Documentation
Wedding Documentation
Requirements vary by the country your documents come from, and by your circumstances. Here is the guide — but please contact us to confirm exactly what you will need.
Please read this first
The documents required for a legal civil wedding in Santorini — or anywhere in Greece — vary slightly depending on the country you take them from and your individual circumstances. What follows is a guide. Please contact us directly to find out exactly which documents you will need to prepare back home. Without the correct documents the civil wedding cannot be performed.
What you must bring
Documents Required by Nationality
For European Union citizens
- Full birth certificates (with both parents' names inside) with an apostille stamp, translated into Greek
- Marriage licence / single status letter / certificate of capacity to marry / letter of no impediment, with both of your names on it, with an apostille stamp, translated into Greek
- Divorce certificate, if you have been married previously
- Death certificate, deed poll certificate or adoption certificate, if appropriate
- Photocopies of your passports
Please contact us for more information and tell us your nationality, as requirements differ by country.
For United Kingdom & Australian citizens
- Single status letter or letter of no impediment (one for each of you) with an apostille stamp, translated into Greek. “Single status” is a document issued by your local registrar confirming that you are free to marry.
- Full birth certificates with an apostille stamp, translated into Greek
- Divorce certificate, if you have been married previously
- Photocopies of your passports
For United States citizens
- Option 1 — documents taken only from the USA: a marriage licence with apostille (one licence covers both of you) that is valid for a wedding outside the state, translated into Greek; plus an affidavit of single status (no translation and no apostille required). We will email you this form for completion — it must be stamped by the registrar's office.
- Option 2 — in person at the US Embassy in Athens: you obtain an affidavit of marital status covering both the bride and groom, instead of the marriage licence and single status letters in Option 1. The embassy requires an appointment to issue it.
- The US Embassy is at 91 Vasilisis Sophias Avenue, 10160 Athens, Greece. Main switchboard: +30 210 721 2951.
The remaining documents are taken from the USA if you were born there, or otherwise from your country of origin.
For Canadian citizens
- Full birth certificates (with both parents' names inside), translated into Greek
- Single status letter or letter of no impediment (one for each of you), translated into Greek
- Affidavit of single status — we will email you this form for completion, and it must be stamped by the registrar's office
As documents from Canada do not carry an apostille, all documents must be stamped and translated only by the Greek Embassy or Consulate, otherwise the registrar cannot accept them.
For Russian citizens
- Birth certificates for both of you, each with an apostille stamp and translated into Greek
- Single status letter or letter of no impediment for each of you, with an apostille stamp and translated into Greek
- Marriage licence for each of you, obtained from the ZAGS of your region, with an apostille and translated into Greek
- Photocopies of your international passports and visas
For the required documents for Brazilian, Turkish and Lebanese citizens, please contact us.
Important details
Additional Important Information
- Apostille
- This is a pre-printed form prescribed by the Hague Convention. Only nations party to the Hague Treaty recognise apostille certification. Your documents need an apostille stamp because they are official documents to be used outside your own country. The format differs by country — some issue it as a stamp on the document, others as a separate sheet attached to your original.
- Translations
- Documents that require translation into Greek must be translated and authenticated only by your local Greek Embassy or Consulate, or by official translators affiliated with them. If that is difficult, you can send us the authenticated original documents and we will arrange the translations here, from English into Greek. Translation costs are extra — please ask us what they are. We cannot arrange translations of documents that do not carry an apostille.
- Original documents
- Under Greek law, all the original documents you provide for your wedding are kept in your marriage file at the Town Hall. This includes your birth certificates, so it is a good idea to obtain certified copies if you want to keep them.
- Issue date
- The letter of no impediment or single status letter must be issued no more than 3 months before the wedding date, or the document will not be valid.
- Timescales
- We need to receive the documents, including apostilles, first by email two months before the wedding date, so we can check them at the registry office and be sure everything is correct. We then send you a confirmation issued by the municipality verifying that the documents are in order. The next step is translation. Once your documents and translations have been approved by the municipality, you either send the originals by courier or bring them with you — but only if you are on the island 5 days before the wedding date.
- Marriage certificate
- Your marriage certificate is issued in Greek about 3–4 weeks after your wedding and is sent to you by registered mail. If you like, we can also arrange a translation from Greek into English and send it by courier to your home. This service carries an additional cost — please ask us what it is.
An alternative
Symbolic Weddings in Santorini
Gathering apostilles and authorised translations typically costs €500 to €1,000 before the papers even reach us, and the Greek certificate then takes about a month plus a translation back into English. A symbolic ceremony is identical in every visible way and requires no documents at all.
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