Hi All,

I?m a British woman, living and resident in Spain, and getting married to a Spanish man in December, in Spain.  Just wondering how to register a marriage here in Spain, and also if I need to do anything about registering in the UK.  I?d be grateful for any help.  Thanks!!

I have spoken the British consulate about this, when I got married, they said there is a legal document, that sorts this out, can’t remember what it is called, call the consulate, let us know how you get on?

Its basically similar to the UK.

I married my Spanish partner in Spain, but we lived in the UK, I believe the process is the same.

You contact the Civil Registry in Spain who will prepare the application.

Contact the UK registry as you need proof your single. After the wedding you`ll need to register the wedding in the UK as well, I think, I did but we were living in the UK.

You`ll need birth cert, passport, cert of residency (unless you live abroad), cert of consular inscription.

You then fill out the applications and within a few weeks granted permission to wed.

If you having Catholic marriage you will also need baptism certificate, mine needed to be translated and approved by the Bishop for the area of Spain we were getting married.

As your marrying a National should be straight forward.

Good luck.

Thanks for the replies.  Today I contacted my local British consulate.  I was told that there is no necessity or way to register a marriage in Spain with the British authorities, either in Spain or in the UK.  To confirm this I was sent the following quotation:  “Que seg?n la Ley Inglesa de Causas Matrimoniales vigente, un matrimonio es considerado formalmente valido, cuando este, es celebrado de acuerdo con las normas requeridas por la Ley del pais donde se celebra”.

I?m having a Catholic wedding and the paperwork requested was:  Birth certificate (legalised and translated), baptism certificate (signed and stamped by both the parish priest and local bishop of the church where the baptism took place), certificate of non impediment (produced in Spanish by the British consulate) and certificate to say that we have completed the pre-marriage course at the church.  We had to fill in a lot of paperwork at the church and then take 2 witnesses (who cannot be family members) to answer a few questions and sign the paperwork at the church.  All of this has now been sent off to the Bishop?s office who will (hopefully) approve it.  However, our situation is a little different as we are live in the Balearics but are getting married in Granada so the paperwork will then have to be sent off to the church in Granada.

Hopefully, we?ve done everything the right way so far!!  And hopefully we will not be asked for any more paper work!!  After finding out that I don?t need to register anything in the UK, I understand that to register a marriage here in Spain you go along to the Civil Registry office.  Can anyone tell me what paperwork they ask for and what time limit we have to register a marriage.

Thanks for your help!

Read this

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Registeringlifeevents/Marriagesandcivilpartnerships/DG_175716

It states this

What you need to do

You can create a record of your overseas marriage or civil partnership at any time after the ceremony. You need to get the original documents, or certified copies, issued by the foreign authority ? this is not an automatic process.

To create the record:

your marriage or civil partnership must have taken place in one of the countries in the PDF linked below

one of you must be a British citizen - only that person can apply to deposit the details

Spain is on the list of countries.

I guess they changed the rules since 1998, I did everything in the UK registry office, although again we where living in the UK at the time.

Our marriage cert is in Spanish.

Thanks for the reply and the information.  I don?t actually want or need to register the marriage in the UK as we?ll continue to live in Spain.  I just wasn?t sure if being British, I NEEDED to register in the UK.  Now I know I don?t so that?s one less thing to worry about!!

What I do need to know though is the process for registering the marriage here in Spain.  What paperwork do we need and how long after the wedding do we have to register the marriage?  Any advice much appreciated!

laurainspain,
the parish priest will give you a Certificaci?n Eclesi?stica de Matrimonio. 4 copies. 2 copies to be taken to the local Registro Civil, 1 for you and 1 for the church where the wedding was held. You have 5 days to go to the Registro Civil and register the marriage providing them with their copy of the Certificaci?n Eclesi?stica de Matrimonio. Once registered you will be given a copy of the document and the libro de familia. your fiance can go to the local registro civil and get a copy of requirements.
have you thought about the economic regime of the marriage?

Thanks aritz, that?s a big help.  We?re starting to look for our honeymoon destination so at least now we know we have to leave a day or 2 after the wedding to go and register before we fly off somewhere to relax after all the stress!!  Not sure I understand what you mean about the “economic regime of the marriage”?