Hi
Does anyone know anything about weddings in spain by any chance?
We have friends that want to come over and get married near us, they have found a beautiful place to stay, but i'm finding conflicting info about it, some people are saying it is possible for Uk residents to get married in spain, while others say you have to have 3 months residency. They dont want a church wedding, just a civil ceremony, but want everything done here, rather than having a registry office at home then having a blessing if that makes sense.
Thanks

Hello cajam32

I think you will find that Spain does not offer much in the way of civil services', I read somewhere that it is going to be introduce in the future but hard to come by at the moment. Also because Spain is a Catholic Country the church service offered is obviously Catholics, I do believe if you want to get married in a different faith it can be organised but like eveything in Spain there is so much red tape and reams of paper work. Having said all the I know I have seen advertisements here in spain from British holiday companies offering weddings in Spain, have you tired google.

You can get married in Gibraltar by giving 24 hour notice or longer if you want but you have to go there in person, taking along birth certificate, passport, (proof of divorce or death of a spouse if necessary). OH and I have been looking into this for the last year (not telling how many years we have been thinking about it) and we have decided that the easiest way is going to Gib which I think we will be doing sometime this year if I don't get cold feet again.

If you try www.andalucia.com you will find some info on getting married in Spain and also try Gibraltar have an offical web site just type "getting married in Gibraltar" and it will come up.

Hope all goes well for your friend

regards Cristina

thanks for the reply.
we've tried google'ing it, came up with yes no problem, also came up with one of them has to have 40 days residency first, and another said 3 months residency lol
i've just mailed an english wedding planner based in mojacar so hopefully she might be able to tell me whcih is correct!

Hi we got married in greece, only had to be there 7 days before we could and had it in the town hall instead of the church, someone i know wanted to get married in spain and they cant do it without the 3 months living there so they are going to cyprus instead it cost us £350 to do it all 3 years ago that was for everything cars wedding and photos quite cheap compaired to english wedding!! and we got excellent photos x

hi clenk, we also got married in greece, ours was in rhodes! Our friends are gonna do it in cyprus if they cant do it here, but hoping they'll be able to get it sorted for spain.

Hi ours was in Zante,

Hello i have spoken to a wedding advisor about this because i too was confused. At the moment to get married in Spain one of you must have been on the padron for at least two years. That id for church or reg office (any type of wedding). To get married in a catholic church you must both be catholic and if one of you isnt and "converts" only after 3 years can you get married.
I got married in the reg office in Gibralter it was a fantastic day and we are going to have our Wedding blessing here (La Siesta) in September...a complete white wedding with bridesmaids and everything. You even exchange rings and vows and sign the church book (so to guests it looks like you're signing the register!).
Apparently most british "weddings" here are blessings a popular option because of the difficulty of getting married in Spain...two wedding days too

2 years! the most i've seen on the wedding planners websites has been 3 months!
i think they would have considered gibraltor if it was close enough to us to drive back after the wedding and have the reception near us, but as its too far they didnt really want to do it that way. I think if thats the case they will go for cyprus, thanks for the replies everyone, i've gained more info in the last 2 hours than i have from trawling through websites for days lol

Both are right. You have to have two years´residence but your padroniamiento (proof of residencia) has to have been renewed (i.e. stamped)in the last three months to prove that you are still living here. Residency is easiest to prove by residencia card but can be done by tax statements or padron. We have decided to get married in Gib despite having the required residencia here because of the need to get the padron renewed (it is only ever legally valid in Spain for 6 months) which means the the registry office can´t confirm the date until 3 months before. All paperwork has to be stamped and translated in Malaga and only when you have it all ready do you book your date. I disagree that Spain does not offer much in terms of civil weddings. Every large town has a registry office!

Do what our daughter did, married in Mexico and a blessing over here. ;-)

I didn't realise that it was so hard for non residents to get married in Spain.. I'm sorry to hear it too..