Applying to get married in the Netherlands

Are you planning to get married? If you intend to get married, you must notify the municipality of this at least 2 weeks and not more than 1 year before the wedding.

There are certain requirements for marriage that everyone must meet:

you must be at least 18 years of age;
you cannot marry someone who is already married or in a civil partnership;
you cannot be related to one other, e.g. grandparent, grandchild, parent, child or sibling.

Are you getting married to a non-Dutch citizen in the Netherlands? Then different conditions apply.

If you intend to marry someone of the same sex, you can get married in the Netherlands in the presence of the civil registrar. This is called a civil marriage, and you are only legally married once you have had a civil ceremony. In addition, it is possible to have a religious ceremony in some churches, but not all churches allow it. Check first with the church where you want to have the ceremony. A church wedding can only take place after the civil ceremony.

If you are getting married outside the Netherlands and are not yet 18 years old, your marriage will only be recognised in the Netherlands once both spouses have reached 18 years of age.

This is how it works for you

Your (future) place of residence falls under:

Municipality of Midden-Drenthe

Here is some information from your municipality.

Applying to get married in the Netherlands

You register your marriage with the municipality, providing all the details about yourself, your partner and your witnesses. This can be done up to 2 weeks before the wedding or registration date. You can do it online or at the town hall.

If neither you nor your partner live in the Netherlands, you must give notice of your marriage in Den Haag. You can find more information here: Register a marriage for Dutch citizens living abroad.

When you register your marriage, you make a number of choices, which you communicate to the municipality. These choices relate to the ceremony and the venue. The costs depend on your wishes and our possibilities.

Ceremony

The ceremony is the official part of your marriage or registered partnership. You can choose from:

Monday morning at 9:00 or 9:30 PM (free of charge)
Simple ceremony from Monday till Thursday after 10:00 PM (€ 180)
Elaborate ceremony from Monday till Friday at the town hall (€ 490)
Elaborate ceremony on Saturday or outside office hours (€ 921)
Ceremony on a place of your own choice from Monday till Saturday (€ 344,50

If you opt for an elaborate ceremony, you can choose who leads the ceremony. You have the following choices:

Wedding registrar from the municipality. Our wedding registrar will contact you a few weeks before the wedding or registration date to get to know you. If you have a preference for a wedding registrar, please inform us of this.
Family member or acquaintance. If you would like a family member or an acquaintance to be your ‘own wedding registrar’, please contact us.

Wedding venue

You can get married in various places in Midden-Drenthe. You can choose for yourself:

Municipality wedding venue.
Wedding venue of your choice. If you opt for a wedding venue of your own choice, you must request this from the municipality by telephone (0)593 53 92 22 or via the contact form. You may have to pay for this.