Getting married in Amsterdam is a municipal procedure with published prices, and the price range is wider than most couples expect.
A legal ceremony here costs anything from nothing at all to several hundred euro, and the difference is the day, the room and the length.
Everything else - the venue, the dinner, the photographer - sits outside the city’s control.
This guide covers the part the municipality decides: who may marry, what it costs, and how long each step takes.
What The City Charges
A kosteloos huwelijk, the free ceremony, is a genuine option and not a technicality.
Amsterdam holds them at the Stadhuis on Tuesday mornings at 10:30, 10:50 and 11:10, they last about ten minutes, and they can be conducted in Dutch or English.
There is room for ten to twenty guests including your witnesses, no music and no speeches, and the slots are booked out many months ahead.
If a free Tuesday morning suits you, put the notice in as early as the rules allow.
The next step up is the budget ceremony at a Stadsloket, which costs around €200 and is also about ten minutes with no music or speeches.
A standard ceremony of roughly three quarters of an hour runs to about €480 on a weekday, an extended version to about €625, and a weekend slot to about €875.
Fees are reset every January, so confirm the current figures when you book.
Filing the notice itself and registering or changing your witnesses cost nothing.
The 200-plus approved wedding venues around the city each set their own hire charge on top, which is where most of a couple’s actual budget goes.
Notice, Documents And Timing
The formal notice of intent is still called ondertrouw, and in Amsterdam it is filed online rather than at a counter.
Dutch law requires it at least fourteen days before the ceremony and no more than one year before, which is why couples chasing a specific spring or summer date file almost exactly twelve months out.
You file with the municipality where at least one of you is registered.
If neither of you lives in the Netherlands, you file in The Hague instead and may still marry in Amsterdam.
Residents are checked through the Basisregistratie Personen, so a valid ID is usually all the city needs from you.
Anyone not registered here supplies foreign civil status records - a birth certificate and a declaration of marital status - and this is where timelines break.
Documents not issued in Dutch, English, French or German need a sworn translation, and documents from outside the EU usually need an apostille or full legalisation.
Start that process before you fix a date, because a foreign registry office works to its own calendar and not to yours.
You need at least two witnesses and may have up to four, they must be eighteen or over, and they can be changed free of charge up to shortly before the day.
Marriage Or Registered Partnership
The two are close to identical in Dutch law: the same property rules, the same inheritance position, the same pension consequences, the same parental rights.
Two differences actually matter.
The first is recognition abroad.
Marriage travels; a geregistreerd partnerschap is a Dutch and Nordic construct that many countries, including much of the world outside Europe, do not recognise at all.
If either of you expects to rely on your status for a visa, a residence permit or an inheritance in another country, marry.
The second is how it ends.
A registered partnership with no minor children can be dissolved without going to court, by a written agreement drawn up through a notary or lawyer and registered with the municipality.
A marriage always requires a court petition through a lawyer, whatever the circumstances.
Since 1 January 2018 the default property regime for both is beperkte gemeenschap van goederen, limited community of property.
What each of you owned and owed before the relationship stays yours, and what you build during it is shared - unless you go to a notary for huwelijkse voorwaarden or partnerschapsvoorwaarden setting different terms.
Afterwards
The registrar enters the marriage in the civil registry on the day, and your status in the Basisregistratie Personen updates automatically if you live here.
Only the civil ceremony creates the legal bond, which is why a church or symbolic ceremony in the Netherlands is always held separately and has no legal effect on its own.
If you will need to prove the marriage abroad, order a multilingual extract at the time rather than later.
Adding an apostille afterwards means a second trip and a second fee.
Neither spouse is required to change their surname, and Dutch practice is that both keep their own.
You may register a partner’s name for everyday use, which appears on some official correspondence but does not change your passport.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cost, paperwork and the choice of legal form account for most of what couples need to settle first.
How much does it cost to get married at Amsterdam city hall?
Nothing for a Tuesday-morning kosteloos ceremony, around €200 for a short budget ceremony at a Stadsloket, about €480 for a standard weekday ceremony and about €875 at a weekend.
Filing the notice and registering witnesses are free, and venue hire elsewhere in the city is charged separately.
How far in advance do I have to give notice?
At least fourteen days before the ceremony and no more than a year.
Free and popular summer slots go at the twelve-month mark, so file as early as the rule permits if the date matters.
Can two foreigners marry in Amsterdam?
Yes, provided both meet the Dutch conditions and can document their identity and civil status.
If neither of you is registered in the Netherlands, the notice goes to the municipality of The Hague, and the ceremony can still take place here.
What documents do I need?
Residents generally need only valid ID, since the city checks the rest through the population register.
Anyone registered abroad supplies a birth certificate and proof of being free to marry, translated by a sworn translator and legalised or apostilled if issued outside the EU.
Is a registered partnership as good as marriage?
Inside the Netherlands, almost exactly.
Outside it, often worthless, because many countries do not recognise the status.
The other real difference is that a childless registered partnership can be dissolved without a court, while a marriage cannot.
Who owns what after we marry?
Under the default regime since 2018, pre-existing assets and debts stay individual and anything acquired during the marriage is shared.
A notary can replace that with terms of your own before or after the wedding.
Do I have to take my spouse’s surname?
No, and most Dutch couples do not.
You can register a partner’s name for everyday use without it replacing your legal surname.
