Greek Translations
Very Important to know, please read carefully.
Greek translations are required for getting married in Santorini. No matter where you come from, all your documents need to be translated in Greek by the Greek Embassy of your area or you can have my agency handle the translation of your documents via the authorized departments here in Greece.
It happened through the years that some of my clients didn’t follow my instructions that of course come directly from our local authorities here, and they tried to follow other ways to translate their documents that in the end they were not accepted here in Greece by the local authorities and they had to pay all over again to have the translations properly done!
Below, you will read one of these stories that the client itself asked me to publish! Below you will read an email from a groom who tried to get his papers translated and authenticated in a source other than the ones I told him based on our laws. For privacy reasons, we removed the names of the translators who “helped” him.
The Odyssey of a translation!
“Hi Anna,
As you may know, people who work at embassies are typically moody, rude individuals who seem to care less about their job. When I called the Chicago, Illinois consulate, whose territory includes Kansas and Missouri (my hometown), their basic answer to any question about marriage in Greece is to ask for my fax number so they can send a form and it all came to the fact they do not do translations!
Since they do not translate documents, I looked on the web for translators. I found a website and called the company. They said they only handle (removed). This is where I contacted (removed) l and (removed), whose office is located (removed). They do translations for companies as well as private individuals seeking marriage in foreign countries. The price structure is basically the same everywhere in the states…$65 dollars a document (approx. 52 Euros). I had six documents.
In hindsight, I should have just sent them to you. The price you quoted me was about the same, but money wasn’t the issue. I just was a little hesitant at the time to send important documents across the ocean as opposed to just sending them a few hundred miles away.
Attached to this email is my letter to them that I sent with my documents, asking for certification from the Greek Embassy, per your instructions.
This is when I was told that it wasn’t necessary for them to carry my documents to the Embassy for the stamps, and that leaves us where we are now. I must have asked ……… at least three times whether the services they provided would be satisfactory to get married in Greece and they assured me that they would and that they have done this many times with other couples.
I don’t believe they are lying, but that they have been misled. As I stated earlier, I got the same answer from other consulate employees in Houston, Texas, and California. I called the Washington, D.C. office, which is the main consulate, and they gave me the runaround. I couldn’t get anybody there to answer my questions yesterday.
Bottom line…Anna, please use this email as a way for me to say…..TRUST ANNA!!! If you do want your wedding to be legal and not to throw your $$$ out of the window. She is your planner for a reason!
Best Wishes,
Todd”
MY COMMENT:
Many times our Embassies or our Consultants and even your public services in your country are not correctly informed or updated regarding the legal requirements in order to get married in Santorini and as a result of many weddings almost get canceled! Each city and prefecture in Greece have different requirements.
Please always stay in touch with your wedding planner and don’t take action without consulting your wedding planner first!
Our client who’s the email you read above, not only paid money for translations that were invalid but he was also in the middle of a circle of people who had no idea of what they were talking about and they also insist that they were right and as a result, precious time, loss of money and lot’s of stress was all he got!
Please email me for more information at annasantorini@gmail.com