Diagram by Greece Trips. Free to reuse with credit - CC BY 4.0.
The three kinds of ceremony
Civil. Performed at the town hall of the municipality where you apply, by the mayor or a deputy, and recognised as a legal marriage. This is the route most foreign couples take.
Religious. An Orthodox church wedding is legally binding in Greece, but the church has its own requirements, including baptism, and a non-Orthodox partner generally needs to be a baptised Christian. Catholic ceremonies are possible on the islands with Catholic communities, notably Syros, Tinos and Naxos.
Symbolic. No legal effect at all: the couple marries at home and holds the ceremony in Greece for the setting and the guests. It removes the paperwork entirely, and a large share of “Greek weddings” you have seen photographed are this.
The paperwork, in outline
For a civil marriage the municipality generally wants:
- Birth certificates, translated into Greek and legalised.
- A certificate of no impediment to marriage from your home country.
- Passports, and evidence of any previous marriage ending.
- A published marriage notice, and an application submitted to the relevant municipality.
Documents from most countries need an apostille and an official translation, and municipalities differ in what they ask for and how long they take. Confirm with the specific municipality, not with a blog, and start months rather than weeks ahead. Most couples use a local planner precisely because the process is municipal rather than national.
Choosing where
The honest advice is that the guests decide this, not the photographs.
- Easy to reach, with international flights and enough hotel beds: Santorini, Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Mykonos, Kefalonia.
- Beautiful and harder, needing a ferry or a connection, which is fine for twenty guests and a problem for eighty: Milos, Folegandros, Hydra, Symi, Paxos.
- The mainland, which almost nobody considers and which is cheaper, cooler and far easier for large groups: Nafplio, the Mani, Pelion, Zagori.
Practical filters worth applying: is there a direct flight from where most guests live, are there enough rooms in one place, and what is the August heat like at your chosen hour.
Timing
- May, June, September and early October are the wedding months: warm, long light, and survivable for people in formal clothes.
- July and August are hot enough to be genuinely uncomfortable at a midday ceremony, and the most expensive and crowded weeks of the year.
- The meltemi blows through the summer in the Cyclades, and an exposed clifftop ceremony on Santorini or Mykonos can be a wind problem rather than a heat one.
Afterwards
Most couples stay on. See Greece for honeymoons for where that goes next, and Greek etiquette and customs for what a Greek wedding party is actually like.
Last checked August 2026. Marriage requirements vary by municipality and change - confirm with the municipality itself. See our editorial policy.
Common questions
Can foreigners legally marry in Greece?
Yes. A civil ceremony at a Greek town hall is a legal marriage, and an Orthodox church wedding is legally binding too.
What documents do you need to marry in Greece?
Typically birth certificates, a certificate of no impediment, passports and evidence of any previous marriage ending, all apostilled and translated into Greek. Requirements vary by municipality.
What is a symbolic wedding in Greece?
A ceremony with no legal effect, held for the setting and the guests, with the legal marriage done at home. It removes the Greek paperwork completely.
Which Greek island is best for a wedding?
It depends on guest numbers. Santorini, Crete, Rhodes, Corfu and Mykonos have flights and beds; Milos, Folegandros and Hydra are lovelier and harder to reach in numbers.
When is the best month for a wedding in Greece?
May, June, September and early October. July and August are hot enough to be uncomfortable in formal clothes and are the most crowded weeks of the year.
Next
Read Greece for honeymoons, Santorini, or Greek etiquette and customs.