Legalizing all kinds of humanist weddings across countries
Is a humanist wedding always legally binding?
No, it is not. A humanist wedding can be either symbolic or legally binding depending on the wishes of the marrying individuals, policies of the responsible national humanist organization and the legal framework in the respective country.
In some countries, the legal ceremony may be held immediately before the humanist ceremony, as one of two parts, making it an integrated whole.
In other countries, everyone must marry legally in a courthouse or similar first. The wedding ceremony afterwards will therefore be purely symbolic regardless if it is held in a church, by a humanist organization or by anyone else. Please read more on the country-pages listed here.
Then, at last, we have some countries where humanist organizations are authorized to perform legally binding weddings. This includes the following European countries:
If you get a legally binding humanist wedding in any of the countries listed above, you can take the marriage certificate back to your home country, and try to get it legally recognized there.
Most countries in the world (except for a large part of Africa and some countries in the Middle east) are members of the Apostille convention. This is an international convention that aims to secure the validity of legal documents across borders.
That means, if you get an apostille stamp on a marriage certificate from any of the countries listed above, you can bring it back to your home country and try to get it validated there.
🏳️🌈 Humanist LGBTQ+ marriages may be recognized in countries without gender-neutral marriage legislation
If you are a LGBTQ+ couple and live in a country that does not permit LGBTQ+ weddings, you can travel to any of countries listed above and get a humanist wedding there.
In all these countries, same sex and opposite sex couples, as well as non-binary people, are treated equally.
Because of the Apostille convention mentioned above, you can take your Apostille stamped marriage certificate, or your civil union certificate, back to your home country and try to get it legalized there.
It is hard to say something in general on whether this is possible or not. It will depend on the legislation in that specific country.
Recently there have been some court cases that make it easier for LGBTQ+ marriages to gain legal recognition:
- According to a 2018 ruling in the European Court of Justice, EU-member countries that do not recognise same-sex unions are bound to do so with regard to same-sex marriages performed within the EU and including an EU citizen for the purpose of granting legal residence. Read more.
- In 2023, Romania lost a case in the European Court of Human Rights. That means Romania is now legally obliged to provide legal recognition to same-sex couples, and may risk financial sanctions from the Council of Europe if it fails to change the law. Read more.
- In December 2023, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that by failing to legalise same-sex unions, Poland had violated the right to respect for private and family life. Read more.
Read more about legal recognition of same sex unions across Europe.
You will also find a lot of useful information on ILGA Europe’s website.