Take the plunge and get married in Marbs

Marbella has always attracted the high-end market, with its upscale designer emporia and mega-yachts docked at neighbouring Puerto Banus, plus a booming cosmetic surgery industry, as confirmed by the proliferation of soft-focus ‘clinica cosmetica’ billboards.

Now, the glitzy resort is to explore a new way to attract the global elite, with the opening of its first municipal wedding office, offering well-heeled clients the chance to tie the knot on one of the city’s sandy beaches.

In addition to promising a rain-free trot down the aisle with the Mediterranean Sea as a backdrop, crafty councillors have masterminded a way for the office to arrange all necessary documentation for newlyweds.

The fledgling initiative already has its first clients, with an unspecified beach near Puerto Banus to be the scene as a ‘foreign-born’ couple exchange their vows, accompanied by around 200 friends and family members.

The pioneering pair will receive special commemorative plaques from the council, who trust that this will be the first in a new dawn of opulent nuptial ceremonies seen under their watch.

Moreover, the attendees will spend a minimum of four days each in Marbella, and the city hall believes that such visitor retention should yield lavish financial rewards, since guests from other countries are likely to be of “average to high purchasing power,” says municipal delegate Miguel Luna.

The office has apparently received “five or six” other requests from wealthy Europeans, but long-term the plan is to tickle the fancy of markets such as the United States and China, as guests coming from further afield should spend more nights in the city according to Luna, who effuses that “to say you were married in Marbella has its connotations.”