Legalities of Weddings in Spain

Marriage Legalities in Spain

Spanish Law is changing all the time and will vary from each area or depending on which Town Hall you may want the Wedding to take place in.

Some areas prohibit legally-binding Civil Ceremonies for non-residents, whilst other areas will allow the Civil Service.

Here at Lyndyloo we can help you as a non resident or resident to have a fully legal civil ceremony.

With this in mind Lyndyloo offer the following services:

Legal Civil Ceremony in certain areas of the Costa Blanca or Gibraltar

Given that Gibraltar retains British sovereignty we are free to perform legally binding civil ceremonies.
At Gibraltar you may marry within 24 hours of arrival.
Apart from the traditional Registry or Church wedding, you can choose a variety of romantic alternative venues for your ceremony

Exchange of Vows Ceremony

Though not a legally-binding Wedding in your home country, this form of ceremony includes every aspect of a Civil Marriage Ceremony and is our most popular service.
This service has all the elements of a wedding service (i.e. exchange of vows and rings) and has the great advantage that you decide the vows, music, readings etc.
As blessings can be held in a very wide variety of venues, you can choose your dream location for your special ceremony.

Legal Requirements

There are No Legal requirements but the Minister conducting the Service Many require to see the following:

Passport

What ever your choice then make sure you contact us first, because if we can’t help then we will always know someone that can, that’s the benefit of being here in sunny Spain.

Legal Translations

UK documents will need to be translated into Spanish, so once you have had them legalised Lyndyloo will take care of ALL legal Translations.

One less thing for you to worry about !

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL US WITH ANY QUESTIONS IN RELATION TO LEGAL REQUIREMENTS, AS THEY ARE CHANGING ALL THE TIME

Catholic Church Ceremony

If one or both of the party are Catholic then a religious ceremony is possible in Spain.

Please note demand for Catholic Churches is high, so booking must be made well in advance. More so the English Speaking Priests.

Requirements

In order for you to be married in Spain, you must produce the following documents to your priest at home in order to open your Marriage File;

Baptism certificate and Confirmation certificate solicited at the chapels where each member of the couple has been Baptised
The certificate must be legalized by the Bishops Office from the diocese of origin.
These certificates have a six-month validity
Birth certificate with the number and file in the Register
Passport: Identification of each member of the couple.
The evidence that the couple has taken the pre-marriage course (obligatory). The priest will arrange a pre marriage course at this time.
Both the Bride and Groom, will need to provide a witness (a person who has known them for a reasonable length of time). Witnesses can not be relatives of the bride or the groom.

Once the File is finished, you will be given an extract to present at the Bishops Office. The Bishops Office will send the file to the Bishops Office in Spain and from there it is sent to the Church where the wedding is to be held.

You will then need to consult your priest approx 6 – 7 months before the wedding with details such as;

Name of Priest conducting the ceremony
Name of Bishop and his address
Name of Church and Diocese.

At this time the priest will get the papers authorised by their Bishop and forwarded to the Bishop in Spain.

After the wedding, you will be given the document “Communication of Canonical Marriage”, to be added at the Registry Office in their home county, where they will be granted their Family Book.

Dispensation is required, which must be requested from their Bishop if one of the party is not Catholic. Neither party can be divorced.

Civil Ceremony in Spain

While the legalities for Civil Ceremonies in Spain vary from town hall to town hall, the basic documents remain the same.

Spanish Law requires that foreigners are resident in Spain for at least two years prior to the wedding date.

Lyndyloo can now help with both non resident and resident weddings who do not live here or who have not had the normal 2 year rule.

EU non residents and residents who wish to get married in Spain require the following:

Legal Requirements
Original Birth Certificate (must be the long version)
Certified Passports
Certificate of no impediment to Marriage (this can be obtained either from your local registry office or from the Spanish consulate. You will need to check which your particular town hall requires).
If applicable, certified original divorce certificate and papers
If applicable, an original certified death certificate
Certificate of residence (empadronamiento)
All documents that are in English must have the Hague Apostillle on them. (Website: www.fco.gov.uk/legislation)

All documents must then be translated into Spanish and presented at the relevant Town Hall.

Same Sex Ceremony

Spain has become the 3rd country to legalise Gay and Lesbian marriages. In certain parts of Spain it is legal to have a Same Sex Civil Ceremony.

For couples that live in Spain, it’s now possible to have a Civil Wedding in Spain or if you don’t live in Spain, then an Exchange of Vows Ceremony.

Alternatively there is a growing trend towards having a Civil Wedding in a couple’s Home Country, followed by a more personal, intimate blessing in Spain.

For all your Spanish Dreams

Lyndyloo makes every effort to make sure that this information is up to date, but accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any errors or omissions that may occur