Reader Request: Getting Married in Peru if You Don't Live There aka Destination Wedding

Peru is becoming a popular place to have a destination wedding. Many people are emailing me and asking me how they can get married in Peru when they don't live there.

If you want to get married in Peru and live there, then you're going to have to jump through more hoops. Read the following articles:

• How to get married in Peru
• Getting a marriage visa for Peru 
• Getting documents notarised and translated
• Registering your Peruvian marriage back home

If you simply want to have a wedding in Peru and not live there, then it's pretty easy to do. Here's the thing, getting married in Peru requires getting documents notarised and translated and then register your Peruvian marriage back home. All of this adds time, money, and stress to an already stressful event. So here's what you should do.

1. Get married back home. Have a simple, legal ceremony. Create a wedding registry!
2. Have the wedding in Peru. You won't have to worry about legalisations or translations or any of that stuff. If you want to get married in a church in Peru, you will probably have to show a copy of your marriage license, but that's just for the church. You won't have to deal with any Peruvian government offices. 

So there you go, a short and sweet way to have a destination wedding in Peru.

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Sorry Peruvians, You're Not Americans

I first had this argument over 10 years ago and I was flabbergasted. I wasn't trying to be mean or rude or look down on Peruvians, I just simply couldn't understand what they were getting at. Let's do a quick exercise.

• Britons are from. . . . Britain
• Chinese are from . . . . China
• Danes are from . . . . Denmark
• Latvians are from . . . . Latvia
• Russians are from . . . Russia

What would you say if I told you:

• Peruvians are from . . . America

If this were on a test, I'd mark it as wrong. Peruvians aren't from America. Peruvians are from Peru.
The issue that some Peruvians have with this is that they say that there are only five continents: the Americas, Antarctica, Asia, Australasia, and Europe. Due to this anyone from the Americas is American. Now depending on who you talk to you'll find out that there are 4-7 continents in the world.

Most Peruvians are proud to call themselves Peruvians, but some of them may claim to be Americans. Blame it on their culture. The issue I have with this is that people don't refer to the continent they're from. For example, a Kenyan isn't going to say, "I'm African". They're going to say, "I'm Kenyan". Or they might take it a step further and refer to the city they're from, stating that they're from London or New York.

Peruvians also have another issue with this and that's due to language.in Spanish, Americans are called "norteamericanos/as" if you want to translate it directly it would be North American. However, there are three countries in North America: Canada, the USA, and Mexico. In Spanish, Canadians are called "canadienses" and Mexicans are called "mexicanos/as".Peruvians are called "peruanos". If you don't speak Spanish, you should start learning. It'll help you assimilate to the culture and you'll be able to communicate easier.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, but to the Peruvians who insist that they're "American" I tell them to go to the USA with no visa or no green card and to tell the immigration officer to let them in, because after all, "they're American".

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