Jeff Douglas Wenzlick and Katherine Lee Williams.
|
Turks and Caicos Islands - A
recent move to make TCI a wedding destination for cruise passengers by
cutting the processing time for a visitor’s marriage license has started
to bear fruit.
Two
cruise ship passengers used the amended Marriage Ordinance for a
November 11th wedding at the Carnival Cruise Centre on Grand Turk.
The
amendment in July this year removed the requirement that visitors must
be present in the islands for at least forty-eight hours before applying
for a special license to be married. Cruise passengers could not be
accommodated because their ships only remained in port for about eight
hours.The
Registrar General’s Office said it received numerous requests from
cruise passengers who wanted to be married on a TCI beach. Registrar
General Ms. Sigrid Lightbourne was delighted to see the change bear
fruit:
“This
is a very important moment for the community of Grand Turk and the TCI
on a whole, as this provision allows the country to engage in a new and
exciting area in the tourism industry. Our visitors can now view our
beautiful by nature islands as a place where they can celebrate yet
another special occasion. Even if they are only here for a few hours
they would have created within the Turks and Caicos Islands memories
that will last them a lifetime.”
This first wedding at the cruise port was solemnized by Ms Delores Connolly, a TCI Marriage Officer.
