Welcome to this guide on getting married in the Netherlands as an expat! I am Theo Manusaride, a wedding photographer in the Netherlands with over 15 years of experience. I have photographed over 400 weddings in my career and when I first arrived in the Netherlands, I faced similar challenges with navigating the language and bureaucracy.
The Netherlands is incredibly inclusive, and photographing mostly expat weddings means I have plenty of experience with navigating a mix of legal, cultural, and practical steps. This guide aims to help you understand the legal requirements, bureaucratic steps, necessary documentation, and provide practical tips to ensure your wedding day planning starts off without a hitch.
Legal Requirements
In the Netherlands, you can formalise your relationship by either getting married or entering into a civil partnership. This grants both you and your partner specific rights and responsibilities towards each other. To legally marry in the Netherlands, you must meet several criteria:
- Minimum Age: Both partners must be at least 18 years old (or 16 with parental permission under certain conditions)
- Marital Status: Neither partner can be currently married or in a registered partnership.
- Relationship Prohibitions: Partners cannot be blood relatives, such as siblings, parent/child or grandparent/grandchild.
For expats, additional requirements include:
- Residency: At least one partner must be a Dutch national or resident of the Netherlands.
- Documentation: You'll need valid identification and possibly birth certificates, proof of residency, proof of address, and divorce or death certificates if applicable
- Personal Declaration: Non-Dutch nationals must complete a personal declaration
- Residence Permit: Non-EU/EEA nationals might need a valid residence permit
TIP: Don’t know what to choose between a civil partnership or marriage? They share similar fiscal and legal implications, yet two key distinctions emerge:
- Dissolution: Registered partnerships can be terminated without court intervention, provided there are no minor children involved.
- Recognition: Registered partnerships may not receive the same level of recognition or understanding in your home country or abroad.
Giving Notice of Marriage
In the Netherlands, couples must notify the Registrar of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Registered Partnerships of their intention to marry at least two weeks before the wedding, although some municipalities require substantially more time. This can be done at a municipal office, and most municipalities also offer an online option. This advance notification (melding van voorgenomen huwelijk) is a legal requirement. This notice is submitted to the municipality where either partner is registered.
ADVICE: depending on your personal situation, gathering all necessary documents and taking care of translations and legalizations might take several months, so be sure you check with the municipality in which you plan to get married or enter into a civil partnership about the specific steps and required paperwork before you proceed with other steps in planning your day.
Documents required
During the registration of intention to get married in the Netherlands, you must provide:
- Identification: Valid passport or ID card.
- Birth Certificates: When registering for a marriage or civil partnership, you may not need to provide your birth certificate. Instead, you can give your birth details to the Registrar of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships, who will then check the Basisregistratie Personen (BRP) - Personal Records Database for the information. If the information cannot be found, the Registrar may request your birth certificate. If neither method is successful, you can provide a sworn statement with your birth details.
- Other Documents: If you have lived outside the Netherlands, the Registrar of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Registered Partnerships (ambtenaar van de burgerlijke stand) may require certain documents to create a civil status record. They may also request proof that you have not entered into a marriage or civil partnership abroad. You can obtain a certificate of unmarried status from your last place of residence outside the Netherlands. Typically, this document will need to be translated into Dutch or English and legalized before it can be used in the Netherlands. Divorce or death certificate if previously married might be required.
Ceremony
The ceremony must be performed by a Dutch wedding officiant (Ambtenaar van de Burgerlijke Stand) who is a registered and qualified member of the municipality and you will need to choose at least 2 and a maximum of 4 witnesses. The witnesses should be at least 18 years and need to provide a valid ID or passport to be able to sign on your marriage certificate.
You can choose between a long or short version of a wedding or registered partnership ceremony, and there are certain days and times when it is possible to have your ceremony for free. However, these events usually only last a few minutes, have no music and only a small number of guests can be invited (sometimes just the couple and two witnesses). Most municipalities allow your wedding ceremony to be in English, or in another language provided that you choose an registered officiant that speaks your preferred language. However, the official part of your wedding ceremony has to be in Dutch according to Dutch law. You could opt for a Dutch part and then a translation.
Wedding venues
In the Netherlands, you can choose to have your ceremony at a building specifically arranged for the purpose by the municipality, or have your ceremony at a location chosen by you and your partner, though this will cost extra.
You can choose to have your ceremony at one of the buildings designated by the municipality. These venues are usually more cost-effective and come with less bureaucratic hassle. If you prefer a more personalized location, you can opt for a venue of your choice. This could be a historic building, a picturesque garden, or even a beach setting. However, choosing a personal venue may involve additional costs and require approval from the municipality.
For more information on location options, you can refer to one of my previous blog posts to discover 10+ best wedding venues in the Netherlands.
Cost of getting married in the Netherlands
The costs of getting married in the Netherlands or entering into a registered partnership vary depending on the day, time, type of ceremony and location and can range from 0 to more than 1000 euro. Most municipalities offer free or budget options for short ceremonies on specific days at certain times and costs may rise when choosing a venue outside the city hall, for ceremonies during the weekend and outside usual working hours.
For more details visit the government's website and your municipality’s website.
Rights and obligations within marriage and civil partnership
Upon marriage or civil partnership formation in the Netherlands, the legal framework of the limited community of property automatically applies.
Under this system, jointly held assets and debts encompass all acquisitions made during the marriage or partnership, as well as those held jointly before the commencement of the union. Any assets solely owned by either party before the union are excluded from the communal property. If desired, an alternative property arrangement can be established through the drafting of a prenuptial or partnership agreement. This allows for the separation of assets obtained during the union or even designates assets acquired individually prior to the union as jointly owned.
Other rights and obligations within marriage and civil partnership are:
- The option to adopt your partner’s surname is available, which may be combined with your own surname; however, this is not permissible in official documentation such as passports or driving licenses. For such documents, your own surname must always be used.
- In legal proceedings, you retain the right to refuse to testify against your spouse or civil partner, known as the right to abstain from providing evidence. This right extends to family members and relatives of your spouse or civil partner as well.
- Certain actions or decisions, such as the sale of a jointly owned residence, require mutual consent between you and your spouse or civil partner.
- Financial support between spouses or civil partners is a shared responsibility, encompassing the obligation to provide for each other’s financial needs and maintenance.
- In the event of inheritance, spouses and civil partners automatically inherit from each other under the law; however, it is possible to designate someone else as your heir through a will.
- Participation in a pension scheme allows for the accumulation of retirement benefits. Upon divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership, accrued pension rights during the marriage or civil partnership are subject to division unless otherwise agreed upon. Additionally, many pension schemes offer the option to accrue benefits for a surviving dependant's pension, which provides an allowance in the event of the death of the spouse or civil partner who accumulated the pension rights. For further details, please reach out to your pension provider.
Final thoughts
Getting married in the Netherlands as an expat involves navigating a series of legal and bureaucratic steps, but with the right preparation, it can be a smooth and enjoyable process. Start early, gather your documents, and consult with local authorities to ensure everything is in order.
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, may your special day be everything you've dreamed of and if you have any questions or are looking to book a wedding photographer in the Netherlands, feel free to contact me.