Chicoingles

Hi there,

My fiancée (Spanish) and I are looking to get married in Spain next year if not before. She moved over to the UK just under 2 years ago so is now a resident here. I have looked at the UK Government site as well as the British Consulate site in Barcelona (where we would be getting married) but I would just like some advice about what the procedure to follow is to get the ball rolling.

Thanks a lot

Chicoingles

Anyone?

pwwm

Surely as she is Spanish she will know more than us expats lol

Simon_100

Regarding the marriage the local registry office where you will get married will tell you what to do - but do note that there are two kinds of marriage contract, very important to choose the right one!

From your point of view as Brit you'll get all the details from the Consulate, they are very helpful.

It's no use my giving specific advice as we were married here ten years ago. But it's not complicated but there are hoops you'll have to jump through.

Regs

Simon

PS ¡felizidades!

cricketman

You can get married at the local (often beautiful) townhall for free - or very cheaply

But, you must be on the padron for that ayuntamiento. Probably your girlfriend is still on the padron for her parent's address. If that is the case, then no problem. If not, then you will find it difficult to find somewhere to get married

Churches will only accept you if you can prove that you are a practicing Catholic

Anyway, as another poster said, leave it to your girlfriend, she should know what to do!

Rosemary

This also entails taking a pre-marriage course run by the priest.

Rosemary

mathos88

Just to add to what has already been said about marriage in the Catholic Church, I am not a practising catholic, but was able to get married to a Spanish catholic four years ago with a papal dispensation. It´s a bit of a pain in the neck to sort everything out, but you can still get married in a church in Spain as long as one of you is a catholic (my wife is catholic, but not practising).

Fredbargate

I had to do this in England 40+ years ago.

The course was to be 6 X 30 mins

Halfway through the second session the priest told me to get out and never darken his doorstep again

Unfortunately he signed the relevant paper and I've been married ever since

Rosemary

Now why am I not surprised at this.

My friend has just done the course here and if I remember correctly she had to go for 2 hours at a time for 4 or 5 evenings. Our local priest was not running a course so she had to travel to another town so after a long day at work she found it very tiring.

Rosemary

Simon_100

Maybe things have changed but my understanding is that unless you record the civil 'marriage' in the registry office you're not married as far as the law goes no matter what the catholic church thinks?

Regs

Simon

IamStu

Chicoingles ... good luck!
I married a Spanish woman in Spain but we were living and registered here at the time.
The process took a full 8 months. Partly down to the sheer amount of papers I had to produce,the legal interpretations of each document, then the official stamps on the interpretations of each document, and partly being given the wrong advice from the idiot at the town hall which had me running back and forth to the British Embassy.
In a nut shell, the British Embassy gave me the correct information. The information given by the town hall depended on which member of staff was giving the information.
A gay English friend of mine managed to organise his wedding in half the time!
Also, had I been French or Italian, that would have taken less paperwork so less time too.
So I guess, if you either an Italian or French gay man, just turn up and I´m sure you´ll be married within a week!

Fredbargate

Not sure about this post the OP waited 88 minutes before querying why he had no reply, was the Viagra starting to fail or was the pregnancy / birth THAT imminent.

However if he does return and doesn't want to wait too long then I suggest he treats his Lady to a honeymoon in Gibraltar and also gets Married there.
Much simpler

https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/getting-married