Couples planning to get married in the municipality of Guadalajara may now carry out all their preliminary paperwork online at tramites.guadalajara.gob.mx.
Once the online form has been filled in, all pertinent documents should be scanned and emailed, before validation and authorization is received in no more than two days.
Couples will still have to make two personal visits to any one of Guadalajara’s 23 Registro Civiles (civil registries) to validate their documents and sign the marriage contract.
The cost of getting married at a civil registry on a weekday is 293 pesos. The figure increases to 780 pesos on weekends or public holidays. To marry elsewhere will cost 994 pesos during the week and 1,633 pesos on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
Between June 2015 and 2016, 3,560 couples were married in the Guadalajara municipal area, an increase of 158 on the previous 12 months.
Divorces, however, rose at a much higher rate in the past year, from 1,315 to 1,534.
In addition, 75 same-sex couples have tied the knot since the Supreme Court decision of January 29 that struck down state legislation that determined marriage could only be between a man and a woman. Of the 75, 45 of the couples were female and 30 male.