Germany

No approval process, no specific authority

Germany doesn’t run a formal “recognition” process for foreign marriages, and there’s no single office responsible for approving one. The general rule (the same lex loci celebrationis principle the UK and most countries use) is: a marriage is formally valid in Germany if it complied with the marriage law of the place where it happened, and each spouse met the substantive marriage requirements of their own national law. Colorado’s self-solemnization process is exactly that: legally valid under Colorado law, so it clears the bar.

What a real German court case turned on

German courts have directly addressed a marriage that skipped part of the usual process, though not by the name “self-solemnization.” In 2022, the Oberlandesgericht Köln refused to recognize a marriage conducted by videocall between Germany and the US, and the Bundesgerichtshof (Germany’s federal court of last resort) upheld that refusal in 2024. But the reasoning is worth reading closely, since it doesn’t point the way you might expect: the court’s problem was the lack of simultaneous physical presence, one spouse was in Germany the whole time, connecting only by video, not that a Colorado officiant was missing. The court specifically noted that German domestic form rules only give way to the law of the place of celebration when the marriage is concluded abroad in fact; trying to marry from inside Germany by video doesn’t count as that.

A Colorado self-solemnized marriage is the opposite fact pattern: both of you are physically present together, in Colorado, completing a process Colorado law fully recognizes as concluding the marriage there. That’s exactly the scenario the German court said triggers the foreign-law exception, not the one that got refused.

We found no German case addressing an in-person, witness-free marriage abroad by that exact name, but this video-marriage ruling is a real, specific data point, and it distinguishes rather than threatens your situation. It's also worth knowing that a standard German civil ceremony at a Standesamt doesn't require witnesses either under current law. If you want certainty, ask your local Standesamt directly.

Registering it in Germany (Nachbeurkundung) is optional

You are not required to register a marriage performed abroad with a German registry office. If at least one of you is German (or a recognized refugee, stateless person, or similarly defined category), you can apply to have it entered into the German marriage register after the fact; this is called Nachbeurkundung. It’s useful for German bureaucratic purposes (things like a name change with German authorities), but it doesn’t make the marriage “more valid” than it already is.

• Where to apply: the Standesamt (civil registry office) responsible for your German place of residence, or Standesamt I in Berlin if neither of you has a current or former German address.
• Documents typically needed: both marriage certificates, both passports, and (if relevant) prior divorce decrees or a former spouse’s death certificate.
• Apostille and translation: the Standesamt has discretion over whether it requires an apostille and a certified German translation of your documents; this varies by office, so confirm with the specific Standesamt you’re applying to.
• Cost: typically €175–575, depending on how much review the case needs.

No Certificate of No Impediment needed beforehand

Colorado doesn’t ask foreign nationals for anything equivalent to a German pre-marriage “no impediment” document; a valid passport is the ID requirement. See colorado counties compared for county-specific notes as we gather them if a particular county ever asks for something unusual.

The practical summary

• Your Colorado marriage is valid in Germany the moment it’s valid in Colorado.
• Nachbeurkundung (German civil register entry) is optional and only relevant if at least one of you is German and you want it reflected in German records.
• Expect the Standesamt to possibly want an apostille and certified translation for that optional step. See the apostille process and document translation requirements.
• No pre-marriage document is required to marry in Colorado in the first place.

See does it matter what country we’re from? for the broader picture of why this varies country to country.