Same-Sex Wedding in Spain – Christina & Giusi in Cabo de Gata

Some weddings I know will be good months in advance.

With Christina and Giusi it was the menu tasting. The three of us sat at the table, working our way through the courses, and at some point I stopped talking about food. They kept passing each other forkfuls, laughing at something I hadn’t caught. I sat there thinking: you two don’t really need me. You’ve got this.

Then came 21 June 2025. A finca, high above the coast in Cabo de Gata. Dry hills, a few palm trees, the sea behind them. And in the middle of it, two women in white.

All white. And I mean all of it.

Christina was very clear: everything white. No cream as a compromise, no beige accent, no little pop of colour to break things up. White.

I like briefs like that. They make the job easier and harder at the same time. Easier, because there’s nothing to argue about. Harder, because white on white only works if the materials do the heavy lifting. So: matte ceramic next to glossy silk, dense hydrangeas next to slim orchid stems, rough linen on smooth plates. Get that right and white doesn’t read as empty, it reads as calm.

And that calm had a fairly loud opponent here: the landscape. Ochre hills, dusty green, pink bougainvillea against the wall of the house. That’s exactly why white works so well in Cabo de Gata. It doesn’t shout back.

The morning nobody sees

A few hours earlier all of this looked rather different.

We’re hanging crystal chandeliers in pine trees, me balancing on a bar stool, my colleague bracing it from below. Every chair gets a fan, because nobody wants to sit through three in the afternoon in June without one. The temperature climbs, the fabric drapes refuse to behave.

I like showing these pictures. Not because they’re pretty, but because the whole job lives in the gap between them: between the empty clearing at eleven and the moment the first guest sits down and says how lovely it is here.

Getting ready

Inside it was cool. Thick old stone walls, soft light, a glass of cava that had gone slightly warm.

Christina’s dress: off the shoulder, lace with appliquéd blooms, laced up at the back. Hair pinned up, a little undone, exactly right. She stood by the window holding her bouquet and said nothing at all.

I love those minutes. The day hasn’t started yet, but there’s no stopping it either.

The ceremony: and then the sky went up in colour

Giusi was waiting at the front. White suit, lace bustier, panama hat. Very cool, very composed.

Until Christina came down the aisle. Then Giusi clapped a hand over her face and laughed and cried at the same time, and the front row joined in. She’s Italian. Nobody holds anything back.

Then she took Christina’s hand and kissed it. Not staged for the camera, just because she felt like it.

And after the vows, the sky went up in colour. Rainbow smoke fountains on either side of the altar, metres high, drifting out over the hills toward the sea. It lasted maybe twenty seconds. I was standing at the back by the tech and my own eyes were wet, and I do this for a living.

For a same-sex wedding in Spain, there’s no better picture than that: two women under a rainbow they ordered themselves.

Two brides, a dirt track and a lot of desert

For the portraits we headed out a bit. Sandy track, gorse, old stone ruins, and then the path bends and the bay opens up below you.

Christina in a long dress on loose gravel, that looks better in photos than it feels. She didn’t complain once. Giusi draped her blazer over Christina’s shoulders when the wind picked up, and the two of them just walked and talked. The best pictures almost always happen when a couple forgets someone is walking with them.

The hat, by the way, came in handy more than once. Including as a privacy screen.

Cava, pine trees and one very long table

Back at the house there was a cava shower first. Giusi shook the bottle, took aim, and hit everyone.

Dinner was in the pine grove. One long table under the trees, white fabric strung between the trunks, this morning’s crystal chandeliers overhead, gold cutlery on white linen. As the sun dropped, the cool white turned warm gold and the drapes started moving in the breeze.

That’s the moment I hang the chandeliers for.

What stays with me

Spain opened marriage to same-sex couples in 2005, among the first countries in the world to do it. Down here, nobody asks questions. For the local suppliers this was a wedding like any other, and that’s exactly how it should be.

Even so, couples still write to me and ask, carefully, whether it’s actually possible. It is. And if you want to know how it works legally for you, symbolic ceremony here and the registry office at home, or the other way round, just ask me. We’ll sort it out in ten minutes.

But what stays with me from Christina and Giusi is something else. That menu tasting back in spring. Two people who’ve known each other long enough not to have to try over dinner, and who still look at each other like they’ve only just met.

Everything after that was decoration. Very, very white decoration.

Thinking about getting married in Spain?

I’ve been planning weddings in Almería and Cabo de Gata since 2010, for couples from all over Europe, in every constellation. If this day speaks to you, get in touch. Tell me what you have in mind. We’ll figure out the rest together.

Frequently asked questions

Can two women or two men get married in Spain?
Yes, same-sex marriage has been legal in Spain since 2005. A civil wedding is only possible for residents, though, so almost all our couples do the legal part at home and celebrate here with a symbolic ceremony.

How does an all-white design work in summer?
White works through materials: matte ceramics, silk, hydrangeas, orchids, linen. We add fans on the chairs because June gets hot.

When is the best time for a wedding in Almería?
April to June and September to October are the most popular months. In July we move the ceremony to the late afternoon, and we don’t plan weddings in August because it is too hot.

Credits

Planning, concept & styling: Ambrosia Wedding
Photography: Visual und Co
Venue: A finca, Cabo de Gata, Almería