The Law and Humanist Ceremonies

As your hands are bound together now, so your lives and spirits are joined in a union of love and trust.
Above you are the stars and below you is the earth.
Like the stars your love should be a constant source of light and like the earth, a firm foundation from which to grow."
Celtic Handfasting Extract

The legal side in general

We find that couples look on the humanist ceremony as the moment when they are truly married. After all, it is the real celebration when your friends and family can be with you, and when your deepest feelings can be expressed. However as of yet Humanist ceremonies and weddings do NOT form a legal contract.

Most couples therefore go to a Register Office, before arriving in Portugal, before the main ceremony, to deal with the legal formalities and obtain a civil marriage certificate.

Sadly this is not an option for gay couples yet.

The situation in Portugal

If you go ahead with any ceremony here I also strongly advise a Civil ceremony in the UK or your home jurisdiction first. This can be just the two of you and two witnesses, and should be be ahead of our ceremony.

We do not advise considering a Portuguese legal ceremony as there is no equivalent to a Register Office for non-residents.

The bureaucracy here in Portugal is something to be believed and as a 99% Catholic country the civil part of any marriage ceremony is usually conducted by a priest in the parish church and the difficulties in getting the necessary permissions and paperwork and actually finding a place to conduct the legal stuff, if you are not using a church, are too difficult to contemplate. This is particularly the case as the marriage here is a legal contract and as such you both have to understand the terms of it in Portuguese or a language you both understand. The only realistic way if you don't speak Portuguese is to get the whole thing translated into English as well and then conduct the "legals" in the two languages. Now there is a challenge.

Also as you may have found out- one of you at least needs to be "resident" ( for at least one month before applying for the civil permission) and then you have to arrange more time for the legals to be validated here in Portugal. Not very practical.

So in short I would strongly advise a civil ceremony (register office) first in the UK or in your home jurisdiction. This also avoids any problems later with the marriage documentation when you get back - unlikely but quite possible.

This can be followed by a non religious celebration/ceremony in Portugal afterwards

The real celebration rather than the legal documents !!