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Wedding photographers in Sitges
A town between the Garraf hills and the sea, 35 km from Barcelona, with a palace on the point that marries couples on a few set Saturdays a year.
Sitges lies about 35 kilometres south-west of Barcelona, between the Garraf massif and the Mediterranean, with 17 beaches along its shore. The painter Santiago Rusiñol made it an artists’ town at the end of the 19th century — his studio is now the Cau Ferrat museum — and the American collector Charles Deering built the Palau de Maricel next to it, beside the 17th-century church of Sant Bartomeu i Santa Tecla on the point above the sea.
That palace is the heart of a Sitges wedding: the town’s museum consortium holds official civil weddings in its Saló d’Or on a few Saturdays a year, and hires its terraces and halls for dinners. Around it, a wedding moves on foot along the old town’s lanes and the seafront, and guests come from Barcelona by train. Summer brings crowds and festivals, and the end of it, storms.
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See the photographerCeremonies
Where couples marry in Sitges
The Saló d’Or of the Palau de Maricel
Official civil weddings on set Saturdays — in 2026 one a month from March to December except August, at 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 17:00, 18:00 or 19:00 — for up to 90 guests seated. The fee in force is €600, with €240 paid to secure the date and the rest invoiced about a month before. There is no public lift up to the hall.
Dinner at the palace
Built in 1913–1917 for Deering’s collection, the Palau de Maricel is also hired out for events: the Saló Blau takes banquets and cocktails for 80 to 110 people, and the terraces and cloister look straight out over the Mediterranean.
Sant Bartomeu i Santa Tecla
The 17th-century parish church on the point, next to the palace, is the picture of Sitges. A Catholic wedding there is arranged with the parish and your own, with the Church’s papers on top of the civil ones.
Hotels, villas and masies
Most couples from abroad marry legally at home and hold a symbolic ceremony in a hotel, a villa garden or a farmhouse inland. A ceremony on the beach is another matter: the shore is public, and setting anything up there needs the coastal authority’s permission as well as the town’s.
Portraits
Where to take your portraits
La Punta
The church and the palace on the point, with the sea below and the beaches on either side: the view everyone knows. Early morning, before the beaches fill, is the quiet hour.
The beaches
Sitges has 17 beaches; among the best known are Sant Sebastià, la Fragata, la Ribera, la Bassa Rodona, els Balmins and Aiguadolç. Portraits on the sand are one thing; anything set up there needs the coastal authority’s permission.
The Garraf massif
The hills behind the town, the Garraf massif, are a natural park. Filming or a photo session inside it needs a separate request to the park, made online with the Diputació de Barcelona.
Through the year
When to marry in Sitges
May, June and September are the months for a wedding. The nearest long-run station, Barcelona airport (AEMET 1981–2010), averages highs of 21.1 °C in May, 24.9 °C in June, 28.0 °C in July and 26.0 °C in September; July is the driest month (21 mm), while August and September each bring 3.5 storm days and October is the wettest month (91 mm). On 15 June 2027 the sun sets at 21:27, with golden light from 20:46 to 21:48 (NOAA’s solar equations); on 15 September at 20:03. Carnival, the Festa Major in August and the film festival in October are the town’s big events: plan around them.
Barcelona & Catalonia, month by month
- January: Quieter
- February: Quieter
- March: Quieter
- April: Good with planning
- May: Best
- June: Best
- July: Good with planning
- August: Good with planning
- September: Best
- October: Good with planning
- November: Quieter
- December: Quieter
Practical
Good to know before the day
Getting there
Sitges station is served by the R2 Sud commuter line from Barcelona and by some regional trains. Barcelona’s airport, at El Prat de Llobregat, lies on the way from the city.
Photo permits
Using part of the street for a photo session needs the town’s permit, applied for online at least five working days ahead, with fees set by its by-law on public space. If there is no answer within two months, the request counts as refused. The beach and the Garraf park need their own authorisations.
