The Guide to a Civil Wedding in Greece

Good afternoon, I hope everyone is keeping well!

Today we are discussing the requirements and trying to explain what is and isn't possible in order to hold a civil wedding in Greece.

• The couple can be of any nationality or faith to have a civil wedding in Greece

The paperwork required depends on the country of origin, however as a general guide the authorities will need you to produce:

• Full Birth Certificate, must include the names of both parents, the shorter version of the Certificate will not be accepted.

• Divorce or Death Certificate, if previously married a certified copy of the divorce decree or death certificate if marriage ended due to the death of spouse.

• Certificate of No Impediment, this document certifies that both parties are free to marry, can be obtained from your local registrar and can take up to a month to obtain, this certificate must not be issued more than three months prior to the wedding date.

• Change of Name or Deed Poll Certificate, this is required in the event that the bride or groom has changed name by Deed Poll or court order.

• Adoption Certificate required if either party was adopted.

• Photocopies of valid passports

• All paperwork provided must be stamped with an Apostille stamp, this is a special seal applied by an authority to certify that a document is a true copy of the original. These can be obtained by the Greek Embassy or the Secretary of State.

• In answer to the question of residency requirements, this depends on where you would like to marry, as a general guide I would suggest that you plan to stay in Greece for 2 weeks and marry in the middle of your holiday, this should ensure you have the time to complete the paperwork before and after the ceremony, always allow for a few extra days incase of any holidays, strikes or other reasons why the public sector may not be working.

• The only "accessory" required for a civil ceremony are wedding rings

• The ceremony last no longer than 5 minutes in it's entirety, enquire about the possibility of extending the ceremony by adding readings and songs to make the ceremony more personal and meaningful

• I always recommend that my clients arrange for a cocktail party immediately after the ceremony if they have chosen for it to be held in a pretty, outdoor location, thus extending the ceremony and making the cost of decorating the venue more reasonable

The main question that must be asked is where it is possible to hold a civil ceremony in Greece:

The answer to this is simple, it depends! Perhaps the best way to approach this choice is by speaking to wedding planners about where it is possible to hold civil ceremonies, before making the decision on where in Greece to hold you wedding. As a general guide, the less touristy areas are less flexible, the larger islands offer many more options!


SP

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

Wedding Paperwork Hell

This is of the upmost importance and also the most annoying!  If you are getting married in the Greek Church there are various pieces of paperwork you need to have translated and get an apostil from the embassy. 

Now, I was lucky enough to have most of mine already done as I was in the process of applying for my Greek passport but Jubbs did not have such an advantage.  On top of that we actually had to get hold of his baptism certificate from South Africa.  Jubbs had always been under the illusion that he was Church of England so it came as quite a shock for him to find out, at the ripe age of 31 that he was in fact a Roman Catholic.  I obviously found it really amusing.  There are many discerning factors in his life that lead to this misunderstanding, which I am not going to go into, but there it was, the bombshell.  It makes life a little difficult when you have to go to your priest and get a letter of freedom to marry.   To add to the troubles, the priest that had baptized Jubbs had tragically died the year before and as it turns out, it is very difficult to find a Catholic priest who is willing to write a letter for someone who is not in their parish.  It was all turning into a nightmare.  We couldn’t exactly go to the Greek Priest and explain the whole situation, as he would not be hugely impressed by it all.  We tried everything.  Jubbs went to our local Catholic Priest who would only vouch that he had not been married in the 2 years we had lived in the area, which was rejected by our priest.  We tried a family friends priest who also told us he could be of no help.  As you can imagine the stress levels were getting higher, it was only a month until the wedding and we had to get it translated and to the embassy.  Then the light at the end of the tunnel!  Our priest agreed to accept a sworn declaration, which was to be made at the embassy by Jubbs swearing he had never been married. Perfect!  Not only could it all be done in house but meant we did not have to get it translated and it had the apostil done on the spot.  I think we managed to get it to the priest with 2 weeks to spare.  Poor Jubbs had spent a month running to Oxford, Tooting, Holland Park and everywhere else we desperately tried and to be honest, stress management is not his forte.  That will teach us to leave it right up to the wire.

Now not all priests will accept this, we just got very lucky.  Although the paperwork once adorned with an apostil is only valid for 3 months, make sure you get it done with bags of time to spare and check you have all the paperwork together and ready to go well in advance of the 3 month period.  Nasty surprises cause more stress than they are worth.

