Your Ceremony in Copenhagen City Hall
You can be assured if you are getting married in Copenhagen City Hall it is going to be a fantastic event! The building is incredible, the ceremony room is stunning, the marriage office staff are super nice, and the registrars love what they do, write their own speeches and are all theatrically trained.
Set on Copenhagen’s City Hall Square, this iconic and beautiful building was built in the years 1892-1905 and was designed by the architect Martin Nyrop with inspiration from Siena City Hall in Italy. City Hall is one of the tallest buildings in Copenhagen, and offers a great view over the city from its 105.6 meter-high tower.
Congratulations on your confirmed wedding date in Copenhagen City Hall, you are going to have the most wonderful ceremony in the most stunning surroundings and with the most caring registrars!
But as with everything there are some bits of information that you should know to make sure that you know exactly what to expect on your special day. Once everything is booked and confirmed for you, please read below explaining a few things so you know what to expect and if you have any questions at all then please ask your wedding coordinator for more information, we are more than happy to answer any questions that you have.
If you are not at this stage and would like to know how to get to this stage please see here about the documents required, or get in touch and we will talk you through the process. As Copenhagen City hall is a very popular venue, it is as you would expect one of the most popular venues in Denmark so can be full up to 3 months in advance, although we can get you a date in a few days after approval with our Express service, we would advise not leaving it until the last minute.
Document Presentation
You are required to present your travel documents in City Hall, at least one working day before the wedding, it can be a week before or a month before or if your travel plans don’t allow this then it can be the day of the ceremony. Please note that if you are taking this option then at times when the wedding office are busy they may ask you to leave the documents with them for 1-2 hours.
Once you enter the amazing imposing heavy dark front main doors f(which you will be pleased to hear are automated!) and you will be in the entry hall which contains document presentation to the left and straight ahead the entry to the grand hall and ceremony room. But it will strike you as soon as you walk through lose grand doors how ornate the interior is, and no matter where you look - up, down and around, there is some new detail to see.
On your left there is the gift shop which is also the document presentation room, and manned by the marriage office staff - as the marriage office backs onto the back of the gift shop.
Where you will find one of the wonderful registrars
Once your documents have been checked and accepted they will give you a small disc with a love heart on it if you are presenting the documents the same day as the wedding. This is for you to keep and present to the registrar just before your wedding. If you are presenting earlier (the day before or earlier) then you will not be given a heart ticket as the file will already be updated.
The majority of couples come one working day before the ceremony, you don’t need an appointment for this and you can go between the hours of 9am and 4pm.
The documents that you need are your Passports or EU ID cards and if applicable residence permits or visas.
Whilst here doing this we invite you to walk straight into the main building and see the ‘Grand Hall’, familiarize yourself with the building and take it all in!
Your Wedding Day
You are advised to arrive at Copenhagen City Hall at least 15 minutes before the ceremony time. Once you enter the building, make your way to the Grand Hall and then you follow the lovely love hearts on the floor that guide you to the ceremony room. These are there as it is not unusual for Copenhagen City Hall to have exhibitions, dignitaries, shows and visitors so the hearts are there to guide couples via different walkway routes to the Ceremony room or Chairmans chambers around any events.
Follow the hearts to the waiting area, and you will be called up by your registrar and walk up a stunning stone spiral staircase and then you will enter the waiting area. This area has a little balcony and a mirror for last minute checks, before you are invited into the ceremony room.
Please remember to take photos, if you have guests ask them to take photos, you are probably slightly nervous and you want to have memories of everything!
The registrars at City Hall hold approximately 15 weddings per day, this may seem like a lot, however the registrars are truly amazing and enjoy the first wedding of the day just as much as the last wedding that they officiate. Each ceremony is different, once your name is called and you enter the smaller ceremony room then you will be greeted by your registrar and there will be two others present from Copenhagen City Hall Wedding Office that can act as your witnesses if you are there alone.
The ceremony will start with the registrar saying some words about love and marriage. Watch out these are beautiful words and have been known to make people cry! If you have prepared your own vows then the registrar will ask you to exchange your vows now and then you will both say "I do", it is possible to exchange rings. and then the registrar will announce you as a married couple.
The witnesses and yourselves will then sign the certificate and the register, and you are then a legally married couple!
It is mandatory that you both understand what is being said during the ceremony. If you wish for the ceremony to be held in a language other than Danish, English or German, it is required that you hire an interpreter. Please speak to your wedding coordinator if this is the case.
There is room for a maximum of 60 guests in the Wedding Hall, and your guests are welcome to take photos and videotape during the ceremony. There is free wifi in city hall and it is very strong allowing ‘streaming’ to be possible, however the registrars do ask that everyone is connected before you enter the ceremony room, and you have accounted for someone or something to hold the camera during the ceremony. The ceremony room can be quite dark as there is no external light so please also account for this. For a video of a ceremony please see here.
Your wedding Certificates
You will receive 2 wedding certificates directly after your wedding ceremony.
These will be in Danish, German, English, French and Spanish. They are multilingual documents, it is really important that you check the certificates there and then to see if there are any errors, spellings or otherwise. If there are then you can let the registrars know and they can amend them straight away.
If you have taken the Apostille Service with us, then please give the certificates to the registrar in the gift shop and we will collect them for the Apostille Service and they will be returned to you by courier.
Why wouldn't you marry there? For a little visual inspiration, please see our pinterest board Getting Married in Denmark.
If you would like more information on how to get married in Denmark from an expert wedding planner in Copenhagen, and a free no obligation documents list – then please contact us anytime on interest@marryabroadsimply.com or call and whats app +4571493483
