Gibraltar Wedding Information
After deciding to marry in Gibraltar, the obvious question was, “how do we plan a wedding in Gibraltar when we’ve never even been to Gibraltar?”
I’ve worked as an event planner and a wedding waitress, but I’ve never actually planned a wedding. The first time around I got married in Jamaica on one of those “free wedding if you stay 3 or more nights at our resort” deals. Basically, I told them what date and time we wanted to be married, and showed up. Gibraltar is a bit tricker.
Then one Saturday morning, I got the email I thought would never come and I was happy I hadn’t freaked out completely and hired a wedding planner!The Gibraltar Registry Office has been very pleasant to deal with and I get the sense that they’re just very busy. So if you’re planning a Gibraltar wedding and are reaching freak out stage because they haven’t confirmed your date, make a Cosmo and chill out. They’ll get back to you :)
Trip Advisor has been an invaluable resource, there are plenty of people in the Gibraltar forum who have been married in Gibraltar and they’re very helpful to aspiring Gibraltar brides.
Gibral-Flora is doing my bouquet. I’m still deciding on the specifics butas long as I finalize the order 30 days in advance and they’ll be able deliver it to our hotel on the morning of for around £35 inclusive.
The day before the wedding, we’ll need to bring our original documents to the Registry Office, and get something notarized and returned before close of business. To minimize stress, I’m going to arrange an appointment ahead of time with this notary which is very close to the Registry Office. At £20 per signature, it’s the most expensive in Gibraltar, but you know what they say about location, and we can’t be bothered to chase all over town to save 20 quid.
We’ll have to leave witnesses until the last minute, but that’s part of the adventure! I’m sure we’ll find someone who will love telling the story of how they became our impromptu maid of honor/best man whilst on holiday in Gibraltar ;)
All in all, planning a wedding in a place I’ve never been to has been remarkably easy, and if it was good enough for John and Yoko, it’s good enough for us!
Now let’s talk dresses…
Jennifer says
It won’t be an insignificant date in September afterwards! :)
Sage says
:)
WILDSIDE says
If but for a passport, I’d be right over to help you out! Just kidding, please know! We eloped, at it was just a simple matter to sign some papers and show up before the judge with our witnesses who flew in for a bit of fun with a wedding dare at a cool location — am surprised how complicated this is and don’t envy your stress — but then again, just may be I do! LOL Good luck with it all.
Sage says
Everything in the EU is complicated when you come from outside the EU. I’m looking forward to the day I have my British citizenship!
But it’s all part of the adventure and I knew going into this whole living in Europe thing that it wasn’t the easiest path, but I am having a more beautiful life than I ever could’ve dreamed of. So it’s a fair trade :)
WILDSIDE says
That’s nice to hear! :-)
Maria says
What was the name of the photographer you used? And would you recommend him still after the work he did with you?
Sage says
Hi Maria,
I wrote about that here: http://www.sageandsimple.com/2015/09/gary-tapp-wedding-photography/
Lisa Law says
Hi Sage,
we just went through it in Gib as well. :) It was lovely, but one big recommendation: definitively go to the registry and notary ahead of time – minimum 2 days in advance!
good luck and hope it’ll be the wedding you’ve dreamed of.
L
Sage says
Congratulations, Lisa :)
We just celebrated our second wedding anniversary. We flew in two days before and took care of everything the day before. The Registry Office was smooth sailing, the rest of it was pretty much a nightmare, which I wrote about right after it all happened. I hope yours was better…
Barbara McNeill says
My husband and I are going to renew our vows in the registry office in Gibraltar and are travelling alone. Can anybody recommend a central hotel with car parking? Also we’re witnesses easy enough to ‘pick up’ whilst there?!!! Barbara
Sage says
Hi Barbara,
The Rock Hotel is one of the only hotels in Gibraltar and they have free parking. If you’re already married, I’m not sure why you’d need witnesses? However, if you read my post about our actual wedding day, you’ll see how the witness situation turned out for us :)
alison says
Hi,can you tell me how you arranged a renewel of vows at the registry office in gibraltar as they
Told me they didnt offer that service and we were very keen to renew vows where we were married
So any help would be gratefully received , thanks
Sue Taylor says
Good luck and thank you for the helpful advice I’m about to do exactly what you’ve done next year and I feel I can follow your lead many thanks sue xx