NY

5.5 Weeks Until D-Day

Natalia: So, D-day is just 5 and a half weeks away.  How are all the plans coming along?

Sara: They are coming on slowly.  There is still lots to do, I am compiling a list and hope to get most completed in the next 2 weeks

Natalia: What if anything is causing you the most stress?

Sara: The dress and the paperwork.  The dress is really late and still not completed, the paperwork I just need to do and haven't, so that is my own fault.   The original plan was to have it complete in May, it is now August and I reckon it will be done for the end of August.  It just means that if I hate it, I don't have an alternative.

Natalia: You were worried about it a couple of weeks back.  Are you still having doubts about it or do you still love the design?

Sara: I am very critical of it, I can't really see it very well, there is no full-length mirror at the dressmaker’s house, and so it's hard to tell. I definitely would not have it made by this lady again.  It has been far too stressful.

Natalia: Do you have to go to Athens to get your paperwork done or can you get it all done in Rhodes Including the Apostil?

Sara: No it's all done in Rhodes, I just have to decide to go and do it really.  I need to speak with the priest and then take a morning off and go to get everything done.  All our paperwork is issued directly into Greek, so we don't need Apostilles or translations or seals of any kind.  If you are a foreigner; paperwork cannot be Apostilled locally, unless it can be issued here, the only place in Greece are the embassies in Athens

Natalia: Is your priest quite relaxed or is he of the old school mentality about paperwork?

Sara: Very, very relaxed, which is great.  He is actually quite fun!!! However I still need to get the paperwork from my local parish and the main Archiodiocese before taking it over to him.  I have to request my birth certificate, go to my local parish and get a freedom to marry letter, buy the money stamps from the tax office and then take this all to the Archiodiocese who will issue the marriage license, then take this to the priest in Kastellorizo.

Images from weddingobsession.com

Natalia Yannaghas: So on the reception side how are things going?

Sara: Fine, I think food and drink is now all sorted and ordered (apart from the raspberries, but they too are almost sorted).  The entertainment is almost complete; we need to order the final speakers and CD player equipment for the DJ. Decor, I still have to make the pom poms, another hundred rice cones, the table plan needs doing and I have to buy some additional lanterns.

Natalia: The hotel had rented rooms out to guests who were not coming to your wedding.  How have you sorted that problem out?

Sara: We booked all the remaining rooms, and in reality I think they have rented 5 out to others (3 were already booked when we approached them.  So we have just dealt them out to guests as they have confirmed they are attending. However the issue of having to rent all the rooms was not made clear from the beginning

Natalia: Have you invited the guests from the 5 rooms to the wedding?  So you can party for longer?

Sara: We are looking at turning the music down around 02.00 AM, I am ok with this as the timeline is to start the dancing at 22.00

Natalia: Will you be seeing the party out until the end or will you make a retreat earlier?

Sara: No way.  I am staying to the bitter end.   I am deliberating how to deal with the fact that I am not having official photographs taken, nor changing and really want to attend the cocktail party, however everyone so enjoys the official "entrance" as man and wife, I am not sure if we should leave at some point although it does seem pointless

Natalia: I thought that you were having some official Photos?  And more importantly why can't you attend the cocktail party?   Just get announced into that instead of dinner. It would be a crazy decision not to attend. Cocktails rock!

Sara:  We could do that.  Arrive late at the cocktail party; it goes on for about an hour, so we could come for the second part! Especially with our friends performing on their guitars, I love their music

Natalia: Perfect and get some photos done in the first half even if it is only 10.

Sara: Yes, I suppose we can just walk back slowly and Annie can take some pictures

Images from Dannisblog.com & thehaystackneedleonline.com

Natalia: The big question is; are you excited?  What is your favourite feature of your wedding?

Sara: I am apprehensive at the moment, but really want to make an effort to get things finished so that I can be really excited and anticipate next month’s festivities! I think I love the theme colours and the disco ball chandelier, I also cannot wait to see the effect of the olive trees all lit up. I also love the digital Polaroid camera that we have decided to use instead of a guestbook; each guest will take a picture of themselves and then write their name or a wish for us. I am going to frame all of them for on my wall.

 SP & NY