Getting married in Greece as foreigners: civil, Orthodox or symbolic

Greece lets couples who live elsewhere marry legally at its town halls, which France and Spain don’t. “You need not reside in Greece to marry in Greece,” says the US Embassy, and Presidential Decree 391/1982 lets every couple choose the town. It takes paperwork from home, in the right order, and a few days on the spot — on some islands a week. Greeks themselves still marry mostly in church: 20,868 of the 36,810 weddings in 2025 (56.7%) were religious and 15,942 civil (ELSTAT, 1 October 2026).

Which ways can you marry in Greece?

Which documents does the town hall ask for?

The US Embassy and the town halls agree on the core. For each of you:

• A passport — EU citizens may use their ID card (Mykonos, Rethymno); others a valid visa or residence permit (Thira, Rethymno) or, for Americans, the Schengen entry stamp.
• A full birth certificate, with your parents’ names.
• A certificate that you are free to marry — the “marriage licence” from your country, as several Greek pages call it. Chania accepts it only if it names your partner and states how long it is valid.
• The final divorce decree or a death certificate if either of you was married before.
• Two witnesses over 18, with passports or ID cards.

Who issues the certificate depends on your nationality. Athens, for its residents, accepts one from home or from your embassy in Greece; the Australian Embassy warns that the place of issue churches and town halls accept “can differ significantly”. If the town hall requires it, Americans swear an Affidavit of Marriage at the US Embassy in Athens (USD 50 each), then have it authenticated by the Greek Foreign Ministry for €30 — allow at least two days in Athens. GOV.UK has no Greece page now; its online service tells British nationals what they need.

Each foreign document then needs an apostille — or a Greek consulate’s legalisation, outside the Hague Convention — and, after it, an official Greek translation (mitos.gov.gr). Documents from another EU country need no apostille under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191, which also offers multilingual forms in place of translations, though Rethymno’s page still exempts only some EU countries. Mykonos, Chania, Heraklion and Rethymno accept translations by the Foreign Ministry or its certified translators, a Greek consulate, a Greek lawyer or an Ionian University graduate translator; Thira’s sheet names only the Foreign Ministry, and the Australian Embassy says Greek practice is to accept only the Ministry’s or a consulate’s.

How long does the licence take, and when must you be in Greece?

In law each of you gets a licence from the mayor of the town where you live (Civil Code art. 1368), issued after a week’s wait for objections (PD 391/1982, arts. 3–4); then you apply together, in person, to the town you choose (art. 5). For couples from abroad, towns and sources differ:

The public notice of article 1369 — posted at the town hall, or in a daily paper in big cities — is asked for by the US Embassy only when one of you is Greek, and by Athens and Heraklion of their residents; no official page we read asks it of two foreigners living abroad. Keep a spare day: the meltemi can keep island ferries in port.

Where and when: Athens, Santorini, Mykonos and Crete

Since 2017 each mayor may set several days a week, weekends included, in more than one municipal building or the town’s outdoor public spaces (Law 4483/2017, art. 131). The law names no private venues: if a hotel offers a civil wedding on its grounds, ask the town hall.

Mykonos’s fees date from 2015, when it also allowed a place of the couple’s choosing (its page now names only the town hall), and Chania’s from 2018: ask for current days and fees.

The ceremony, and the 40 days after

• The ceremony is short and in Greek: the mayor asks each of you for your consent, declares you married and reads a brief text on spouses’ duties (PD 391/1982, art. 6). The US Embassy expects one witness to interpret; witnesses may be relatives.
• Your children’s surname is declared at the wedding in Chania and Mykonos (Civil Code art. 1505).
• Registration at the town’s registry office (lixiarcheio) within 40 days, by either spouse or a proxy; late registration costs a fee. “Marriages are not legal in Greece until registered,” the US Embassy warns. The mayor or priest also sends the registry a copy within 40 days (PD 391/1982, art. 7).
• The certificate is free and issued within 10 days; an apostille for use abroad costs €3–€10 (mitos.gov.gr). For another EU country, ask for the multilingual form.

A Greek Orthodox wedding

It is binding on its own. The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece’s conditions (June 2019):

• Who. At least one of you Orthodox. A Catholic or Protestant baptised in the Holy Trinity may marry an Orthodox partner, with a baptism certificate, a certificate of single status and a declaration that the children will be baptised Orthodox; a non-Christian may not, unless baptised Orthodox.
• Where. The parish church — not a private church on an estate or in a hotel (encyclical 2968/2015); a chapel only with the Metropolitan’s permission; never a monastery church.
• The licence comes from the local Metropolitan (the bishop), through the parish priest; in practice the church, not the mayor, licenses a religious wedding (mitos.gov.gr).
• From home, bring baptism and single-status certificates from your parishes, stamped by the Holy Synod in Athens, plus birth certificates and the certificate of no impediment, translated and legalised.
• Closed dates: Lent, from the Sunday before Clean Monday to Holy Saturday (14 March–1 May 2027); 1–15 and 29 August; 18–24 December; and Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and Epiphany — in the instructions of the Metropolis of Monemvasia and Sparta.
• Afterwards, file the priest’s declaration at the registry office within 40 days (Law 344/1976, art. 29).

Other faiths. A wedding before a minister of another faith known in Greece is binding too (art. 1367); the US Embassy lists Catholic, Protestant and Jewish contacts in Athens. Article 1368 names the mayor’s licence only for civil and Orthodox weddings, so ask the community what it needs.

Same-sex couples

Law 5089/2024 (ΦΕΚ Α’ 27, 16 February 2024) rewrote article 1350: marriage is concluded “between two persons of different or the same sex”, with the same licence and ceremony (mitos.gov.gr). The Interior Ministry’s circular 240/2024 notes that churches stay free to set the conditions of their rites, so in practice the wedding is civil. ELSTAT counted 182 same-sex marriages in 2024 and 195 in 2025. Each foreign partner still needs a certificate from home, and no official page we found covers partners whose own country doesn’t allow same-sex marriage — ask your embassy and the town hall first.

A symbolic ceremony

It has no legal effect, so it can be anywhere you are allowed — a terrace, a beach, a chapel’s courtyard with the priest’s consent — with any celebrant, in any language; you marry legally at home. On 21 June the sun sets at 20:39 on Santorini (US Naval Observatory, 2027). At archaeological sites, professional photography needs the Ephorate of Antiquities’ permit (Ministerial Decision of 2005). See where to elope in Greece and the best time to marry in Greece.

A timeline, in relative terms

Where your photographer fits in

• Town-hall slots are short and fixed — Athens on Thursday at 18:00 and Saturday at 11:00, Mykonos 13:00–15:00 — so your photographer must be in place before the mayor. Heraklion’s page says a photographer of your choice may attend; elsewhere, ask.
• In church, ask the priest about photos and flash; the Metropolis of Monemvasia and Sparta asks photographers to be discreet.
• At archaeological sites, the Ephorate’s permit is needed. Coverage by the hour: what a wedding photographer costs in Greece.

Next: wedding venues in Greece, the countries compared side by side, or the regions — Santorini, Mykonos, Crete or all of Greece. When you have a date, tell us about your day and see who is free.