Civil ceremony vs. church wedding

Either choice, there is some preparation necessary for both. In this post we will explain what needs to be done in advance and with what authority, assuming you are not a Croatian citizen and do not have a wedding planner.

Civil ceremony

Before coming to the country the first thing you need to do is book your date with the Town hall Civil authority, best to get this out of the way first. After this you will need to pull out some paperwork from you country (keep in mind if you are a foreigner in the country you live in, you must get your originals from your birth country). What you need is:

• Birth certificate - original

• ID or passport - copy

• Document confirming you are in no legal bounds of marriage with someone else. (same for divorce) - original

• A signed document by your employer that your vacation will be no longer than 30 days and that you will be returning to work - original

• If the ceremony will be in another language that is not your nationality, you must also by the notary in your country sign an agreement that you understand the language the ceremony will be in - original

- EU citizens should retrieve the documents in dual language (original + Croatian) otherwise you will need to translate the originals to Croatian before handing it to the civil authority.

- For nonEU citizens you can only retrieve the document in your original language and must also translate into Croatian before handing to the civil authority.

- Some nonEU citizens will need to retrieve these documents with an apostille (USA, Australia...). Only after receiving the apostille should it be translated.

Before the civil ceremony at the venue of choice, you will need to go to the civil authorities office to register for the civil ceremony - this is when you hand in all your paperwork. Once you sign the registration (still not legally married, no worries) you will receive a bill for the actual civil ceremony at the chosen venue. Once the bill is paid, then you have legally registered for the civil wedding.

For the venue, for the civil wedding you will need to obtain all which is necessary for the legality of the ceremony which means you will need:

- a translator to translate the ceremony to your language (the civil ceremony will be in Croatian)

- a Croatian crest and flag

Once the ceremony is over you will sign the documents and collect them at the civil authorities office the following work day.

We advise being in the country at least a week prior in order to process the civil ceremony and leave a few days extra for just-in-case

Church wedding

As for the paperwork, its the same - and the registration is the civil authorities office as well. The difference is that before the civil procedure you need to book the church and talk to the priest.

The church itself (depending where you will marry, cathedral, small church, or remote monastery) is divided into districts so once you decide on your location you must discover the parish it belongs to and contact the parish priest who will then walk you through the procedure of the church ceremony and what is necessary (will there be communion, confession, is it possible to have a priest of your speaking language etc.)

The signing of the document will be in the church and the priest will be the one to hand it over to the civil authorities - where again you will collect the following work day. As for the payment, aside from some paperwork fee to the civil authorities, you will pay the wedding church ceremony to the priest who will provide you with a bill.

And that's a wrap!

xoxo

Denise

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