THANKS TO LUCKY LADY ABOUT INFO VERY GRATFUL.LOST LOGIN DETAILS HENCE HERE.
JUST WANTED TO ASK ANOTHER COUPLE OF QUESTIONS IN REGUARDS TO DOCUMENTS.....
DO I NEED ANYTHING ELSE APART FROM PASSPORTS CERTIFIED? IE.....NO-IMPEDIMENT,BIRTH CERT
AND ALSO IF THE TRANSLATOR WILL DO A COURIER SERVICE IS THAT ONCE I HAVE EVERYTHING STAMPED......IM SO THROWN BY ALL THIS LEGAL STUFF HAVE ALMOST PULLED OUT!!
WHEN THEY SAY ORIGIONAL FULL BIRTH CERT......CAN WE GET A REPLACEMENT COPY FROM REGISTRA DEPT NEITHER OF US HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET HOLD OF FULL ONES?
THANKS

Hi there

You sound just as panicked as I was when we booked our wedding. We should be getting married the day after you arrive Halkidiki. Speak to Androula she is very good and informative.

You can make an appointment to see the registrar anytime from now. You will have an interview and can collect your certificate of no impediment within 12 months of you having your interview. I suggest you book your appointment now as it could be a couple of weeks before they can fit you in. You can then collect the certificate at a later date but within the "90 days" period of your wedding in Greece. It costs £30 per doc. You can also get "full" copies of your birth certificates from the register office. I phoned my registrar at the beginning of Jan but the first available appointment was 9th Feb.

If you have been married before you will need your decree absolute, original doc, stamped by the court. Once you have these three docs and have faxed photocopies to first choice you can then send everything off to Androulla - special delivery - and she will guarantee their return to you within 14 days. You have to pay a special courier service of about £100 but I think it is worth it.

Good luck & try not to panic.

Sharon

Re: Halkidiki Wedding

I can inform you of an excellent photographer. His name is George and has a studio based in Kassandria. He has worked together with First choice since they started weddings in Halkidiki. The photos are excellent and his packages which are available to First choice are well worth the value. George can take photos at the town hall, before and during the service, family photos after, beach photos (he knows a few private beaches away from the touristsd) and is also willing to travel to your hotel (at a slight extra cost). I worked for First Choice as a Wedding Co-ordinator in 2005-2006 and have great knowledge of the area and the way the day is planned. If you require any information, contact me.

Re:Wedding

I can give you all the information you require concerning Halkidiki weddings. I worked for First Choice in the summers of 2005 2006 as a wedding coordinator. I can inform you of an excellent photographer, who actually has a studio in Kassandria. He show you albums with many photos and tens of CD's with past weddings. He is willing to take photos at the hotel, town hall, reception and those extra special beach photos. He has many amazing packages available on request.

Julia

Hi
I wondered if anyone could help me,does anyone know roughly how much a day pass would cost for 2 of our wedding guests to come into our hotel for the day as they are the only ones who haven't booked in the same hotel as us? I have tried 3 times to email the hotel now (oceania club hotel) and am yet to receive a reply.
Also im still all over the place with what to do with the paperwork.I know what to do but just not sure on when! Because the cert of no imped cannot be done till 3 months before i contacted the travel agents to get their advise on when to do the rest of the paperwork and they said i may as well leave it all till 3 months before and send it off all together to save posted 2 lots of paperwork but i am really worried that if i do this and it gets delayed then i wont have any of the paperwork!Can anyone tell me how they did theirs so i can make a decision as to whether i leave it all till 3 months before or whether i do all the other paperwork first and then i will only have the cert of no imped to send off.
Lindsay

Hi Lindsay,
If all your paperwork is straightforward wait till you get your no impeds, then send it all off to the translator, who, [for a courier fee of £90] will get it all done for you and it will all be back within 2 weeks of sending it.
We used Androull Veliotou tel 02083376093,shes very good and will explain everything on the phone.
to get a rough idea of how much it will all cost, each doc must be,
legalised -£27 each
translated - £35.25 each
stamped at greek consulate - £15 each
no impeds - £30 each
courier fee - £ 90
We have just sent our copies off to first choice, 8 weeks to go!!!!!!!

mandy xx

Hi Linz

When are you getting married at Oceania? We are going on 15th May. With regards to getting the day pass I'm sure Anna Wohlfart will be able to help. She is the wedding co-ordinator at both Oceania & Sani - her email address is awohlfart@saniresort.gr She has helped with with loads of issues that have cropped up, infact she has been better than First Choice.

