British actress Emily Atack tied the knot this summer, marrying scientist Dr Alistair Garner in an intimate ceremony on August 22. The pair exchanged vows in an elegant but private affair in their Bedfordshire home and followed it up with a breakfast buffet and garden party.

But the wedding celebration don’t stop there as Atack’s friends and family head to Mojácar for a second wedding.

Emily Atack and Dr Alistair Garner celebrate second wedding in Mojacar

After the first ceremony Emily Atack, start of the hit show Rivals, shared photos to social media with the caption: “I can’t believe we get to do all that again in a few weeks’ time. Christ, we have fun don’t we”.

The newly-weds are expected to arrive in Almería this weekend, to continue the wedding festivities with a second lavish ceremony in Mojácar. Mojácar has been a favourite holiday destination for Atack and her family since she was a child. The family loved Mojácar so much they bought a property, although that was sold some years ago.

Reminiscing on her childhood summers, The Inbetweeners actress told the Daily Telegraph: “I loved my family holidays in Mojácar, in Andalucía, when I was growing up”.

After years of the Spanish resort town being part of her childhood memories, Mojácar will now be the backdrop for one of the most exciting milestones in Emily’s life.

Celebrity destination wedding trends

This wedding follows a similar schedule to many other celebrity nuptials: a small intimate ceremony followed by an over-the-top destination party. The format allows famous couples to share a meaningful moment in private with their closest family and friends, before heading overseas to celebrate in much more grandiose style with a guest-list to match.

Pop-star Dua Lipa, for example, married Callum Turner at a London courthouse before jetting off to Sicily for a three-day celebration that sparked a controversial row on over-tourism. Their wedding festivities highlighted the growing popularity for destination weddings, and the growing unease of locals who feel their home-towns are being rented out to the highest bidder.

Plaza del Mirador closed for the occasion

According to local news sources 200 guests are expected arrive to mark the special day.

A host of famous faces are expected to the Plaza del Mirador in Mojácar, with two local restaurants catering the event. During this time access to the historic plaza will be restricted to the public, as has been the case with celebrity weddings worldwide.

While the closure may feel like an inconvenience to locals, the wedding festivities will undoubtedly draw eyes to Mojacar, positioning it as a beautiful destination from which to say “I do”.

One vehicle wasn’t simply parked in the wrong place, it had been turned into a makeshift campsite, and it is far from the only one caught out this summer.

Almost 100 denuncias across Almería’s best-known beaches 

Officers from the Junta de Andalucía’s Agentes de Medio Ambiente (environmental protection agents), working alongside Níjar’s Local Police, have issued 98 denuncias (formal citations) so far this year to camper vans, caravans and motorhomes parked overnight in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park. 

The fines have been concentrated at some of the park’s most popular spots, including El Playazo, Isleta del Moro, Playa de los Genoveses and Playa de Mónsul, as well as along the wider protected coastline.

Why one case went beyond ordinary bad parking

The rule being enforced bans habitable vehicles and tents from stopping overnight, between sunset and sunrise, in areas not set aside for camping inside the natural park. Officers said one vehicle had gone further than simply parking badly: it had chairs and other camping equipment set up outside it, turning a parking offence into an unauthorised campsite.

Previous enforcement seasons in the park have seen fines of up to around €601 under Andalucian protected-space law, though amounts for this year’s citations have not been published. Officials described the fines as a last resort, saying teams usually warn campers and ask them to move on first. Some vehicles have also been towed by municipal trucks, with parking areas temporarily closed off. It is the park’s seventh consecutive year of special summer patrols, which last year recorded 268 violations and removed 22,400 kilograms of rubbish from the coastline.

The same clampdown is spreading along Spain’s coast

Cabo de Gata is far from the only area facing the issues. A national instruction from the DGT (Spain’s traffic authority), in force since March 2026, tried to settle years of confusion by ruling that parking is not the same as camping. A motorhome resting on its wheels in an ordinary space is legal, but putting out awnings, tables or stabiliser legs turns it into camping, which stays banned outside designated sites, and beaches remain strictly off-limits under Spain’s 1988 Coastal Law regardless.

Other tourist hotspots have gone further still. Ibiza has issued fines of up to €30,000 for unauthorised motorhome parking on rustic land this year, while on the Costa del Sol, camper van owners were warned of €200 fines after a parking overhaul at Fuengirola’s former Feria grounds, and Vélez-Málaga council is still weighing options for Torre del Mar’s long-running motorhome parking problem.