# Wedding photographers in Cascais > A bay town with a citadel, a lighthouse and a royal past, forty minutes from Lisbon by train — and a wild Atlantic coast just past the last houses. - URL: https://lensandvows.com/portugal/lisbon/cascais - Lisbon & Sintra: https://lensandvows.com/portugal/lisbon - Portugal: https://lensandvows.com/portugal - Português: https://lensandvows.com/pt/portugal/lisbon/cascais.md - Lens & Vows: https://lensandvows.com/ Cascais sits where the Tagus opens onto the Atlantic, at the end of the railway line from Lisbon. The old town wraps around its bay — the fishermen’s beach is still in the middle of it — and a citadel where King Luís I and Queen Maria Pia made a royal palace in 1870. In town, fishermen’s houses and flowered walls; at the end of a nine-kilometre cycle path along the coast, a wild beach. A wedding here often moves between the two. Getting ready and the ceremony happen in town; then the two of you slip away for portraits on the rocks at Boca do Inferno or in the dunes at Guincho. That coast is part of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, and it is windy most of the year — plan for veils as carefully as for the light. ## Wedding photographers in Cascais They shoot everywhere in Lisbon & Sintra — in Cascais too. Their whole weddings are on their pages. https://lensandvows.com/photographers?region=lisbon https://lensandvows.com/photographers?region=lisbon&sort=rating (Highest rated) https://lensandvows.com/portugal/lisbon.md ## Where couples marry in Cascais - **The citadel:** A tower of 1488, a fortress raised before 1580 and a citadel built after 1640, all one walled complex on the bay. Part is an official residence of the President, open for guided visits; part is a pousada that hosts weddings in its halls and courtyards. Thick walls: shade at noon, a plan for rain. - **The parish church:** Nossa Senhora da Assunção, rebuilt in the 17th century on the site of an older church, is plain outside and lined inside with tile panels, paintings and carved wood. It became a monument of public interest in 2019. - **Seafront hotels with a past:** Two seafront hotels have long wedding histories: the former home of King Umberto II of Italy, with ceremonies by the pool facing the Atlantic, and Palácio Estoril, hosting weddings since 1930. - **Out at Guincho:** On the open coast, Fortaleza do Guincho hosts weddings; its Medieval Room seats about 120 for dinner. Big sea, big sky — and wind, so the indoor room is part of the plan, not a fallback. ## Where to take your portraits - **Boca do Inferno:** Atlantic swell bursting through an open arch in the rocks, a few minutes from the centre along a coastal walkway with viewpoints. Come in the last hour before sunset, and keep the dress well back from the spray. - **Santa Marta lighthouse:** A blue-striped lighthouse, now a museum, beside the Castro Guimarães palace, built above the sea in 1897 and now a library and museum. Warm late-afternoon light on both; quieter in the morning. - **The fishermen’s beach:** The Praia dos Pescadores in the middle of town, with colourful façades and flowered lanes behind it. Early morning, before the cafés fill, or blue hour after the ceremony. - **Guincho dunes:** About 800 metres of sand between two rocky points, behind dunes crossed by wooden walkways, with the Sintra hills behind. It faces the open ocean — the place in Cascais to watch the sun go into the sea. Bring a plan for the wind. ## When to marry in Cascais Cascais has no IPMA normal of its own. Lisbon’s station (1991–2020), at the other end of the railway, averages highs of 26.1 °C in June, 28.8 °C in August and 26.6 °C in September; Cabo da Roca’s, 141 m up on the cape to the north-west, only 20.3, 21.9 and 21.5 °C. Summer is nearly dry (0.6 rainy days in Lisbon in July) and the rain returns in October (8.7 days). June and September are the easiest months: warm, dry and calmer than July and August. Lisbon & Sintra, month by month: - **Best:** May, June, September, October - **Good with planning:** April, July, August ## Good to know before the day - **Getting there:** Trains from Cais do Sodré in Lisbon run 25.4 km along the river and the sea to Cascais in about 40 minutes; by car, the A5 or the coast road, the Marginal. The train doesn’t reach Guincho — plan cars. - **A ceremony on the beach:** Cascais’s beach regulation (Aviso 6988/2024/2) requires a municipal licence for ceremonies on the sand. Apply at least 15 working days ahead, with a site plan, the Capitania do Porto de Cascais’s safety opinion, liability insurance and, on a concession, the holder’s consent; anything set up is inspected first. - **Drones:** Besides ANAC registration and the Autoridade Aeronáutica Nacional’s free e-AAN authorisation, mind two things: Cascais aerodrome has a protection area in ANAC’s rules, and flights over Guincho’s natural park need the ICNF, which can take 30 to 45 working days to reply. - **The legal part:** A civil wedding goes through a Conservatória do Registo Civil, and by agreement the registrar can marry you at your venue; a Catholic wedding at the parish church is also your legal marriage. - [How to marry legally in Portugal](https://lensandvows.com/journal/getting-married-in-portugal) ## Questions about marrying in Cascais ### Can we get married on the beach in Cascais? Yes, with a licence