Pick a planner
To ensure the smooth running of your wedding plans, you may find a wedding planner useful. They keep on top of all the little niggles so they don’t turn into big ones, meaning you can relax in the run up to the big day. Obviously you pay for their services but some people find it an essential expense.
Planners can help you sort out the paperwork, recommend and book churches, reception venues, entertainment, catering, flowers and all the other little details. Some charge a percentage of the service you’re booking while others charge a flat fee for different packages of services. Contact one of the following for more information:
Costa Blanca – www.destiniweddings.com – Services are offered in the form of inclusive packages, starting at £2,495, so you know exactly what you’re getting up-front. Weddings in other areas cost more.
Gibraltar – www.hourconcierge.com – Gibraltar’s first concierge and event company service, where the civil ceremony paperwork is much easier to organise and there are now evening weddings at the register office. Book their help with prices starting from £450.
Ibiza – www.eat-ibiza.com – Vickki charges €90 per person for her catering services, which, as well as food, includes tables and chairs, linen, staff, complimentary tasting, cutlery and crockery. She provides ideas on the other elements of the wedding and can book them for you – there is no charge for this service.
All over Spain – www.weddingsinspain.com – Stacy advises that costs vary hugely: booking your event in a hotel that holds 10 weddings a week can be relatively straightforward, whereas organising a wedding in the countryside in a marquee where there’s no electricity are two completely different tasks. So state your budget and your wish list and take it from there.

Go online
You’ll find loads of useful information and appetite-whetting photos on the Internet. It makes booking easy and puts details at your fingertips. You’ll find all sorts of wonderful venues suitable for the wedding itself, the reception and accommodation, from country fincas to simple chapels, mountaintop convents to luxurious hotels.
You’ll also have access to a range of wedding planners and other specialists and suppliers who will help your special day to go more smoothly. A great starting point are wedding forums, where you can share plans, tips and advice and ask questions and opinions from other brides (and grooms)-to-be. Try the forums at www.weddingforum.co.uk; www.weddingchaos.co.uk or www.bridesweddingforum.co.uk.

Do the paperwork
You need to put all the legal necessities in place before your wedding or it won’t be legally recognised. It’s a good reason for having a local wedding planner who will know exactly what you need to do and should be able to help you sort it out.
• For a civil service You will need to sign up for Spanish residency at least six months prior to the event, though you may only need temporary residence and some areas are more relaxed than this. Check with the regional consulate.
• For a Catholic service One of you needs to be Catholic and you’ll need to visit your own church at least six months before the wedding to get the ball rolling.
• For other religions Your best bet is to have the wedding ceremony in the UK and the celebrations – with a blessing if you like – in Spain. Before a wedding can take place in most areas, a notice of intent to marry should be displayed on the consular notice board for 21 days and parties must be resident in this district for 21 days. But speak to the consulate for local laws.

Fabulous venues
Here are four very gorgeous, very different places to get married. While we can give you a taste of what the venue offers, it’s impossible to list prices as it really does depend on your exact requirements.
Blanes, Girona – El Convent – www.el-convent.com
Dating back to 1583 the convent has a chapel for weddings, a wonderful reception room and various terraces on a clifftop by the sea, 70 km from Barcelona. Just stunning!
Otivar, Andalucia – Palacete de Cázulas – www.oneoffplaces.co.uk
This pretty country mansion and its buildings sleep up to 24. Hire it for a stay and get married in the private chapel on-site. There’s a pool and a lovely dining room and terrace. The owners can put you in touch with a local planner who will help arrange the reception. A week’s rental for the entire property in high season costs €9,900.
El Puig, Valencia – Campo Anibal – www.campoanibal.com
This beautiful country house is licensed for weddings and is owned by a family named Casanova! It’s set in gorgeous gardens flanked by orange trees; why not dine out on the terrace, set around a pretty pool?
Santa Eulalia, Ibiza -– Atzaró - www.mrandmrssmith.co.uk
A fabulous Moorish finca hotel with a beautiful Colonial pavilion, perfect for the ceremony itself. There’s a spa to soothe pre-nuptial jitters and each room – from €340 in high season – has its own private terrace.

Case history:
Lucy Ilsley married James last September and had their reception at La Residencia Hotel at Deia, Mallorca.
“I’d seen the hotel featured in a magazine and thought what a wonderful place it looked for a wedding, so I already knew where I wanted to get married, though the organisation of it all seemed a bit daunting.
On forums I looked at, wedding planners were mentioned and I thought that might be the way to go. I’m glad I did, as Mandy at Alago Events (www.alagoevents.com) was invaluable. I looked around on the Internet and fired off a few emails and she was the first to get back to me with a whole load of information. After talking to her, I knew she was the person I wanted to work with. I’d recommend speaking to the planner on the phone before you decide to go with them – you need to know you’re going to get on and you can’t decide that from an email.
There was one major blip when the hotel told me that they wouldn’t organise a pay-bar as that’s not what people do in Spain. At one point they actually said that if that’s what we wanted we’d have go elsewhere. Mandy spoke to them and sorted it out. I think it would have been stalemate if it had been left to me.
Mandy had lots of great ideas we included that really made the day – mini bottles of Cava handed out to the guests as they came out of the church and walked down to the hotel, serenaded by a Spanish guitarist.
It all cost a fortune. But we got so much more for our money than we would have done in the UK and Mandy was able to negotiate discounts that I couldn’t have done. She also provided a link on her site for our guests to get information about the wedding and gave them all a welcome pack when they arrived with an itinerary.
We had 55 people for a four-day celebration. On the first, we had drinks in a nearby village, Port de Soller. The night before we met at a local bar for food and drinks. We got married at 2pm at the chuch in Deia then had the reception at the hotel. The day after anyone who wanted came sailing round Mallorca on a catamaran.
We got married nine months after James proposed and had exactly what we wanted – in the UK everything would have been booked a year or two in advance.’

Photos by Andrew Hazard