I Do Abroad

Written and checked by the I Do Abroad team · Last updated 10 November 2026 · Sources listed at the end of this page

Yes. UK couples can have a legally binding civil wedding in Greece, and GOV.UK’s guidance is that a marriage abroad is recognised in the UK when it followed the local process and would have been allowed under UK law. The honest part is the paperwork. It starts at home, it runs through a Greek town hall, and the list changes from one municipality to the next. So the person who confirms what you need is not a blog, a planner or this page. It is the municipality where you will marry. Everything below is what usually applies.

Is a wedding in Greece legally recognised in the UK

GOV.UK does not publish a Greece checklist. Its guidance, last updated in June 2024, tells couples to check the law of the country and to contact the person conducting the ceremony or the authority that registers marriages there. There is no second ceremony to hold at home. Your Greek marriage certificate is your proof, so ask for extra certified copies before you fly back.

What documents do UK couples usually need to marry in Greece

Two municipalities on Crete publish their lists in English, and together they give a fair picture of what a Greek town hall asks for. Heraklion asks visitors for a marriage licence from their home country and a birth certificate, each translated into Greek and carrying an apostille. Platanias asks for the apostille on both the original and the translation. For British citizens, the home-country document is usually a certificate of no impediment, issued by your local register office after you give notice.

Step What usually applies Who confirms it
Certificate of no impediment Notice given at your local register office, as if you were marrying at home Your register office, including the notice period and fee
Apostille £45 per paper document, up to 25 working days, or £35 for an e-Apostille, up to 2 working days (GOV.UK) The Legalisation Office for the service. The municipality for which format it accepts
Greek translation By the Greek foreign ministry’s translation service, a Greek consular officer, a Greek lawyer or an Ionian University graduate translator (Heraklion, Platanias) The municipality
Newspaper notice A one-day announcement in a local daily paper, names in Greek characters (Platanias) The municipality, because not every town hall asks visitors for it
Licence fee A €15 stamp fee (Platanias). Heraklion gives its real value as €18 The municipality
Ceremony Town hall, working days and hours (Platanias). €100 at midday or €150 in the evening (Heraklion) The municipality
Witnesses Two adults with identification The municipality

Who confirms it

In Greece the civil wedding belongs to the municipality, the dimos. Its staff issue the licence, its mayor or a deputy usually conducts the ceremony, and its list is the only one that counts. The two lists above sit on the same island and still differ, on the newspaper notice and on where the apostille goes. That is the whole argument for asking.

Wandsworth Council’s register office gives couples five questions to put to the authority abroad. Is a certificate of no impediment required. Does it need to be translated. Does it need an apostille. How long is it valid. What other legal preliminaries are needed. Send those five to the town hall by email and keep the reply.

Can we have a legal wedding on a beach or at a hotel in Greece

This is the question couples ask first, and it has no national answer. Platanias states that its ceremonies take place at the town hall. Whether a mayor’s office will conduct a ceremony anywhere else is each municipality’s own decision, so ask in writing before you pay a venue deposit. A hotel can host a wedding. It cannot decide whether the wedding is legal.

Civil, religious or symbolic: which one is legal

A civil ceremony conducted by the municipality is the legal route most UK couples take. A religious ceremony can also be legally binding in Greece, with the church’s requirements on top. Big Fat Greek Day’s guide for UK couples notes that a Greek Orthodox wedding usually needs at least one partner to be baptised Orthodox. A symbolic ceremony is not a marriage anywhere. Many UK couples marry at their register office at home and hold a symbolic ceremony in Greece, which removes the apostilles, the translations and the town hall. It is a legitimate choice, and the calm one when the timetable is tight.

How long does the legal process take from the UK

Work backwards from the date. On GOV.UK’s figures the paper apostille alone can take up to 25 working days, and it sits after the register office’s notice period and before the translation. Big Fat Greek Day’s guide, published in November 2025, puts the whole process at three to four months. It says a licence usually follows about eight days after a complete file, and that the marriage is then registered at the local registry office, the lixiarcheio, within 40 days of the ceremony. Treat those as a planner’s working figures and ask the municipality for its own.

I Do Abroad Top Tip

Before you order a single apostille, email the town hall and ask whether it accepts the £35 e-Apostille or wants the £45 paper version. The answer moves that step from two working days to twenty-five, and it is the question nobody asks until the documents are already in the post.

Not sure whether Greece is your country, or whether a legal ceremony abroad suits you at all? Take the Dream Wedding Quiz and find out.

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