from the Câmara Municipal de Cascais, requested at least 15 working days ahead. In the bathing season the easier route is a terrace above the beach, with portraits on the sand afterwards. ### Is Cascais too windy for an outdoor ceremony? It depends where. Guincho has wind most of the year — the câmara puts it down to the Sintra hills, and the beach hosts surf and kitesurf competitions — so marry somewhere sheltered in town and go there for portraits, veil pinned. ### What is the best month to marry in Cascais? June or September. Lisbon’s IPMA station, the nearest long record, averages highs of 26.1 °C in June and 26.6 °C in September, with two to four rainy days in each (1991–2020). July and August are as dry, but busier. ### Can we have a church wedding in Cascais? Yes, through the parish of Cascais, which asks for the Church file six months before and the civil process at a Conservatória six to three months before. A Catholic wedding is also your legal one. ## Marrying in Lisbon & Sintra - [Lisbon & Sintra](https://lensandvows.com/portugal/lisbon): The whole region: when to marry, the kinds of places, the light, getting there. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/portugal/lisbon.md) ## Read before you plan - [Getting legally married in Portugal](https://lensandvows.com/journal/getting-married-in-portugal): Civil, Catholic or symbolic: how each works for couples from abroad, the papers you will usually need, and where your photographer fits in. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/getting-married-in-portugal.md) - [Choosing a venue style, region by region](https://lensandvows.com/journal/choosing-a-venue): Wine estates, Alentejo farmhouses, palaces, convents, beaches, clifftops, rooftops and island gardens — what each kind of place means for your day and your photos, and what to check before you sign. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/choosing-a-venue.md) - [A wedding-day timeline built around the light](https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-day-timeline): Sunset decides more of your photos than you might think. Approximate sunset times by month, where golden hour fits, and two example timelines — one for June, one for October. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-day-timeline.md) - [The best months to marry in Portugal, region by region](https://lensandvows.com/journal/best-months-by-region): May–June and September to early October suit most of the mainland. Here is what each region gives and costs through the year, from the Douro harvest to the Azores’ summer hydrangeas. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/best-months-by-region.md) - [Wedding venues around Lisbon and Sintra: palaces, quintas, monasteries and the coast](https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-venues-lisbon-sintra): Seventeen places that host weddings today — Sintra’s palaces, palace hotels in Lisbon and Estoril, quintas, a monastery, a convent, forts and sea-front hotels — with where they are, what they look like, rough capacity from their own sites, and what each means for your photos. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-venues-lisbon-sintra.md) - [Do you need a permit for wedding photos in Portugal? Sintra, monuments, beaches, parks and drones](https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-photo-permits-portugal): Where a wedding shoot or ceremony needs permission in Portugal — Parques de Sintra, Quinta da Regaleira, national monuments, beaches, natural parks and churches — the drone rules from ANAC and the AAN, whom to ask and how far ahead. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-photo-permits-portugal.md) ## Sources - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascais - https://cultura.cascais.pt/list/patrimonio/cidadela-de-cascais-incluindo-fortaleza-de-nossa-senhora-da-luz-e-torre-fortificada - https://www.pestana.com/en/hotel/fortress-cascais - https://www.pestana.com/en/weddings-events/marry-at-pestana - https://www.cascais.pt/noticia/igreja-matriz-de-cascais-classificada-como-monumento-de-interesse-publico - https://paroquiadecascais.org/sacerdote/sacramentos-e-sacramentais/matrimonio/ - https://www.granderealvillaitalia.realhotelsgroup.com/meetings-and-events-in-cascais/weddings/ - https://www.palacioestorilhotel.com/weddings/ - https://www.fortalezadoguincho.com/events/ - https://www.visitcascais.com/en/partners/boca-do-inferno - https://www.visitcascais.com/en/media/ideasthe-10-most-instagrammable-places-in-cascais - https://www.cascais.pt/guincho-uma-praia-que-e-uma-maravilha - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascais_Line - https://www.cp.pt/info/documents/d/cp/comboios-urbanos-lisboa-cascais-1 - https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/aviso/6988-2024-858196466 - https://files.diariodarepublica.pt/2s/2024/04/064000000/0048200505.pdf - https://www.anac.pt/SiteCollectionDocuments/UAS_DRONES/00_REG_1093_2016_Drones.pdf - https://www.aan.pt/subPagina-AAN-001.005.005-aeronaves-n-o-tripuladas-drones - https://www.icnf.pt/api/file/doc/a7760a0635063f62 - https://www.ipma.pt/bin/file.data/climate-normal/cn_91-20_LISBOA_GEOFISICO.pdf - https://www.ipma.pt/bin/file.data/climate-normal/cn_91-20_CABO_DA_ROCA.pdf - https://irn.justica.gov.pt/Servicos/Cidadao/Casamento/Organizar-o-casamento