Where to marry:Madrid, beyond Madrid and the islands

Choosing the place of a wedding is choosing how light will fall on the ceremony. This guide travels three geographies, Madrid and surroundings, beyond Madrid and the islands, with the practice of looking at a space through an author's eyes: what light it has, at what hour the sun falls on the ceremony and what each place's website says, or leaves unsaid.

Madrid and surroundings

Madrid's advantage is not the space but the logistics: guests arrive on the day and go back. The price of that comfort is that almost everywhere ends the music earlier than in the countryside, because the municipal ordinance rules, not the estate. Marrying in Madrid with a team from Palma: how it works.

Among gardens, palaces, hotels, castles and cloisters, the mountains bring granite and pine; villages with an arcaded square, such as Chinchón, bring porticoes and balconies. Each type of space brings its own rules of light, and the rules should be known before booking.

Beyond Madrid

From an hour's drive onwards, capacity ceases to be the limit and the real question appears: where do those coming from afar sleep. Historic cities, mills and stone houses offer a different character but share a demand: settle the accommodation before closing the venue.

The islands

In Mallorca the stone is pale and returns light well into the evening. That changes the cocktail hour, not the place: the same courtyard at six and at eight bears no resemblance. In Ibiza, the sun hides over the sea and the open horizon stretches out the last light of the afternoon. Para Mallorca, por tipo de lugar: where to hold a wedding in Mallorca.

How to choose, in four questions

• Is the venue exclusive that day and what exactly does it include?
• What is the real capacity and is it on the licence?
• Are there rooms on site or must they be arranged elsewhere?
• Exclusive, in-house or open catering?

And a fifth that matters only if you care how the film will look: which way the space for the cocktail faces. A west-facing courtyard in July is an hour of sun head-on; the same courtyard facing east, a soft shade. No data sheet says so and it conditions half the work.

The party venue is not always the venue for the rite

Once the marriage file has been authorised, a civil marriage may be held before the mayor or a delegated councillor, a court clerk (letrado de la Administración de Justicia) or a notary. The couple choose, unless the Civil Registry processed the file: then it must be before the mayor or a councillor. What is possible in each case, and whether it can be done at a particular estate, is not decided by the estate alone: it depends on who officiates, and it is worth asking the town hall too. Hence it matters to ask before falling in love with the space.

When the legal rite takes place elsewhere, there is a transfer, and every transfer takes light from the evening. We look at it calmly in this other guide.

On the islands, look at the season too

AEMET averages (1981-2010) show that in Ibiza it rains little from June to August (between 5 and 18 mm a month) and much more in September and October (57 and 58 mm). In Palma, September has about 50 mm and October 62 mm. They are averages, not forecasts, but worth keeping in mind when choosing the month and, above all, when asking for a written plan B.

A sensible order for deciding

• First, who officiates and where: it shapes the date, the travel and the timetable.
• Then, how many guests sleep away and where: it shapes the space and the budget.
• Last, the ceremony hour: counted back from sunset, not forward from lunch.

Before choosing

The comparison is not made by the venue's website: you make it. Gather the answers in writing and look at them calmly, two at a time, before deciding.