This is the layout of an English translation of a Mexican marriage certificate in the standardized national format used by most actas issued since the mid-2010s, including those printed from gob.mx. Older actas record the same facts in a different order and often add parents and witnesses, so translate those too. The bracketed items are placeholders: replace each with what your acta says.
The template
What each part means
Registry entry
The state, municipality, Civil Registry office (oficialía), book (libro) and certificate number (número de acta) are how a registry or consulate finds the original entry. Transcribe each exactly, with its label.
The contracting parties
The acta calls each spouse a contrayente, translated here as contracting party. Older actas may say el contrayente and la contrayente instead, which you can translate as the groom and the bride. Keep both surnames for each person, in the order printed, with every accent. The acta records each person's own names: don't add a married name it doesn't print.
Marital property regime
The acta states how the couple hold property: sociedad conyugal (joint property) or separación de bienes (separate property). It rarely matters to an immigration officer, but it's on the record, so it belongs in the translation.
Dates
Mexican records write numeric dates day first, so 04/03/2015 is 4 March 2015. Write the month as a word in the translation so nobody reads it the American way. Translate every date the acta prints, including each person's date of birth and the date of registration.
Marginal annotations
A later divorce, annulment or correction is recorded as a marginal annotation (anotación marginal) on the marriage acta. For a petition that depends on this marriage, or on a previous one having ended, those notes are the evidence, so translate each one in full with its date and the court or office that ordered it. If the box reads Sin anotaciones, translate it as [No annotations].
Seals, signatures and QR codes
Describe what you can't reproduce, in brackets: [Signature], [Seal of the Civil Registry], [QR code]. An acta printed from gob.mx carries an electronic signature, an electronic identifier and a QR code instead of a wet seal. It is valid, and a one-line translator's note naming the format saves an officer the question.
With Verdacert
A Verdacert translation of a Mexican marriage acta follows this layout, keeps both surnames for each spouse exactly as printed, and translates every marginal note, including divorce annotations. It comes with a certificate signed by a named reviewer who has no stake in your case, and a link anyone can use to verify it. If USCIS rejects it for a translation error, we re-translate or refund (conditions apply - see our Refund Policy).