure if priests can accommodate so I suggest you go find a non-secular counselor. Don’t go to shrinks please. Find a spiritual adviser. Even if you’re Catholic you can still seek some premarital counseling from Pastors. Better if he’s recommended by someone you know. And to make you more comfortable, you might prefer a pastor who’s from a non-denominational church like Christ's Commission Fellowship or Victory Christian Fellowship.
But if you want my personal recommendation, we had our long-term session with this cool and very smart Pastor named Nicky Joya and his wife Sally. We can’t thank them enough for their friendship and the way they ministered to us when all the crises in our wedding plans were overwhelming us.
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When I got married, we had to do the all-day (Catholic) session, PLUS sessions with the priest PLUS sessions with a married couple. And while I think it opened our eyes, I think a lot of times, the counseling just tells you that yes, you have differences. I never thought it did that great a job EXPLORING those differences and how it would impact our lives. So while I highly recommend counseling, I think that's an aspect to look out for. In fact, while this is no substitute for actual premarital sessions, the book "THe Missing Link: Revealing Spiritual Genetics," could also help. The authors, the Drs. Arno, help you understand who God created him (or her) to be. I think the book helps people understand one another -- in the case of engaged couples, you can find out one is task-oriented and the other likes people. That could frustrate couples later, but if you figure that out first, why you behave the way you do, your relationship can be strengthened. The knowledge is a crucial piece of the (marital) puzzle. (a friend of mine told me her sister and now brother-in-law really got a lot out of this one.)
What is the number of Nick and Sally?- mia_baluyut@yahoo.com
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