A Spanish content creator announced on Monday the cancellation of her in-person wedding with her Cuban fiancé, not due to a breakup, but for a practical reason: they found a faster legal way to reunite in Spain.
Melanie Vidal (@meloviajo), a Barcelonan with over 150,000 followers on TikTok, explained in a video that she and her boyfriend Yainer had planned to marry in Viñales this December. However, after consulting with a lawyer, they decided to abandon that plan.
"We have decided to cancel our wedding. My Cuban boyfriend proposed to me in April, and we had planned to get married in Viñales in December," Melanie explained in the video, which garnered 22,300 views, 720 likes, and 150 comments in less than 24 hours.
The option they chose is called marriage by proxy: Yainer will grant a special power of attorney to a family member or acquaintance residing in Spain to represent him at the ceremony and marry Melanie on his behalf before the Spanish Civil Registry.
"After speaking with a lawyer and evaluating all the options, we have chosen an easier and faster option," detailed the content creator. "This involves my boyfriend granting power of attorney to a family member or acquaintance in Spain so they can marry me on his behalf. In this way, the marriage will already be legal in Spain, and all that's left is to request family reunification."
Marriage by proxy is a legal concept recognized in Spain that allows one of the parties to be absent from the ceremony, represented by an attorney-in-fact designated through a notarized power of attorney. For Hispanic-Cuban couples, this option has become a practical alternative when organizing an in-person wedding in Cuba proves to be more complicated, costly, or time-consuming. If the power of attorney is granted in Cuba, it must be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) before being used in Spain.
Melanie and Yainer met in a salsa class in Viñales and have been documenting their story on social media for some time. It was precisely in that Pinar del Río municipality where the musician proposed on June 19, during a sunrise walk to Los Acuáticos, after just three months together in person.
The couple's relationship has not been without controversy. Last May, Melanie received criticism on social media for maintaining a long-distance relationship with a Cuban. And in April, the video of their reunion at Havana airport—after three months apart—gained over 110,600 views in less than 24 hours.
The couple's decision reflects the bureaucratic difficulties faced by thousands of Hispanic-Cuban mixed couples trying to reunite legally, and the search for shortcuts within the available legal framework. At the end of the video, Melanie posed a question to her followers: "Did you know about this way to bring your partner from Cuba to Spain?"
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