Drones
Under the town’s filming rules a drone may never fly over a building or a garden next to one, above 60 metres, or over a crowd — with no exception for weight, not even for drones under 250 g.
The legal route
Before a civil wedding at Maricel, the marriage file must be completed at the civil registry of the town where you are registered as residents, and then sent to Sitges’ registry. Spanish law needs one of you to live in Spain; most couples from abroad marry at home first.
Questions
Questions about marrying in Sitges
Can we get married at the Palau de Maricel?
Yes, in a civil wedding on one of the Saturdays the museums set each year: in 2026, one a month from March to December except August. For 2026, requests opened by email on 19 February; the fee is €600, and you need your marriage file ready at the civil registry.
Can couples who don’t live in Spain marry civilly in Sitges?
Not directly: the marriage file is opened at the civil registry of the town where one of you is registered as a resident in Spain. Couples from abroad usually marry legally at home and hold a symbolic ceremony here.
Do we need a permit for wedding photos in Sitges?
If the session uses part of the street, yes: apply online at least five working days before. A shoot on the beach or in the Garraf park needs its own authorisation from the coastal authority or the park.
Can our photographer fly a drone in Sitges?
Only with the authorisations a drone flight needs, attached to the town’s filming permit, and never over a building, a garden next to one or a crowd, nor above 60 metres. The town makes no exception for small drones under 250 g.
When is the best time of year to marry in Sitges?
Late spring and September: highs of 21–26 °C at Barcelona airport, against 28 °C in July and August. September has as many storm days as August, 3.5, and October is the wettest month.
Sources (10)
- museusdesitges.cat/ca/casaments-civils-oficials-al-palau-de-maricel
- museusdesitges.cat/ca/esdeveniments
- tramits.sitges.cat/Ciutadania/DetallTramit.aspx?IdTramit=390&idioma=ca-es
- sitges.cat/tramits
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitges
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitges_railway_station
- aemet.es/es/serviciosclimaticos/datosclimatologicos/valoresclimatologicos?l=0076&k=cat
- parcs.diba.cat/web/garraf/tramits
- boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2011-12628
- gml.noaa.gov/grad/solcalc/calcdetails.html
Barcelona & Catalonia
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Plan
Read before you plan
- What a wedding photographer costs in Spain, and what changes the pricePublished prices for a wedding day in Spain run from under €1,000 to €8,000 and more. The ranges with their sources and dates, region by region, what goes into a price, the Spanish extras (preboda, postboda, IVA) and how paying works on Lens & Vows.
- Getting married in Spain: civil, Catholic or symbolic, and who can do whichSpain’s three routes for couples from abroad — what the law asks (Ley 20/2011), why a civil wedding needs one of you to live there, how a Catholic wedding works without residence, the documents, the timings and where the photographer fits in.
- A symbolic wedding in Spain: marry legally at home, celebrate in SpainWhy most couples from abroad sign the papers at home and hold the ceremony in Spain, what makes it symbolic, who can lead it and what it costs, where you may hold it — beaches under the Ley de Costas, parks, squares — and what it frees up for the light and the photographs.
- The best time to get married in Spain: month by month, region by regionAEMET’s climate normals for six places couples marry, how many couples marry in each month (INE), the best months for each region, and sunrise, sunset and golden hour for 2027 in Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Palma and Las Palmas.
- How to choose a wedding photographer: the steps, and the questions to askThe decision in order — whole weddings, style, availability, the package, the contract and deposit, cancellation, delivery and a conversation — then a checklist of questions, with why each one matters.
- Wedding venues in Spain: fincas, castles, haciendas and wine countryTwenty places that say on their own sites that they host weddings — Mallorcan fincas and a sea fortress, Andalusian haciendas and city palaces, Catalan castles and a cava winery, Basque belle-époque hotels and Gehry’s winery hotel — with where they are, what they look like, capacity from their own pages, and what each means for your photos.
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