Getting married or registered partnership

Before you get married or enter into a registered partnership, you file a notification of your proposed marriage. This (online) notification replaces the former civil marriage. Arrange this at least four weeks and up to one year before you get married.

Please note that a free marriage/partnership registration is only accessible if at least one of the partners is registered in Wassenaar Municipality.
 

Filing a notification of intended marriage/registered partnership

Would you like to get married for free at the City Hall or at a municipal wedding venue, and are you wondering if your preferred date is still available? If so, please fill out the“Notification of Marriage or Registered Partnership”form.

You and your partner log in with DigiD and you choose whether you want an elaborate, simple or free ceremony. Then you can see in the calendar which dates and times are still available.

Notice! Until you submit the form, the date will not be reserved. 

Do you have a registered partnership and want to get married? Then you can have your registered partnership converted into a marriage. Here you can choose in which form the conversion takes place: via a simple or an elaborate wedding ceremony or purely as an administrative act. You no longer need witnesses. With a conversion, no witnesses are listed on the deed because they have already testified at your partnership registration. 

Are you choosing conversion with a simple or elaborate ceremony? Then please use the button below. For this you and your partner need DigiD. 

Do you only want an administrative conversion at the front desk of the municipal office? Then contact the civil registry by phone at 14070. 

Convert registered partnership to marriage

In the notification of intended marriage, you can fill out a declaration of name use. You then choose which name you want to use after the marriage or registered partnership. This is not an official name change, but the name by which you want to be addressed by official bodies. The name in your passport or driver's license will not change.

You can both choose from the following options:

• Your own name
• Name of partner
• Name of partner followed by own name
• Own name followed by partner's name

Learn more about naming. 

In Wassenaar we have three different types of wedding ceremonies: free, simple and elaborate. Below you can read what these ceremonies look like and what the Requirements are.

Free wedding

You can take advantage of the opportunity to get married free of charge only if at least one of the two partners lives in Wassenaar. 

Free wedding ceremonies are performed on Monday mornings at 9:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. in the consulting room of the municipal office on the Johan de Wittstraat. Due to space limitations, you can only bring a total of two witnesses and guests are not allowed. The registrar will not make a speech but will immediately proceed to the marriage pledge (saying yes) and/or signing the deed.

Simple ceremony from April 1, 2026

From Tuesday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 11:00 a.m., you have the option to get married in a simple wedding ceremony. You will be married at the municipal wedding venue by a designated marriage officiant. The ceremony lasts no more than fifteen minutes and includes a brief, general speech by the marriage officiant. You will not have a preparatory meeting with the marriage officiant. Two, three, or four witnesses may be present at the ceremony. A total of 20 people are allowed in the wedding hall. During the simple ceremony, it is not possible to play music or invite a guest speaker. There will also be no usher present, and the red carpet will not be rolled out.

Extended ceremony

From Monday to Sunday, you can get married between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at any designated location. The extended ceremony offers you more customization than the simple ceremony. In addition to freely choosing your wedding location, you can also indicate your preferred wedding official. A few weeks before the wedding, you will have a personal meeting with this wedding official. This meeting is primarily for introductory purposes and will, of course, form the basis for the personal speech that the wedding official will give for you. During this meeting, you can also express any other wishes you may have regarding the ceremony. For example, whether a family member will act as a guest speaker or whether music will be played during the ceremony.

Wassenaar has several beautiful locations where you can get married.
You can view an overview of all designated wedding venues in Wassenaar.

Please note! If you are getting married at a venue other than the municipal wedding venue, you must reserve this venue yourself. The municipality does not handle this. Please contact the venue directly. These venues also charge their own fees. These fees are not included in the marriage license fee you pay to the municipality.

Getting married in a private (one-off) venue

It is also possible to have a location designated once for your wedding. We will then visit the location to see to what extent it meets the applicable Requirements . For the designation of a one-time location you pay extra costs. The schedule of costs below shows the amount. In the 'Policy Rule on the designation of the Town Hall (marriage and registered partnership) Wassenaar' you will find the Requirements that the location must meet. For a request to designate a single wedding location, please contact us via the email address burgerlijkestand@wassenaar.nl. 

Getting married at the replacement municipal wedding venue from April 1, 2026

Since Raadhuis De Paauw is closed for an extended period due to renovations, the municipality has designated Restaurant De Baron as the municipal wedding venue. Please note that if you choose De Baron as your municipal wedding venue, all communication with De Baron must also go through the Civil Registry officials. Only if you choose De Baron as the wedding venue where you will also hold your reception, dinner, party, etc., will you maintain contact with De Baron yourself.

The rules at the alternative municipal wedding venue

We want to make every wedding ceremony a festive affair. Together we agree on the following ground rules so that there are no misunderstandings in the preparation and on the day itself:

• Live music at the ceremony is not permitted.
• Music can only be played during a full-scale ceremony. You can provide the music on a USB drive to the usher one week before the wedding. This will give the usher a chance to test everything.
• The standard arrangement in the wedding hall cannot be changed.
• You are not allowed to make your own decorations in the wedding hall.
• A maximum of 20 people are allowed in the wedding hall.
• It is not permitted to throw confetti or rice, for example, in or around the wedding venue.
• Due to environmental concerns, the municipality advises against balloon launching.
• Only sport pigeons trained to fly back are allowed to be released.
• Animals are not allowed during the ceremony with the exception of assistance animals.

A (special) registrar will perform your marriage. If you opt for an extensive ceremony, you can also indicate which officiant you prefer. We will try to take your preference into account in consultation with the wedding officiant. If you do not indicate your preference, the civil registrar of the Municipality of Wassenaar will make the choice.

See the overview of our babes

Your own wedding officiant

You can choose this wedding officiant if you wish to nominate someone who is not employed as such by the municipality of Wassenaar as your wedding officiant. That person must already have been appointed and sworn in as a wedding officiant in another municipality. The following items are required of this wedding officiant to complete the designation:

• Copy of ID;
• Copy designation municipality;
• Copy pv of affidavit from court.

You can mail these documents after you report your proposed marriage to burgerlijkestand@wassenaar.nl. There are costs associated with appointing your own wedding officiant. See the heading 'costs' at the bottom of the page. Please feel free to contact the civil registry office for more information.

To get married, there are a number of Requirements:

• You and your partner are both 18 years of age or older;
• You must not be in a registered partnership with someone else or already married;
• You may not marry your own child, brother, sister, parent, grandparent, grandchild, half-brother, half-sister;
• You should not be forced into marriage;
• Are you under financial supervision? Then you need permission from the trustee or cantonal judge.