'Can I get married in Spain?' or 'How to get married in Spain' it's a quite popular question. Foreign couples looking for celebrating their amazing day in Spain ask us this once in a while. In fact right now there is more England, Ireland, UK and US couples getting married in Spain than ever.

Answer is simple: yes, you can (like Barack Obama's speech -man, do we love his speech-). But there's some things you need to have in mind.

As a Spanish destination wedding photographers we are going to try to clear everything as much as we can. Using our experience, our knowledge of the Spanish law and asking those questions we are not sure which is their answer to properly informed people.

First go first: getting married in Spain is a great idea. No, it's a f**king amazing idea. Honestly. Not because we're Spaniards, which would be a bit biased, but because Spain has SO MUCH to offer.

Every year more couples decide to travel around the world and get married in a foreign country. Spain weddings are a very popular option because of the amazing weather it has (one of the best in Europe), but also it's huge gastronomy variety with the Mediterranean food or the beaches, mountains and the lovely people.

If you are considering to say 'I do' in our beautiful country, please keep reading. In the following lines we will explain the procedures to get married in Spain.

Get married in Spain: an amazing idea

First of all, if you're thinking about celebrating your wedding in Spain you should know what is the procedure for non-residents. This can be quite bureaucratic and the following steps are just for getting started and have a sense of what it is. It varies from the region you live or even from the place you want to get married into. The best thing to do is to ask a specialized lawyer and read the Spanish Ministry of Justice website, where you can also find very useful information.

Requirements and documents for getting married in Spain as a foreigner

• Original and a photocopy of your ID, passport or residency permit.
• Born certificate (you can get it from your home town Civil Registry).
• Registration of residency in a town where it shows the place you have lived for the last two years (you can get it from the City Hall).
• Embassy certificate confirming your inscription and your marital status. You may need to be informed if you're also required for a marriage ability certificate.

All the non-resident documents must be in Spanish and legalized by the appropriate authorities (Security Stamp or Apostille Convention) accompanied by a valid passport and a photocopy. The papers translation must be done by a Diplomatic organization or a sworn interpreter. If any of the applicants doesn't speak Spanish they must come accompanied by a translator.

In case the place of residence is outside of Spain, the applicants must provide with a consul issued certification where such circumstance it's indicated.

If any of the applicants has born or has acquired the German, Austrian, Belgium, Greek, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Switzerland, Turkish, Moldavian or Luxembourg nationality they must provide, according to the 20th agreement of Vienna, a Marriage Certificate and Unmarried State Certificate.

This is very generic information and may change from one country to another. To get exact information you should ask in your City Hall or the Civil Registry.

Wedding venues and places to get married in Spain

One of the most asked questions when a couple decides to get married in Spain is 'where?'

We have TONS of places. First thing you need to know is what kind of wedding you want. For example: it can be on the beach, near a mountain, in the city... You also need to know if there's an airport nearby, how to move all your guests from a place to another, etc...

Since this 'wedding venues and places to get married in Spain' topic is quite extensive we're writing some separate posts with our top wedding venues suggestions and explaining why. Right now we already have our top wedding venues in Costa Blanca which can be read following the link and we are working as hard as we can to have more suggestions.

Spain trivia and useful information

Weather

Once all the paperwork is done there is more information and reasons for why getting married in Spain that you should know. For example: the Spanish weather.
Spain has quite a diversity of weather so the temperatures depend on the region or month that your wedding is going to take place.
The north coast of Spain is wet and temperate, while the center are extreme: maybe to cold or maybe to hot. Lastly, the Mediterranean coast has nice and warm temperatures.
January is the most cold month of the year (depending on the place it should vary from 0º to 15º), while August is the most hot (varying from 20/25º of the north to almost 50º in Andalusia).
The temperatures increase from north to south, being north (Cantabria, Galicia, Vasque Country and north of Catalonia) the coldest ones and south (Valencia, Alicante, Andalusia, Murcia...) the hottest.

Generally speaking Spain is one of the most warm places of Europe where we enjoy of more than 3.000 hours of sun per year.

Transportation

Spain has many airport connections, so traveling here it's very easy, as much as getting to the different places of the peninsula. Spain is the third European Union country for aerial travelers and it's three major airports are among the top 20 European Airports, which are Madrid-Barajas in the 6th position; Barcelona-El Prat the 10th and Palma de Mallorca with the 20th position.

Top 10 Spanish airports:

1. Madrid-Barajas.
2. Barcelona-El Prat.
3. Palma de Mallorca.
4. Málaga-Costa del Sol.
5. Gran Canaria.
6. Alicante-Elche.
7. Tenerife Sur.
8. Ibiza.
9. Lanzarote.
10. Valencia

Also, many cities have train stations, subway and bus stations, so connection between cities is very easy if you don't want to rent a car. If you get married in Spain you as much as your guests will be able to visit the surrounding areas and know a bit more about the Spain corners.

And that's it. The question 'Can you get married in Spain' solved. Or at least we think it is. We're re-reading this post once in a while and asking if something has changed. For example, regarding the Brexit right now we don't have more information since it's not clear yet, but as soon as we do we'll post it in here so England, Ireland and UK couples in general can have it. Anyway, if there's something else we can help you with or something you want to ask just write in our comments and we'll try to help you out! Or if we don't know the answer we'll try to find someone who does.

If you're looking for a wedding photographer in Spain drop us a line and tell us what a marvelous crazy idea you have in mind!

We would love to hear from you and your awesome Spain destination wedding!
Contact us!