How to get married in Gran Canaria

Non-Residents

• One of the couple must be of the Catholic faith.
• Both persons must not have been married previously.
• If you choose this option you will need to arrange a meeting with your local Parish Priest, a minimum of 6 months prior to your preferred wedding date.
• Relate your plans to your Parish Priest; he will then forward the relevant information to your local Diocese.
• This information will then be transferred to the Diocese here in Gran Canaria.

• In most cases a small civil ceremony service is conducted in the couple’s home country, often with only 2 witnesses.
• A religious or spiritual ceremony is then conducted in Gran Canaria and is considered as the actual wedding day by all involved.
• There are many advantages to choosing this option; in particular, your legal paperwork will be in English. This avoids translation and legalization issues.
• This tends to be the preferred option, as it allows the couple to tailor-make their wedding ceremony, location and overall theme. It offers you and your guests the utmost in flexibility and allows you to create the wedding of your dreams. It is also generally viewed by the wedding couple and their guests as their ‘true wedding day’, the one which they will remember for years to come.

Residents

If one of you is a resident here in the Canaries you can legally marry here via the civil registry office or town hall. We’ll be entering into this in more detail in the next edition of the Canary News.