In about six weeks time my partner and I will be getting married in Malaga.

It's all very exciting and I am happy to share my wedding journey with Expatica.

My partner Christoper and I met in Marbella about two years ago and have been in love ever since. I have never felt the urge to tie the knot, especially after two major failed relationships.

Since meeting Christopher all my old values towards marriage have changed. He makes me feel like a princess and the children get on well with him as well. How often do you find the perfect partner who gets along well with your children?

Christopher is a resident in Spain and I am too – travelling to and fro as often as possible. At the moment, I am mainly based in the UK because of the children’s schooling.

We decided to get married in Spain because:
•    Spain represents a turning point in my life for everything good that has happened since my first visit in 2006
•    It's the place where we met and fell in love
•    Being able to invite all the friends that I have met in Spain and of course the certainty of guaranteed sunshine
•    Christopher is already residing in Spain

The marriage process in Spain is by far the most complicated in Europe, or so I was told by the advisor by the Southend on sea registrar. I was prepared for the worst but so far the process has proved to be quite smooth-sailing.

STEP 1: Gathering the paperwork
While planning to get married in Spain, the first thing to gather is the necessary paperwork.

You will need the following documents
(1) Certificate of No Impediment to the marriage or divorce certificate
UK citizens can get this from their local registrar office (it costs GBP 30 for the application).I f you are already a resident of Spain, you can apply for it at the British consular in Malaga and will cost around GBP 80 per application. This process takes 21 days from the date it is filed for or longer if applying from the consular.

(2) Birth certificate, can be a copy from the official government site
UK citizens can go to http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ to apply for one. Each certificate cost GBP 17.

(3) Valid original passport and copies

Make at least four copies because you will need them when you apply for the Empadronmiento, Residencia and file for the  marriage.

(4) Filing your completed extranjeria form at your national police station
Complete the extranjeria form and file them at the national police station. Remember to bring with your passport and a photocopy of it.

While at the station, the officers will will give you a bank counter payment slip of EUR 18 which you can pay at any bank. Go to the bank, pay it and return the stamped counter slip to the national police station. They will print the residencia on a green paper and return it to you.This process can be done in just half a day.

In some provinces you may not need have to do this but you would have to check for yourself.

(5) Empadronamiento
This is the process of registering yourself as a resident in your province. Without it, I was unable to get married in Malaga. The rule may not apply to other provinces though.

Fill out the form (it’s the same as the extranjeria form) and take your passport and a photocopy of it along with you.

As you are registering yourself as a resident of your province,you will need to have an address. This can be a rental and you will need to show your rental contract or if you are going to ask a friend to help you register, they will need to show their house ownership or rental agreement.

You can download the Extranjeria application forms from here, print three copies for each person and you will need a photocopy of your passport  for each application as well.

If you are from the UK, please note that official documents that you are bringing to Spain need to be legalised and this can only done in one place in the UK - Milton Keynes and costs GBP 27 per document. (www.fco.gov.uk/legalisation) Otherwise, Spanish registry office will not accept the documents.

I have found it much quicker to go directly to the legalisation office and use their public counter service instead of posting the documents to the office as it is a same day service but this can only be done if you are already living in Spain and applying via the British Consulate office in Malaga. If you do it via the postal system, I think this process takes about four-six weeks.

As well as the legalisation stamp, English documents also need to be translated into Spanish and attached to the original documents.

Once all this is done, the journey gets a bit easier but I cannot stress just how important it is to get all the paperwork in place first. I made a major mistake and did not have every document legalised (I only got the Certificate of no Impedement legalised) and ended up having to spend an extra GBP 300 flying back and forth to the United Kingdom to get my birth certificate stamped.


STEP 2: Submitting the paperwork
Bring along a photocopy of your passport along with the necessary documents when you file for your marriage at the local registry office.

You will also need one of your two witnesses to be go along with you and to bring his/ her passport.The second witness just needs to give photocopy of his/ her passport which you can hand over to the clerk when you file for the marriage.

The officials will then process your information and register you on their system. The intent to marry is then displayed on their public notice board in their office for 21 days -  just like in the UK. After 10 days, you can call the office to request an interview date which is part of the marriage process.

We have hired a solicitor for GBP 800,  to help us with all the paperwork as we do not speak the language and are totally alien to the process. If you do not want to hire someone, I would recommend that you get a Spanish friend to help you with all the paperwork issues so that the process runs smoothly.

Either way  whether you hire someone or not, you will have to be present in person on the day of submitting the paperwork for the marriage.

The registry office was quite busy when we went and we waited about two hours to be seen. It was a ticket system so I would advise that you go earlier rather than later in the day.

STEP 3: Waiting and going for the interview
Once the 10 days are up, you can call to arrange an appointment for the interview process. You can wait up to six weeks for the appointment date.

Although I have yet to go for the interview, I have been told that the couple will be interviewed separately and asked to answer a number of questions to make sure that we are both genuine applicants.

We are going to set the wedding day after that process is complete. It's not the usual way to get married as most people usually work back from their set date but then I don't do anything in a logical order and just love planning as I go along. But that's just me.

Whatever order you are planning your wedding in, if you are planning to do it in Spain, then I would strongly urge you to leave plenty of time for all the paperwork needed.

I just can't wait. There is so much to do but such little time.

Murilyn Hutchinson / Expatica

Photo credits: encontrado.es; Ruth; clspeaceMurilyn Hutchinson, the writer, is busy preparing for her wedding. In her next article, she will share with us the joy of her wedding day.