Getting married abroad

daenerysstormborn3

My boyfriend and I are getting married next year, probably in August. We are thinking of getting married in Holland as my boyfriend lived there for a few years and we both like it there. It will be a very very low key affair. We're probably only going to invite about 10 people to the actual wedding in Holland and then have a big garden party when we return for the rest of our friends. We are not traditional and we certainly do not want a church wedding.

I have no idea where to start with regard to the actual getting married, ceremony, officiator etc. Does anyone have any helpful advice they can offer in relation to marrying abroad, in particular in Holland?

I know I have plenty of time to plan but I just want to make sure I don't miss any important dates or anything like that.

Lingua Franca

Congratulations!

I don't know anything about weddings here, all the recently weds and soon-to-be-weds I know here have gone or will do abroad to get married themselves.There's some information here: http://www.expatica.com/nl/family/Partners/Getting-married-in-the-Netherlands_13113.html

I'll ask around for you, though.

Peregrinus

The Dutch are bureacrats, and proud of it!

A couple can only be married in the Netherlands if at least one of them is a legal resident of the Netherlands. Has your boyfriend perhaps acquired residency?

If you can get past that requirement, then you can marry. All weddings in the Netherlands must be civilly celebrated, whether or not you want a church wedding afterwards. Civil marriage is celebrated before the registrar, who is a public official; there are no independent celebrants. Marriages are normally celebrated in government offices; I don't know whether it's possible to have a hotel/garden/beach/home/etc wedding, if that's what you want.

You need to register your intention to marry at least two weeks before the wedding date. In practice, though, you would want to register much earlier than that, especially if you have views about what date you would like to be married on, rather than just taking the date and time-slot that they offer you. And, as one at least of you will be a non-resident, it may take them a bit longer than usual to process the paperwork.

The spouses and the witnesses will all need to present their identity cards (if Netherlanders) or passports (if of any other nationality). The Irish spouses will also need to produce their birth certs, which they'll need to get "legalised" by the (Irish) Department of Foreign Affairs. Finally, the Irish spouses will need documentary confirmation from the (Irish) registration authorities that they are free to marry (i.e. they are not already married to someone else) and this, too, will have to be legalised at Foreign Affairs before you bring it to the Netherlands.

daenerysstormborn3

Thanks for that Peregrinus and Lingua Franca.