How we got married in Stockholm Stadshuset
A guide to costs, booking a day, and the timeline of the actual ceremony.
Cost: 1000 SEK, or just under $100
Ease of booking: Difficult
We booked our time slot over 3 months in advance and still didn’t get our preferred date until we switched twice.
The Stockholm Stadshuset website lets you select two other dates that you’d prefer if you didn’t get your first pick, but when they email out the notification of a cancellation, move at light speed because that slot gets taken in minutes. (We experienced this probably 4-5 times.)
3 weeks before the day, they need to receive the physical documents of your hindersprövning (proves that you’re not married) and a vigselintyg (marriage certificate application) from Skatteverket. Keep in mind that this will likely be different if both parties aren’t registered as living in Sweden.
Timeline on the actual day:
15 minutes before our slot:
We arrived at Stadshuset, met our photographer, and took a few photos.
5 minutes before our slot:
The employee minding the entrance let us into the building and ushered us to a desk, where we confirmed our identities and on-the-spot hired some witnesses.
Because we married without any friends or family, Stadshuset can provide 1-2 witnesses (2 are required) and you don’t need to tell them ahead of time. We chose our photographer to be one witness and another was an employee.
Showtime:
We walked upstairs and were let into an oval room just after another couple exited. Our photographer had warned us that the ceremony is fast, I just didn’t realize how quickly it would be over.
We walked up to the altar and were greeted by a civil marriage officiant. Marriages in the Stadshuset are not religious. She then confirmed what language to use for the ceremony (Swedish or English). Both parties must understand the ceremony, so ours was in English.
She asked us whether we were both entering into marriage by our own free will, said some lines about the significance of marriage, then we put on each other’s rings and headed out the door with marriage certificates (in Swedish and English) in hand.
It was hilariously short— maybe 2 minutes in total. But given they marry around 70 couples every Saturday, it needs to be.
Hurrah, we were now married!