With regards to paperwork I followed Mandys' advice and waited until I got our certificates of no impediments. I collected them last week, faxed & emailed copies of all our doc's to First Choice and when they said they were ok I posted them off to Androulla who should have received them on Friday. She has told me we should have them all back for Easter.

Good Luck

Sharon

Hi all,

I am having a complete nightmare with all the docs for our forthcoming wedding at Kassandria Town Hall, Halkidiki, Greece on 16th May.

I have today been to give notice at the register office but I didn't know (until today) that our Certs of No Impedement cannot be collected for another 16 days!! This throws everything out as I had evey intention of getting all of my docs sent to Androulla this afternoon and now of course I can't. I have been in touch with my tour operator (Thomas Cook) who have assured me that it won't be a problem to let them have my copies later than normal but as they want the copies of the translations as well and it will only then be a few weeks before we travel, you can imagine I am beginning to panic!

To add insult to injury I am now also told that the solicitor who certifed our passports needs to have her signature registered at the embassy but after calling the solicitors it turns out that she has left the company!

I am completely freaking out and beginning to wish I'd decided to marry in the UK.

Can someone please help to put my mind at ease because I am stressing out!

Nicola (worried-to-death-bride-to-be)!

Hi Nicola,
Dont stress too much, get your passports certified by another solicitor, ring androulla to see if they need legalising, [if not it saves you £54,] if they do then save them till you send the rest of the paperwork to Androulla, she will have everything back to you within 2 weeks [maybe sooner if you ring her and explain the situation] although if you collect your papers on 27 march,send them off that day, you should have them back in plenty of time [april 9th]. then you have to photocopy both sides of all paperwork and send it to the weddings dept, send it special delivery and they will recieve it the next day. this gives them time to ring you and confirm that all is ok.
[unlike us, we forgot to copy 1 side and have had to send it in today DURR a blonde moment there]
Keep in touch to let us know how things are doing

mandyxx

Hi Mandy,

I have just spent the last 45 minutes in tears... it's doing my head in completely!

I'm going to ring Androulla in a little while for her to advise me which solicitor I can use (hopefully someone local) and arrange to get the passports certified again.

My wonderful fiance has given me a big cuddle and told me not to worry and that everthing will work out ok in the end.

I'm going to get a LARGE glass of wine and have a soak in a hot bath, see if I can calm myself a little.

I'll try not to stress or think about it too much and I will keep you posted on how everything goes.

Thanks for your kind words of support!

Nicola xx

Hi nicola
To be honest i dont think Androulla will know of a solicitor [unless you live in her area Tolworth Surrey] if not your best bet is to go back to another partner at the same office as last time and ask if anybody else is registered, we had trouble with our solicitor, [we had to have a document signed again and she signed it differently, all it took was a phone call from the legalisation office]
and to be honest i dont think it takes much more for a solicitor to register with the fco.
have a big glass of wine [or 2]and try not to worry too much, im sure everything will be ok!!
when do you fly out?

mandy xx

Thank you!

I feel a lot better now then I did an hour ago.

I briefly spoke to Androulla this afternoon and she said that she is able to recommend a solicitor to me. Fingers crossed because none of the other partners at the solicitor we used are registered to certify passports.

Anyway...

We fly out on the 8th May. Isn't it the 9th that you get married?

