Destination Wedding Spain!
Spain has been always been a popular place with tourists, who flock to the country’s shores in their thousands each year for the sunny beaches, lively cities and warm, hospitable culture. In recent years however, the wave of visitors have included a sizeable number of couples who want to combine a holiday with a destination wedding in what has become one of Europe’s most popular holiday destinations.
Destination Wedding Spain LocationsThere are many beautiful wedding locations to choose from in Spain itself and one of the most popular areas in which to be wed is exuberant Andalusia, with its sun drenched white villages perched in the picturesque hills, exotic culture and well-deserved reputation for heady nightlife.
Though many of the smaller villages and towns have been the site of beautiful ceremonies, the top three places usually chosen for destination weddings are Madrid, Seville and Granada.
Another popular place to get married is in the Catalonia region, especially Barcelona. With its sunny year-round climate and golden beaches just 10 minutes away from the city centre, Barcelona offers the double attraction of a cosmopolitan nightlife and a beach vacation, making it popular among international visitors looking for a change from their own climates.
Destination Wedding Spain Customs Weddings in Spain tend to be huge communal, extravagant affairs, which many visitors aren’t able to emulate due to budget constraints. Still, if you want to add an authentic touch, these are just a few of Spanish customs you can incorporate into your own wedding: for the bride, the traditional white wedding gown can sometimes be replaced a genuine flamenco dress. During the ceremony, when the sentence “all my worldly goods I thee endow” is read, the bride and groom give each other 13 gold coins as a symbolic giving of their possessions. Sometimes these coins will have been in the family for many, many years, but nowadays imitation gold coins are more common.
The bride may also have a basket of pins, which often resemble lilies or orchids. These pins are given to all the ladies at the reception, to be worn upside down whilst dancing; if the pin falls out, the girl will marry. After the reception, the bride passes round the tables giving a small present to each of the female guests and the groom goes round giving cigars to the men.
On the surface, Spain’s marriage laws appear to permit foreigners to marry; in reality however, it is usually necessary for at least one partner to have been resident for at least two years. The Spanish regional authorities have the power to interpret the law in different ways and under Spanish law, religious wedding is considered legally binding, so a civil ceremony is optional.
Most foreigners intending to marry in Spain will understandably settle for a religious or exchange of vows’ceremony, together a civil ceremony conducted in their home country.
Roman Catholic, Protestant, Islamic or Jewish marriages can be arranged in Spain.Whether you have a civil or religious ceremony, make sure you do everything well in advance -Spanish authorities are notorious for their inefficiency, and a civil marriage application process usually takes anywhere from 30 to 60 days! This is especially true if you want a religious ceremony, as you’ll need to consult with the relevant church authorities for both permission to marry and to book the church in which to marry.
Most churches get booked up very quickly, especially in summer months, so planning even a year ahead may be necessary.The most popular months to get married in Spain are in June and July, which are, not coincidentally, the peak tourism months.
Destination Wedding Spain Best Time
If you’d prefer to have your destination wedding in Spain in a less crowded time, the shoulder periods are a particularly good time to go, as not only are the crowds significantly smaller, but the hotel prices tend to drop sharply as well. The only month in which it would not be a good idea to marry (at least, not without considerable advance notice and preparation) is in August, the traditional summer vacation for what seems to be practically worker in the city.
Destination Wedding Spain Tips
To avoid the hassle of dealing with the paperwork, you may want to hire a wedding company that will take care of all the legal matters on your behalf, as well as arranging the ceremony. If you choose to go the DIY route, there’s plenty of help at hand: most hotels will offer wedding and/or honeymoon packages and in Spain, it is typical to book a restaurant that will provide everything from the food to the entertainment and even the cake, which may be decorated as you wish.
An approximate cost estimate for organizing a destination wedding in Spain would be between EUR 90 and EUR 150 euros per person, plus roughly EUR 1,500 the ceremony and any other extras the bride and groom choose to add.
