Getting married in Santorini as a foreigner requires no residency and no minimum stay beyond the paperwork window — but it does require the right documents, done in the right order. In short: a valid passport, a Certificate of No Impediment (or Single Status Affidavit), a long-form birth certificate, an apostille on each foreign document, a certified Greek translation, and a public marriage notice filed with the local municipality before a licence is issued.
Here is exactly what that means in practice, and how it differs from a purely symbolic ceremony.
Civil, Religious or Symbolic: Choose Your Ceremony Type
| Ceremony Type | Legally Binding? | Who Performs It | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil | Yes | Mayor or authorised municipal official | Couples marrying legally in Greece |
| Religious | Depends on faith & registration | Priest, minister or officiant | Couples wanting a faith-based service alongside legal registration |
| Symbolic | No | Celebrant of your choice | Couples already legally married, or planning to register at home |
A civil ceremony (πολιτικός γάμος) is legally binding for any couple, of any nationality or faith. It is performed by the mayor or a deputy at the town hall, lasts around fifteen minutes, is conducted in Greek, and requires two witnesses. Since February 2024, Greece recognises marriage equality, so same-sex couples can marry civilly on the island exactly as different-sex couples can — this is covered in more depth in our guide to same-sex weddings in Santorini.
A symbolic ceremony carries no legal paperwork at all. It is led by a celebrant of your choosing, fully customisable in structure and vows, and is the route many couples choose when they prefer to complete the legal marriage quietly at home and treat the Santorini ceremony as the emotional, photographed centrepiece of the day.
Documents You Need for a Legal Marriage in Greece
- Valid passport for each partner — passports themselves do not need an apostille.
- Long-form birth certificate, apostilled by the relevant authority in your home country and translated into Greek.
- Certificate of No Impediment (CNI) or Single Status Affidavit — official confirmation that you are legally free to marry, obtained in your home country (or via your embassy) before travelling.
- Divorce decree or death certificate if either partner was previously married, again apostilled and translated.
- Name-change or adoption documents, if applicable, translated the same way.
Every foreign public document that is not a passport needs either an apostille (for countries in the Hague Apostille Convention, which includes the UK, US, Canada, Australia and all EU member states) or consular legalisation through the Greek embassy in your home country (for non-Hague countries). All documents must then be officially translated into Greek — by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs' translation service, a Greek consulate, or a certified translator — before submission to the municipality.
The Public Notice & Marriage Licence Timeline
Once your documents are apostilled and translated, they are submitted to the local municipality — for Santorini, this is the Municipality of Thira. Greek law requires a public notice of your intended marriage to be posted for a set number of working days before the marriage licence is issued; in practice, couples should plan to have their documents finalised and submitted at least two to three weeks ahead of the ceremony date to comfortably clear this window. Only once the notice period has passed and the licence is issued can the civil ceremony legally take place.
- Start gathering your CNI, birth certificate and apostilles as soon as your date is confirmed — this step happens in your home country and is the slowest part of the process.
- Arrange certified Greek translation either before travelling or shortly after arrival.
- Submit the completed file to the Municipality of Thira to trigger the public notice period.
- Receive your marriage licence, then hold the civil ceremony with two witnesses present.
None of this needs to fall on you. A full-service wedding planning package manages the entire administrative process — document checklists, translation, municipality submission and licence collection — so you arrive with nothing left to file.
Legal Marriage vs. Elopement: What's the Difference?
This guide covers the paperwork itself — the same process whether you are hosting fifty guests or having a private ceremony for two. If you are specifically planning an intimate, just-the-two-of-you celebration, our complete guide to eloping in Santorini covers locations, packages and timing for that experience, and links back here for the full legal detail.