Nicola xx

Hi again
It certainly is, 7 weeks on thu we fly out, cant wait, hopefully the weather is better than here, think i might try and order a heatwave for may LOL.
Been measured for my dress, should go for 1st fitting this week, wedding co-ordinator not got much to do, we sorted most of it already.
All we got to do now is get more excited than we already are.
Bet you will be too when all paperwork is sorted, it didnt really kick in with us till that bit was finalised.
Where are you staying again?

mandy xx

Hi Nicola

You don't need to worry about your photo pages of your passport. This document only needs to be signed and stamped by a solictor. This document isn't going to the fco anyway as it does not need to be leglised. The fco office have a big database with solicitors signatures on it - this way they can check any document signed by a solicitor matches with the signature on their database. As your passport page does not need to be legalised it doesn't apply to you.

I had the same worries last week when I was getting may paperwork off to Androulla. I was so stressed with it all I phoned the registrar at Kassandria and asked him about the passport having to be legalised. His answer was NO.

Think about it carefully if this paperwork is required all you would need to do is get a copy of your passport signed by a Greek solicitor whilst out there the week before your wedding.

I honestly thought I had to get the passport legalised but it was Andoulla who said no i didn't - just certified. I then double checked with First Choice who agreed, I triple checked with Sani's wedding co-ordinator who also agreed and then I checked again with Kassandrias registrar. Speak to Androulla she will put your mind at rest.

Speak soon

Sharon

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for your words of advice.

I have today spoken to Mitch at Androulla's office and I have been advised that Thomas Cook require our passports to be certified and legalised so we are going to have to get them re-done. The good news is that they have recommended a local solicitor to me who already has their signature registered at the FCO. I am going to call them tomorrow to make an appointment to get this done ASAP. They have also advised me that it won't be a problem for them to turn my docs around in about 10 days and have given me step by step instructions of what I need to do next. These people are a godsend....

I have to say I am feeling a lot more positive about everything now after having spoken to Mitch and he has helped reassure me, as have all of you!

Mandy - we are staying at the Sani Beach Club. I bet you are dead excited about having your first fitting! I have mine on the 28th March and I am a little apprehensive as I have lost quite a lot of weight since I was first measured for it. Still, they say it's not a problem to have it altered if needsby. Are you having a bash upon your return from Greece? We have arranged an evening reception that will take place 2 days after our return. It'll be nice to get to wear my dress for a second time! Hopefully I can keep it clean as I won't have the time to have it dry-cleaned!

One more question for you ladies... roughly how much is it costing for your photographer in resort and what do you get for that? It is something that we decided against initially, purely because of cash flow but I am having a change of heart and think it is definitely something I will regret. If you could let me have some info on what you are all deciding to do I would be grateful.

Speak to you soon.

Nicola xx

Could anyone let me have the contact details/website address for Nic please?

Thanks!

Nicola :-)

Hi Nicola,
Yes i really excited, we having a reception at local village hall a week after we get back,our photographer is costing us a bit more than the package that first choice offered but we get him for wedding, reception and evening shots if required.
We just had confirmation that all our paperwork is in order and we ready to go. HALKIDIKI HERE WE COME!!!!!!!
You must fly out on the 8 may, would be nice to meet up after our wedding to let you know how things go.
If you would like to arrange this send me a personal email

mandy xx

Hi everyone

Got all the documents back from Androulla and posted them off to Fisrt Choice on Monday. Got the call from them today that everything is ok so we're all set to go!!!! Can't wait!! Only seven weeks to go until we fly and ** 8 weeks ** tomorrow until the wedding. Getting really excited now.

Sharon

Hi Sharon,

That's fantastic news! I bet you're dead excited?!

We picked up our certs of no impediment on Wednesday and posted everything off to Androulla the same day, should hopefully have them back with the next couple of weeks which will be huge weight lifted.

Have started looking forward to it all now and just 6 weeks as yesterday until we fly and 7 weeks today until our big day! Not long at all!

Nicola :-)

Hi Nicola,
Glad you got it all sorted,hope your feelin a lot more positive now!!
Only 5 weeks till we go, really excited now, cant wait!!!!

mandy xx