The prospect of getting married in Gran Canaria under the warm sun with beautiful scenery is very tempting but there are a few things you need to know before deciding whether a wedding in Gran Canaria is for you.
Weddings can be very stressful and there is so much to think about – flowers, a wedding cake, what type of ceremony you want, the legalities etc – which is why it’s nice there are a few companies specializing in weddings in Gran Canaria who can sort out every last detail for you.
Photo by Sifu Renka
You already have more to think about if you want to get married abroad, including flights and accommodation. You might also have to pay to fly some of your wedding guests out so that’s something to consider! There are pros and cons to marrying at home or abroad but if you want something different and a wedding/honeymoon rolled into one, Gran Canaria could be the perfect option.
Reasons to Marry in Gran Canaria
Fewer people than ever are typing the knot these days but more people are choosing to marry overseas somewhere romantic and warm. Overseas weddings tend to be cheaper than UK weddings too, when you take everything into account.
Photo by Szeke
Gran Canaria is one of the few short haul destinations which offers pretty much guaranteed good weather, even in the winter months, so you don’t have to go long haul to get married in the warm. Also, if you get married in the Caribbean or somewhere like that, a lot of your relatives won’t be able to afford to join you, which is why Gran Canaria is a great choice.
Necessary Documents
You might need some or all of the following, but a Canarian wedding organiser will be able to inform you:
- Original (long) birth certificate
- Passport
- Certificate of residence (empadronamiento – or local electoral register)
- Certificate of consular inscription – a letter verifying personal data, available from the British Embassy or Consulate
- Certificate of no impediment to marriage – you can get this from a British Consulate after notice of marriage has been posted on the consular notice board for at least 21 days
- Proof that both parties are single – get a form from a Civil Registry in the UK
- Original death certificate of deceased partner (if applicable)
- Original divorce certificate (if applicable)
- Marriage application form – get one from the District Court or the Civil Registry
- Baptismal certificate (if you want a Catholic marriage)
Photo by Winged Photography
What is the Next Step?
There are several companies located in the Canaries who can sort out your whole wedding and give you all the advice you need. These wedding companies know all the essential ins and outs of getting married overseas.
I cannot recommend one company in particular because I have never been married in Gran Canaria (or anywhere else!) or had any firsthand experience with any of the wedding companies, so I suggest you scroll down to the comments section and make up your own mind, going by the comments.
If you just want a wedding blessing in Gran Canaria rather than a legal wedding, you can arrange a romantic day out on a boat or contact one of the wedding companies if you have something special in mind.
Hi, Can I mention the Wedding Planning Services of Gran Canaria Weddings based in Mogan, Puerto Rico, Maspalomas and Las Palmas. I am getting married in March in Gran Canaria and have found them a great help in all aspects of the arrangements for travel, accomodation and preparation.
Certainly, Helen, I hope your wedding is wonderful 🙂
I would like to contact you regarding the cost and legal requirements for a party of 30 uk residents who would like to have the wedding in Gran Canaria. They would like to plan the wedding for this November.
I run the office here in Lanzarote for all holiday bookings for a UK company and also look after Gran Canaria as well. We are a 5 star company with top class clients. We need to know the legal paperwork required and cost. Also how long must they be on the island to qualify, if at all i.e. in cyprus the couple must be there for 5 days to enable them to either have a civil ceremony.
I’ve emailed you, Sandie
thank you Victoria and I responded but have not had anything from Louise as yet. My UK office are getting a little impatient and need the information as soon as possible particular the costs of certificates etc. If I do not act swiftly we may lose the booking of hotels and other benfits for your company.
Regards Sandie.
Hi Sandie
Replied and hope we can do business in the future.
hi im going to gran canaria in november and was hoping to to get married all we want is a simple service no evening party or anything like that we just want to be married there will be 9 others there with us 4 of them being my children could u give me a price please
I’ll forward your message on! 🙂
Hi, I wondered if anyone was successful in arranging a legal marriage in Gran Canaria. We were hoping to get married there next year
Hi Dawn
If you would like to contact us through our website or email then we will be happy to help. Legal marriages are possible in Gran Canaria.
Thanks
Hi
We would like to get legally married in Puerto Rico sometime next year. We don’t live in Gran Canaria and wondered if this was possible.
