Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

I'm planning to get married in Spain next summer as my girlfriend was born in Gijon, Asturias and her mum and dad live there. We both live in London but want to ideally have a civil ceremony in Spain or at least some form of blessing ceremony.

We've been in touch with the ayuntamiento in Gijon and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office but they are both telling us to speak to the other so we can't get a definitve list of documents that are required!

If anyone can provide some advice based on experience of friends or family getting married in Spain this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Re: Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

I got married last year in the Ayuntamiento in Gijon with my Asturian OH :)

Its a great townhall to get married in, its like a little palace and completely free!

If I remember correctly though, you have to be resident in Spain in order to have a civil ceremony at a town hall. And we had to pretend my OH was resident in her parents house in Asturias (cheeky I know). I had to show I was on the padron and foreigners register in Spain (I was in Barcelona at the time).

Then you need your translated birth certificate and a document from the British embassy saying you are not current married, again legally translated.

That's it. It was very easy for us, but I am not sure whether you can get married in the townhall as it is for residents, and you are currently living in London. Anyway, the embassy will be able to give you your list of documents and the townhall will be able to tell you whether you can get married there.

Best of luck!

Re: Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

That is the most helpful advice I've had so far by a long way!

Thanks very much for your help.

Re: Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

Our experience was as follows:

We wanted to have a civil ceremony in Frigiliana and needed the following.
NIE numbers (already had them for property purchase)
Empadronamiento (needed to have been issued over a year prior to application) but a new copy is needed as all this is time limited, the English documents are only valid for ?6months?

then

Passports
Original Birth Certificates
Certificate of no impediment - you get this from your local registry office. You go for an interview as if you were having an English civil ceremony, the bans are posted and 21 days later bingo! two certificates.

These three need to be translated by an acceptable translator, and notarised, I can direct you to the man who did ours for about £80.

The above also need stamping with the "Hague Apostile" which is done by the Foreign and Commonwealth office, who were, in my experience, less efficient than you would expect if that is possible.

If I can assist further try me, this was our experience.

Re: Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

Hi,

My daughter is hoping to get married in Barcelona in 2012,:wub: she is currently living in UK with her Fiance who has a Spanish father and was born in Spain. They will be moving to Spain in June 2011 so will be resident. It was interesting to read the reply and i am sure this info will help them. If we find out any more i will post on this site.
Good luck,

Regards

Donna

Re: Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

Me again.

Another question for Cricketman about getting married in Gijon:

We are now registered as residents at the ayuntamiento and have a date booked for a civil ceremony. As you said the town hall is lovely.

In your response you said that "you need your translated birth certificate and a document from the British embassy saying you are not current married, again legally translated."

Do you remember how long the translated certificate of non-marriage is valid for? We're not sure if it 3 or 6 months and don't want to have to got to the embassy twice.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Re: Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

Hi neil2010

Sorry I can't remember, I think it is 3 months but may be wrong. Best thing you can do is call the embassy and ask them to save you the trip.

Best of luck with the wedding. If you are looking for ideas for the reception and meal afterwards, we had ours in a llagar out in the countryside a few miles from Gijon (where they store the cider barrels). It was great and highly recommedable! There are loads to choose from if you do some googling.

Re: Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

Hi Neil,

I'm just about to get married in spain this October. We had to get some of the stuff quoted in the posts below. We didn't have to get the docs translated though. Although we are getting married in a catholic church. Are any of you catholics?

If you are it maybe easier than going down the civil marriage route in Spain. We seen our priest in Scotland who prepared all the paperwork. Sent it off to the marriage office in Valencia. Then we sent all our paperwork which was the same as the post below. We then paid a fee to the marriage office and we picked up the paperwork. Then gave all the stuff to our local priest in our village.

Very best wishes for getting through all the paperwork and have a fantastic day when it comes.

Cheers

Carl


'Passports
Original Birth Certificates
Certificate of no impediment - you get this from your local registry office. You go for an interview as if you were having an English civil ceremony, the bans are posted and 21 days later bingo! two certificates'

These three need to be translated by an acceptable translator, and notarised, I can direct you to the man who did ours for about £80.

Re: Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

Good luck for the future to you all.

My wife has some involvement with weddings in Nerja and surroundings and they all seem to be Catholic, Irish ones.They seem to be more simple to organise than the civil ceremony (if anything is).
I guess this goes with Spanish Bureaucracy.As soon as a Town Hall gets involved .................

I did ours myself, it only took a year !

Re: Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

I got married by civil ceremony in Spain, it was incredibly easy. Not complicated at all.

Re: Getting married in Spain but resident in UK
 

Nowhere did I write that it was complicated, I just said that it took a while that is all. I agree with the correct paperwork it is straightforward, just that in the Torrox administration it was slow.