What you needfor a church wedding

On the marriage file, "a margin of at least three months" is often repeated, a general recommendation from the Archdiocese of Madrid. But each parish sets its own figure. A review of twelve Madrid parishes with their own website and a page on the file, carried out in September 2026, shows that seven publish a specific lead time, ranging from one to six months. In Mallorca and Ibiza no diocesan or parish website was found that publishes one: you must ask.

Usual documents

• Baptism certificate for each of you, legalised if it comes from another diocese; it expires after six months.
• Birth certificate from the Civil Registry.
• Certificate of civil status, or of marriage if a civil ceremony has already been held.
• If there was a previous marriage: marriage certificate and divorce or annulment ruling; if widowed, a death certificate.
• Certificate of the pre-marriage course.
• ID card, residence card or passport, and two witnesses, one for each of you.

This is the general list; each office may ask for something more. That is why the lead time matters as much as the papers: if the baptism certificate expires after six months, requesting it a year ahead is no use.

Why the figures differ

Because the same number means different things. In one parish, six months is a recommendation, a comfortable margin; in another, it is a ceiling: the file cannot be opened earlier. Another asks only one month, and some publish two figures on their own website. The practical reading is to ask the lead time in writing and also in which sense it counts: a minimum to begin or a limit not to start too early.

What changes depending on your case

The Archdiocese of Madrid states that some files are not processed at the parish but at the Archbishopric's marriage-files office: marriages with a non-Catholic, with minors, after a previous divorce or annulment, or with foreigners with fewer than three years' residence, among others. If you fall into one of those cases, start there.

The same source asks both partners and the witnesses to attend in person with their identity documents, and asks for the appointment to be requested in advance. Count on that if one of you lives elsewhere: a day has to be coordinated.

Civil effects: there is no need to marry twice

A marriage celebrated under canon law has civil effects from the moment of the ceremony. For full recognition it is entered in the Civil Registry with the church certificate. In other words, no second civil ceremony is needed: it is worth checking, though, that the certificate reaches the Registry.

Questions that often go unasked

• What rules are there for photography and film during the ceremony, and where may the person doing it stand?
• Can the music you have planned be used, or does the parish have its own choir or organist?
• Which time is available on the chosen day, and how long is there before the next celebration?

If your parish publishes no lead time

Five of the twelve say nothing, and many others, with or without a website, have not been checked. The three-month reference serves as a guide but does not replace what each office says. Write or call and ask for the deadline before booking anything else. And give the date in the first message: it decides whether there is time to gather the papers.

Websites change: confirm everything with your parish before deciding.