Wedding Ceremonies

Under Spanish Law only Catholic and Civil Weddings are considered legally valid and as such thereby recognised in Europe and the USA.

Religious - Catholic Weddings - For a religious wedding to take place in Spain, the couple must first contact their local priest with whom they attend mass within their local diocese in order to prepare all the relative documentation.

Anglican Blessings - The Anglican Church has no power nor legal validity to conduct marriage ceremonies in Spain. It can however, perform blessings after a civil marriage. In order for a blessing to occur:

• resident couples need to contact their local diocese to complete the necessary paperwork and discuss the arrangements for the ceremony
• non-resident couples need to make similar approaches and application to their diocese in their home country of residence

For such a blessing to take place, 3 months notice is normally required.

Other religions - where appropriate please contact beachbarweddings.com via the 'Contact' page and advise us of the religions of each of the bride and groom.

Civil Weddings - The requirements for Civil Weddings vary from location to location within Spain and from town Hall to town hall, some requiring one of the couple to be a resident and some locatities require that foreigners show by public notice that they are due to marry.  Please contact beachbarweddings.com directly to discuss your inidivual case and we can both advise and hand-hold you through the process.

As a guide, the minimum requirement will involve the production of the following items;

  Original or certified copy of birth certificate accompanied by a sworn translation
  Passport or Certificate of residency stating how long you have lived in Spain
  A document stating your current martial status (Certificate of No Impediment to marry)
  Document of previous marriage and annulment (where appropriate)
  Certificate of death of ex-spouse in the case of one partner previously becoming a widow or widower

Sworn translations by a Spanish based official translator are often a requirement for all documentation and both preparation time and cost for this needs to be borne in mind by the couple. 

Exchange of Vows:  This ceremony would include either a Civil Wedding ceremony in Spain or a Civil wedding in your country of residence followed closely by an Exchange of Vows Ceremony at a beachbar situated at one of our locations abroad. This is a truly romantic occasion and proves a very popular wedding arrangement.

Renewal of Vows: This can take the form of a religious or symbolic ceremony and of course once again proves to be a very popular wedding renewal arrangement.