Getting married on church grounds without the religious ceremony?

It completely depends on the church. Each one has very different rules and restrictions when it comes to this, however I will let you know that each church I got in contact with had to have some religious aspect in order for us to be married there.

I don’t know whether you can get married in the grounds (though I would doubt it) but I would advise checking whether it is legal in Greece to have a friend officiate if you want a legally valid marriage, and check on the other rules for legally valid marriage in Greece. As far as I understand it, the marriage ceremony has to be legally valid in the country in which it is performed in order for it to be valid back in your home country. In many European countries, you can have legal non-religious civil ceremonies, but they have to be performed by a registered officiant of the state, and not all countries allow for friends/family to register to do this. FH’s family have Greek friends who are coming over for our wedding and they find it really strange that we are not getting married in church, so I suspect non-religious ceremonies are not super common there.

Welcome to the WeddingWire community, Kaitlin

Santorini is such a beautiful destination for a wedding! Have you and your SO been before? Why did you choose it for the wedding?

I would definitely recommend you reach out directly to the church and see if it’s possible. As Brianna mentioned, every church has different rules and restrictions. This would be the best way to get accurate information.