Getting Married in Cyprus: Your Questions Answered

With civil marriage not happening anytime soon in Lebanon, it’s not a surprise that most couples pick the nearest country to go and get the ceremony done.
If you’re interested in reading this blog post, chances are you’re considering getting married in Cyprus yourself.
But you’ve got many questions in mind, so I’m here to answer them all- or at least try!

Our Story

Tawa and I decided to get married in Cyprus and we were lucky enough to have the support of both our families.
We got married on 24.01.2018 and had a small and simple wedding party back in Lebanon on 17.02.2018 with family and friends!
The following procedure I wrote is for Larnaca’s ceremony.
Should you decide to get married in Nicosia where the Lebanese Embassy is, please contact them on (0035722797238) to allocate a date and time for your wedding day after you prepare all the required documents.

How Things Work

The procedure is the following:

1) Contact Larnaca’s municipality (where the ceremony will take place) by email on:
civilmarriage@larnaka.com

2) You can ask them about all the documents and (updated) fees, but I will also share them with you in a bit so you can have a general idea on what to expect.

3) You’ll be asked to prepare the documents, get them translated in English by an official translator, stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassy of Cyprus in Lebanon. You’ll also pick a day and a time!:)
(For us, it was at 9am!! Mind you, we had breakfast after getting married!)

4) Once in Cyprus, you’ll need to have with you your passports and all original documents stamped and translated.
From here on, it will be different depending on whether you asked for an indoor or outdoor wedding.
But the procedure is still the same 🙂

5) You’ll be asked to sign a paper that has all your names & info to be used later on for the marriage certificate. (Don’t panic, that’s not the actual thing yet, but make sure all the written names are correct because it will be so hard to edit them later on.)

6) You’ll be asked to enter the marriage officiant’s room where the ceremony will take place, (so where the vows will be exchanged- don’t panic as well, we read vows suggested by them, nothing romantic because we aren’t-yay).
Finally, signatures of you and your spouse as well as the witnesses’ will be the final step before you can leave the room as Mr.&Mrs. 🙂

7)3 days after your ceremony, you can go back to pick up your original marriage certificate as well as the number of copies you had asked for beforehand. (All stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs- and Ministry of Justice if you ask for it)
Little tip:
Please keep in mind to ask for a marriage certificate with an “Apostil” (Ministry of Justice stamp) in case you decide to live in Europe afterwards. It’s mandatory.

8)Next, you’ll need to go to Lebanon’s embassy in Cyprus where you can submit your papers once again to get them registered in your *lovely* country.

9)Once you’re back in Lebanon, contact the Lebanese embassy in Cyprus again after a month, and they will assign you a number for your diplomatic case.

10) Finally, when all the wait is over, you will be able to get your new family registry record, and a new civil registry record:) Congrats!

Required documents

-Civil Registry Record 2 copies for each
اخراج قيد فردي
-Family Registry Record 2 copies for each
اخراج قيد عائلي
-Divorce Certificate or Death Certificate if divorced or widowed
-Passports

Visa

If you and your partner don’t hold a Schengen Visa, please apply for a visa at the embassy of Cyprus in Lebanon and take all the required documents as well as your travel tickets, hotel reservations, insurance, and a bank statement with you. Click here to check all the details on their website.

Fees

-€281,90 for the ceremony which includes one certificate of marriage.
-€13,65 for every extra marriage certificate you may need.
-€20 for one marriage certificate with an Apostil (Ministry of Justice stamp) and an additional €5 for every extra certificate with an Apostil.
-€20 for one stamp from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an additional €5 for every extra certificate you may need.
-€150 for a wedding outdoors.
-€17 for the embassy of Lebanon in Cyprus.

Note that the payment for the ceremony should be in cash, in euro and on the same day of the wedding.

I hope I helped a little bit, but please contact the municipality on their email to get a better understanding of the steps to take!
Congrats to all the couples! ❤

Don’t forget to take a photo by the famous door of the municipality 🙂

 

A Long Distance Marriage

I’m not going to lie to you, this has been the most tiring year of my life.
So many things happened that would leave all of you speechless, but that’s not what you’re here to read.

I always looked at people going through this and thought to myself “they’re doing great” and “they’re really strong people” and “I’m glad they are able to manage this LDR”.
What I didn’t know, soon became my own reality.

Even after moving to Berlin, I am still not done working on my visa papers to be able to stay there for good.
So the long-distance marriage begins, and it’s not quite the dream.

First of all, let me begin by explaining to you that I am the worst person you could talk to on WhatsApp. I rarely ever understand if you’re serious, joking, sarcastic, or just not in the mood to talk.
How would anyone ever know anyway?
That was the first problem I had because when you misunderstand someone who’s kilometers away, there’s nothing you can do about it except call and try to fix it.
Which leads me to the second problem!
Calling anyone who’s abroad with our terrible internet is really a challenge.
I recommend subscribing to the largest Mobile Data your cell phone provider has to offer unless you have a badass internet at home. Then you’re just really lucky.
And speaking of luck, it’s a good thing we only have a one hour difference otherwise I don’t know what I would’ve done. I like my good night sleep.

So if you’re here for some tips, I would gladly add a few things to what Nicole had to say in her own blog post, from my own perspective.

Enjoy your time alone with your family, it won’t be long before you have to join your partner abroad.

It’s important to know each others’ schedules during the day to avoid texting or calling at the wrong time.

Use the same Netflix account and watch the same series together: you’ll have something new to discuss.

Try to stay as positive as you can, it keeps the relationship alive. Be thankful for each other’s health and safety!

Set a date. Decide when one of you will get to see the other again, don’t leave this subject hanging. It literally destroys all hope.

 

 

Try to celebrate all the little things you wouldn’t even notice before.

See this as a new way to accumulate airline miles!

It will never be 100% perfect, don’t beat yourself up every time something happens.

It’s been 5 months for us. I’m still learning, discovering, making mistakes and laughing at myself. This will never be a piece of cake, but it can be bearable when you want it to work.
I know many people who live together and yet aren’t as close as a LDR couple is.
Which reminds me of something I read on Twitter:

“You can be in the same room with the same person for years, and be in a long distance relationship.” 

Distance is only as hard as you make it!

I hope that after Nicole’s tips and mine, you can understand that every relationship takes work, but one with a long distance, takes twice the hard work- but it does not mean it is not feasible.

If you’re in a LDR, please share your tips in the comments below!