We know you can get married in Cyprus and Turkey but would prefer Gran Canaria if possible
Dawn and Ian
hello
we are hoping to get married week comencing 17th oct 2010 my partner and i have both been married before, we want a very intimate service jus 6 people present. we would like the service on the beach we only want flowers photos and cocktails could this be at all possible we are staying at playa del ingles for 1 week only
i would be very grateful for any help
yours faithfully
donna
want to get married in puerto rico next march, simple service, advice needed
Don’t use Gran Canaria Weddings whatever you do.
There fee is €2000 and they don’t get off their backsides to do anything
Has anyone else heard that you need to have a blood test to get married in puerto rico?
Are you talking about Puerto Rico the country? If so the answer is yes. However this website is about Gran Canaria in Spain where the answer is no.
ha ha i didn’t know there was a country! thats made me feel so much better, thanks. I was a bit paniced about needles, I get googled geting married in puerto rico! thank god I found this web site.
we want to get married in puerto rico next year but all i can find is renewal of vows can any one help where i can get married? thankyou 🙂
Unless you are Catholic, you cannot get married in GC fullstop. Don’t be fooled by wedding planners that you can. If you want to have your wedding blessed you can arrange everything yourself with the hotel of your choice. Google British Churches in Gran Canaria and contact the Father/Reverend yourself and he will help you out. Avoid Gran Canaria Weddings – rip off merchants
hi we are going to gran canaria in january and planning to to get married all we ‘d like is a simple service, only me and my groom. We just need the ceremony at our hotels beach. We order the cake and the food from the hotel. Thank you for your help!!
Whatever company you choose avoid Gran Canaria Weddings. There are other companies in Gran Canaria but do not use any with Paul Gibson. see Gran Canaria Tripadviser forum – just marrierd
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I would like to contact you regarding the cost and legal requirements for a party of 30 uk residents who would like to have the wedding in Gran Canaria. i would like to plan the wedding for october 2012.
i was aslo woundering how lomg do we have to be in gran canaria before we can get married.were would u recomend as the best venue
Susan, the company I knew who were doing the weddings are no longer doing them so I won’t be able to give you a price. I suggest you have a look at this site: http://www.celebrationsgc.com/ I have no experience with this company but they might be able to answer your questions. Good luck.
Victoria
Hi Susan,
I can organise the wedding you are looking for. I’m in the process of launching my new wedding planning company and am offering very competative rates. I have extensive experience in events organising and can guarantee an excellent service. Please contact me on [email protected] and we can talk further.
hello i was wondering if you can help me i am planning to get married in gran canaria and do i neeed a cert of no impediment and how long do i need to be in gran canaria before getting married i have arranged all my wedding stuff in the uk like cake and flowers dresses ect and im going to fed ex them over to a freind that stays there .i just need to find out how i can book my big day in a spanish church in puerto rico or close to it as i have already found my own venue for food after the wedding thankyou so much this site has already helped me alot xxxx
Unless you are Catholic you have no chance in getting married in Gran Canaria. You get married in the UK and have a blessing in Gran Canaria. Believe me it is very complicated and if you get it wrong very expensive. Please contact me for further info
Hi, can you give me an idea of costs to get married in gran canaria, we have been together for 23 years and have decided to finally get married, we would like something simple, by the sea, thanks.
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Hi
I am getting the impression that if we are not Catholic our wedding will not be legal if we marry in Gran Canaria? Can anyone please advise me on this? We are looking into options for August 2013 and are considering Gran Canaria as it was our first holiday destination. Also, can anyone recommend any hotels that you can organise your wedding or reputable planning agents? Thank you x
Unless you are resident in Gran Canaria you will not be able to get legally wed there unless you are Catholic. You get secretly married back home and have a blessing in Gran Canaria. Your guests need never know. Don’t let anyone else tell you differently. Paul Gibson of Gran Canaria weddings told my daughter it was complicated but it could be done. LIES. It can’t be done, he was asking her and her now hubby to break the law. They wasted a fortune in getting paperwork organised and visits to Gran Canaria supposedly to meet lawyers etc and it was all a load of lies. They did have a blessing there though and we all had a great time.
Thanks for answering, Liz – sorry for your daughter’s bad experience.
I have stopped giving advice about marriage in GC now (I wrote the original post) because of all the conflicting advice.
Sounds like it would be safest to take the above advice, Amy-Louise.
Unless anyone reading this HAS got married legally there and can recommend a specific company…?
