A 'fine' end to James Blunt's Ibiza wedding

Stay the night, 1973 and You're beautiful singer Blunt and the granddaughter of the Duke of Wellington tied the knot in a registry office in London, which was followed by a religious blessing in Mallorca and a reception on the S'Estanyol beach in Santa Eulàlia in Ibiza – a grandiose affair with 150 diners organised by a catering company which led to formal legal action being taken for not having obtained a licence from the council to occupy the sands.

Santa Eulàlia town council reported Ibiza resident Blunt, 40, and Ms Wellesley to the regional government's coastal borders department, showing photos of the reception and asking whether filling the beach with seats and a marquée was an infringement of rules covering 'invasion of public space'.

Bathers were said to have been 'indignant' and 'felt intimidated' when they saw the sand filling up with chairs and complained on Twitter, which reached the town council's attention.

The couple flew over from Mallorca the night before after having been married in the town of Campanet, where the Duke of Wellington's family has had a holiday home for years, in church by a priest who is a friend of the family.

The bride, 31, wore a figure-hugging gown from the brand Cortana, by Mallorcan designer Rosa Esteva, whilst the Harrow-educated groom donned a blue suit with a sky-blue tie and waistcoat.

They left the church in a Volkswagen Beetle convertible.

Their long weekend started on a Thursday with dinner in the house of half-Belgian Sofía's parents, Lord John Henry Wellesley and Corinne Vaes, and went on until Saturday night in Ibiza where the sociology graduate and former Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps member now resides full-time and where he will be living with Ms Wellesley now they are married.

The wedding personnel were even paid to divert traffic heading for the beach unless they belonged to the guests.

Although they did not have a third set of wedding vows, the couple wore their nuptial garb for the Ibiza reception and went round the tables greeting each and every guest, most of whom had flown over from the UK.

Blunt's and Wellesley's fine is likely to be about 2,000 euros – the same as the sanction imposed on model Mark Vanderloo in 2011 when he celebrated his wedding on the S'Espalmador islet off Ibiza's coast in the Ses Salines nature reserve – and the regional government says lots of well-off couples simply decide to run the risk, hold their weddings without a licence, and pay the fine if caught.

Some of them even build semi-permanent marquées or let off fireworks in the middle of the woods.

Despite the impending fine, James Blunt – born James Hilier Blount in Wiltshire, England – remains very much in love with the Balearic Islands, where he holidayed most years as a teenager and young adult.

His hit single 1973 is a homage to the nightclub Pacha, which opened in that year, and a remix of it has been played there many times by Pete Tong in recognition of Blunt's favourite youthful haunt.