The sunny, easygoing Mediterranean coast, where the design-forward city of Valencia meets the beaches and coves of the Costa Blanca and a hinterland of orange groves and orchards. A Valencia wedding is warm, bright, and better value than the islands, pairing a modern food city with a long, mild coast made for a celebration by the sea.
Spain has had full marriage equality since 2005, so a wedding in Valencia and the Costa Blanca is legally binding for every couple, with no asterisk. The practical catch is residency. A Spanish civil marriage usually requires one partner to have lived in Spain for about two years, so most foreign couples, whatever their orientation, marry legally at home and hold their ceremony here. A Catholic wedding is the exception and skips the residency rule.
It is the value-minded Mediterranean option, with much of the coast and climate of the Balearics at lower prices. Valencia itself has become one of Spain's most liveable cities, with bold modern architecture, the country's best-known food, since paella was born here, and a green former riverbed running through its heart. South of it, the Costa Blanca strings together white beaches and rocky coves, with chic pockets like Jávea and Altea among the busier resort towns. Inland, orange groves and old fincas give a quieter, rural alternative, and the climate is among the mildest and sunniest in mainland Spain.
Three corners of the region pull in slightly different directions. None is more correct than another; they are simply moods. The three below are the ones worth knowing first.
We are mapping Valencia and the Costa Blanca sub-area by sub-area, from the city to the Marina Alta to Alicante. Be first as each one opens, with the honest legal notes that come with it.
The quiz reads your taste and points you to the regions, and the kind of ceremony, that fit you.