Victoria 🙂
Liz Mc Donald is correct, and actualy went through so much stress it was unbelievable how it was all caused to her by the wedding planner she first chose.
She did succesfully organise her own daughters wedding in the end. It was a credit to her how fantastic it all turned out.
Full details on http://www.moganforum.com
If you own an apartment here (even if you dont reside here permanently) and have signed onto the Padron at your local town hall regularly. And can supply two years current of these certificates to the Civil Registra here.
Plus all the paperwork that Victoria says above that you must have. Then you can get legaly married here, but you will actualy be telling lies to the Civil registra that you live here permanently. Now who wants to start off there marriage on Lies?
Its as simple as that, there is this trick you can do if you do own a holiday apartment here that you come and stay in,( but actualy are resident in another country say Britain , Ireland or Scotland).
I am sure a certain wedding planner used this trick Once!!
Hi
Thank you for all your advice/responses. I have been in touch with a wedding planner out there and they have told me that I can have a wedding style ceremony but I will have to legally register in the UK. It seems to be the case with other places that we have considered too. I dont mind having to do that as long as the ceremony I can have reflects that of a wedding.
Hi Amy- Louise.
I hope everything goes ok for you, at least you have found a wedding planner that has told you the truth right from the start.
GOOD LUCK!!!
Your wedding is supposed to be the best day of your life so I hope it’s a beautiful day for you Amy-Louise, wherever you have the ceremony. All the best.
Hi me and my partner would like to get married in gran canaria but am wondering if we get married there will our marriage be legal back home in Ireland.
I’m not 100% sure but it’s unlikely. You might be better off having a wedding blessing in GC.
If you are catholic and follow the procedures you will be legally married. If you are not catholic anyone who tells you can get married is LYING and you will not be legally married. In fact you will be breaking Spanish Law. A blessing is the only way to go for non-catholics.
I speak from experience and it can be very enjoyable knowing your guests are completely unaware that you were married back home days before you arrive for the blessing
Hi Liz yes we are catholic and gran canaria is a lovely place but some1 told me they dont do catholic weddings is this true or is it a lie all we want is the chapel and priest as we want it kept as small as possible as we do not have a lot of money also we just want it to be me my fiance our 2 witnesses and my parents and his.
Hi Karen, I don’t know the proper way to do things, but I know that you have to see your own priest first. He will advise you. I would be trawling the internet to find a catholic priest in GC who speaks English. If you were interested in the chapel at Puerto de Mogan I could perhaps find out more from the family who own it. It is a catholic church but allow it to be used by all faiths. It is hard work to trawl the internet but that is how I found Rev Ford to conduct my daughter’s wedding. The only other way is to pay a wedding planner but they are very expensive and we had a bad experience and ended up doing it ourselves. Feel free to ask me anything. Victoria may have some knowledge of priests as she is in Gran Canaria.
Thanks for your help, Liz. Karen, when I wrote the initial article it seems that I had been misinformed about the legal aspect of getting married in Gran Canaria. I don’t personally know of any priests on the island.
Hi there.
I was wanting civil ceremony but having read the above realise there is no chance.
I am catholic but partner is Church of England. Would that qualify for wedding in chapel or would we be better getting blessing? Also how could i arrange a blessing without going thro planners?
Hi my partner and i were supposed to be married in gran canaria in less than 8weeks but have been let down by the wedding planner.all our family and friends have flights and hotels booked and paid for and we still want to go ahead with the wedding,but i can’t seem to find a catholic priest to do the ceremony.was wondering if you could help me.thank you.
Hi Catherine
I am so sorry to hear what has happened, I really hope that you get sorted. I am sorry that I am not sending a message with advice as I know little about getting Married in Gran Canaria & am currently looking into it myself. I hope you dont mind me asking but, who are the company you were going with?
Best of luck
x
hi catherine sorry to hear that. i was getting nowhere with wedding planners so decided to do it myself. i contacted father james in temple ecumenico in playa del ingles its a lovely chirch and he agreed to marry us. you have to meet with your local priest and they contact diocese over there but the 1st thing you should do is contact fr james.
Hi Sharon. Good advice. For anyone else reading and planning getting married in Gran Canaria my tip is “instead of paying €1000 to a useless wedding planner, have a weeks holiday and arrange it all yourself” The internet is a powerful tool and most staff in hotels speak English.