Santorini wedding requirements for a civil wedding of a Welsh citizen.

Are you booking your wedding with a travel agent outside Santorini? Be careful! This year, we had many frustrated clients at the last minute because they were booking their wedding in a package holiday along with their flights and accommodation but they couldn’t secure the time of the wedding! They were told that they could do that only when they would arrive in Santorini and this can be stressful.

Also, the clients have been told that they had to be in Santorini 8 days before the wedding and this is not correct! The law has changed many years ago and now it states that if you are an EU citizen, there are no residency requirements but they don’t tell that to the clients because they will lose the accommodation commission!

So, maybe the cheap comes expensive in the end? I recommend booking flights and even your accommodations with them and choose a local wedding planner that can guarantee your date and time and that you can ask hundreds of questions about the most special day of your life and will get a correct answer!

I am a wedding planner living and working in Santorini for the last 26 years. Your day can be perfect! Trust the professionals!

Please follow the below strict rules for a perfect and hassle-free wedding:

-You are solely responsible to read and follow the instructions and timelines as given below. Failure to follow all the below Greek government’s legal requirements will result to not be able to have a legal wedding but you can always switch to a Symbolic wedding.

-Please remember… these requirements are from the Greek government and not by me, therefore they might change so you have to contact me 3 months before the wedding to ask me if there is any change.

  1. Copies of your passports for both the bride and the groom.

  2. Copies of your witness’s passports.

  3. You have to be older than 18 years old.

  4. Birth certificates for both the bride and the groom, the long-form, typed. In case you don’t have a typed version, please contact me. You can apply for certified copies here https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate

  5. Non-Impediment forms for both the bride and the groom. In case they will ask you where the wedding will take place, please write “Santorini, Greece, 84700”. It takes 30 days to be issued. These cannot be dated older than 3 months from your wedding date.

  6. Divorce or Death certificate if any.

  7. Adoption certificate if any.

  8. Change of name court order if any.

  9. All the above documents, need translation to Greek from the Greek Embassy in London. If this is not an option for you, I can also handle the translation of your documents from English to Greek. No other source is acceptable for the translation of your documents.

  10. All the above documents besides the copies of the passports need an apostille stamp each. The apostle stamp serves the purpose of authenticating your document for use abroad. You can obtain the stamps from the Foreign and Commonwealth Legalisation Office. You can obtain these stamps and find full information on the matter by clicking this link https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalized

Important notes:

1. Your non-impediments forms cannot be dated older than 3 months from your wedding date.

2. I need all the documents 1 month before the wedding date, in my hands.

3. Do NOT post me the documents before I see them all via email and approve them for postal, as in case you will be missing something, we will waste valuable time.

4. You have to be in Santorini 2 (two) business days after your wedding to register for your wedding. If that is not possible, you must obtain a document that will give my agency the authority to register your wedding on your behalf and you have to contact me to send you via email a sample of that document.

5. You must follow the instructions listed on this website and my instructions only. Do not listen to any other sources no matter what these sources are, as I am here and they are out of the country and they are not updated daily by our local authorities. Each part of Greece has different legal requirements. The information inside my pages, are only for Santorini.

6. All documents that will submit us will be held forever by our Piece of Justice so, please request new certified copies to send us if you need the old ones you have.

7. Please remember… these requirements are from the Greek government and not by me, therefore they might change so you have to contact me 3 months before the wedding to ask me if there is any change.

8. Your documents need Greek translations that are accepted only if they have been done by the Greek Embassy of your area OR via our agency. Not all nationalities require translation to their legal documents, therefore these fees are not included in my packages in case you decide to have this service via my agency.

-The documents related to your capacity to get married, can not be dated older than 3 months from the day of your wedding date.

-If you are a cruise ship traveler, you need to provide us a power of attorney that has to be prepared by the Greek Embassy of your area. This document gives us the right to register the wedding with the registry of Santorini, on your behalf. Please email me to send you the exact sample on which you must use to prepare yours.

-You must follow the instructions listed on this website and my instructions only. Do not listen to any other sources no matter what these sources are, as I am here and they are out of the country and they are not updated daily by our local authorities. Each part of Greece has different legal requirements. The information inside my pages, are only for Santorini.

-PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL YOUR DOCUMENTS WILL REMAIN AT THE LOCAL REGISTRY OFFICE.

-If you have any questions or if you find any issues in the process of getting your wedding documents, please don’t hesitate to ask me at annasantorini@gmail.com as with my experience and your cooperation, we will find a solution.