Greek Orthodox Wedding Ceremony Greece & The Greek Islands
Greece is an ideal choice of locale for Roman Catholics to be legally married away from their home town diocese. With the proper required documentation outlined below, your ceremony will be as legal as if performed by your own local parish priest and possibly for a lot less. Your Catholic wedding ceremony in Greece can be as big and festive as you like or as quiet and low-key as your 2 legally required witnesses* will allow.
There are two major Catholic enclaves in the Greek islands and Santorini, in our opinion, is the all around best choice for many reasons!
Santorini is beautiful. Its very beautiful! This particular island and this one alone, combines the best of Greece's rugged geology in an a awe inspiring and dramatically beautiful setting. Stupendous views surrounded by the Aegean sea that you cant get anywhere else in the world or even in Greece. Santorini is the most popular island in Mediterranean and among the 20 most popular world wide.
Unlike many Greek islands Santorini also has the infra-structure to satisfy all your needs no matter how extravagant or simple. There are no de-humanizing tall buildings on Santorini and no car horns blaring. Its friendly residents appreciate the fragility of human existence while their respect for mother nature is profound. The atmosphere is harmonious, the foods delicious, the wine locally vinted and its population international. Santorini is a very pleasant island with something that you and everyone of your guests will remember for the rest of their lives. It might be the beautiful black sand beaches, he wonders of ancient Thira and Acrotiri, swimming in your cliff top pool or dining amongst the stars. Santorini delivers the goods every time!
Santorini will further charm you with its white washed cubistic Cycladic style architecture amongst Fira town's winding cliff top paths. Architecturally Santorini has an equally romantic Italianate influence to it as well. If you choose to base yourselves In Fira town you will have a wide variety of accommodation styles to choose from for all budgets including world famous "caldera view" (crater view) traditional and non traditional dwellings and some with cliff top pool.
*we can provide 2 witnesses.
Greek Orthodox Wedding Ceremony Greece & Greek Islands
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR AN ORTHODOX WEDDING IN SANTORINI
All documents require to be translated ONLY by Greek authorities, such as a Greek Consulate or Embassy (in your city or country) or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens. An independent translator with notary stamp IS NOT accepted by the church.
All translators should be approved by the Greek Consulate or Embassy.
- From the Greek Orthodox Church, a certificate to give consent and the freedom to marry (Otherwise known as the letter of Celibacy).
- this document should be given in Greek and is signed & stamped from the priest of your parish thus there should be no need for translation
- Validation of this document for the authenticity of the priests’ signature MUST be obtained from the Bishop of the local church.
- Baptismal Certificates for both of you
- Signed & stamped by the parish priest. If not given in Greek, must be translated to Greek (valid only if translated by a Greek Consulate/Embassy or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens)
- Validation of this document for the authenticity of the priests’ signature MUST be obtained from the Bishop of the local church.
- Divorce certificate/degree if any…
- Certificate to be obtained from the judge and from the Church if you had a previous Greek Orthodox wedding.
- The divorce decree requires translation to Greek. Translation in Greek in only required for the pages that carry the court decision and not for the whole divorce settlement (Valid only if translated by a Greek Consulate/Embassy or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens).
- You will both have to sign a paper in a notary office that your children will become Greek Orthodox (Certificate of Faith).
- Document must be in Greek (Valid only if translated by a Greek Consulate/Embassy or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens)
- Single status letter/Letter of No Impediment (from your local registrar’s office/town hall for each of you or marriage license.
- The letters or marriage license requires translation to Greek (Valid only if translated by a Greek Consulate/Embassy or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens)
IMPORTANT NOTES :
- The couple must have at least 7 overnights in Greece before the wedding ceremony
- All authenticated translated documents to be faxed (at least 60 days prior to the wedding date) to fax number 210 6776818.
In return we will send you a wedding date confirmation issued by
the Municipality/Priest verifying all your documents are in order.
- Please bring all your original documents with you to Greece
- The day after your ceremony you will receive an officially signed marriage certificate.
- The Greek Authorities require that all documents requested (except Divorce decree) must be issued no more that 3 months prior to the wedding date.
- Please note that for the Greek Orthodox wedding, you will need to courier all original documents in English & Greek (after the confirmation from the priest that all documents – already sent by fax – are in order) to our office :
- ANTELOPE TRAVEL
Promitheos 34 Street, Athens, Greece
ATT: MR. Anthony Alagiah
TEL: 0030 - 210 - 9420984 / 210 - 9420587
FAX: 0030 - 210 - 9420552 - Your marriage certificate will be valid internationally.