( Then there's chaps like me - that the Catholic church doesn't recognize my legal divorce. )
I was surprised at the total lack of Catholic churches in Grand Cayman - hundreds of Anglican offshoots. I think I saw one in downtown Georgetown.
I'm sure that if you marry legally where you are, at City Hall, bring proof with you, and use a wedding planner just to do a ceremony on the beach with a pastor, you'd be fine. It's the ceremony, in front of family & friends, that counts! Not the sharing of the Eucharist.
Well, in my POV, that is.
Depends on what you want / need. A religious ceremony or just a ceremony?
If you marry religious (with legal paperwork done by a Catholic priest) you actually need a written permission from your local parish first. You can do this through your local priest who will prepare the paperwork in triplicate (church, you, diocese).
The priest in the other country will sign the paperwork that is either mailed back (and faxed) to your parish or you bring with you back to your parish.
All I know is that Anglican adhere by legal government first, canon law second. Catholics is the other way around.
So I can get married by the Anglican church in my country/parish & elsewhere. Even so, getting the paperwork done at City Hall beforehand is preferable, an Anglican pastor won't mind either way.
Reason for long post? I know of some scenarios - legal ones - where the marriage was NOT legal back in Canada. Should something have happened to either spouse, the other would not have been compensated / considered.
I know of one case of a Caribbean marriage (Jamaica or DR - from memory) where the man passed away shortly after - and she did not get half of his inheritance. Both hadn't done a testament to seal the deal, thinking they were legally married.
The story of the American traveling salesman marrying more than one woman by going South on vacation...because they don't check. Well, I can confirm, Catholic priests will check up on you, no matter the country.
SO! Getting married on US soil *will be* easier, religious or otherwise. Maui is beautiful, so is St-Thomas (Virgin Islands) or the Florida Keys.