The Guide to a Catholic Wedding

Today we are going to discuss Catholic Ceremony options.  Although you are permitted to have Catholic ceremonies in Greece unfortunately not all islands will allow it.  The three islands that will not perform a Catholic ceremony are; Santorini, Crete and Naxos.  Now I know that Santorini being out of the picture is a huge blow for a lot of people but there are ways around this.  Having the ceremony in Athens is still allowed so an option would be to have the church ceremony there and then head down to the island for a small blessing and the reception.  

As with all weddings in Greece the paperwork is essential and is what is going to give you the most gip in the planning process.  Prepare yourselves, as CC is experiencing now the paperwork malarkey is a royal pain in the arse but very fulfilling when done!  Below is a list of paperwork requirements that need to be met:

1. A Baptism Certificate. This document should be requested and dated close to your wedding date.

2. A Confirmation Certificate.

3. A Freedom to Merry Certificate. This document is the assurance that you are free from any canonical impediment for marriage.

•  These certificates must be obtained from the parish priest where you were baptized and must be dated within 3 months of your marriage. 

• If the date of your confirmation is not written in the parish in which you were baptized, you should ask for it in the same parish in which you were confirmed.

• Take these certificates to your present parish priest who should make the prenuptial inquiries and catechetical instruction.

4. Written permission must be obtained from your Bishop to have your marriage performed out of your parish.  This is in accordance with Canon 1115 of the Codex Juris Canonici.

5. A Certificate stating you have completed the "PRE-CANA" instruction class, retreat or meetings.

6. A Single status letter/Letter of impediment.

All of the above have to be translated and apostilled before it is sent to the priest in Greece.  The respective Greek embassy will only accept a translation by one of their recognised translators. You should always check the embassy website for information on who they will accept as a translator otherwise you will have not only wasted your own time but also your money.  Once translated it is to be sent to the embassy for it's apostille, this is the legalisation of the document and is only valid for 3 months.

No document that has been legalised earlier than 3 months will be accepted by your priest, so please do not get over efficient and do it any earlier.

NY