Having a civil wedding ceremony is a popular alternative to religious ceremonies. A civil ceremony is performed by a wedding officiant appointed by the county administrative board. The officiant is not religiously connected and the ceremony is usually held at the town hall or another public place. Only those appointed by the county administrative board are allowed to perform a civil wedding ceremony.
If you have decided to have a civil ceremony, there are some practical things you need to arrange in beforehand. These are the most important details you need to consider before your big day.
Reserve a spot for your civil wedding ceremony well in advance
Getting married in the City Hall is very popular. Therefore, it can be difficult to find a time slot on the day you want to have your wedding. In most cases, it is possible to make a reservation for your ceremony directly on the website of each city hall. So make sure to make a reservation immediately as soon as you have decided on when you want to get married. That way, you can make sure that you can get married when you want. If you want to get married outdoors instead, you need to check with the wedding officiant that they’re available that day and able to get to where your ceremony will be.
Apply for obstacle assessment
Before you get married, you need to apply for an obstacle examination at the Swedish Tax Agency. This prooves that you meet the requirements to be able to marry according to Swedish law. In the assesment you’ll have to state that you’re of legal age, that you’re not closely related to your partner and that you’re not currently married to someone else. After you have applied for the obstacle assessment, you’ll receive an assessment certificate and a marriage certificate. The certificates should be handed to your wedding officiant.
Who will you have as witnesses during your civil wedding ceremony
On the day of the wedding, you’ll need to have two witnesses present. Your witnesses can be family, relatives or friends and must be of legal age to act as a witnesses during the ceremony. If you don’t have witnesses, if you would marry without any close ones present, the marriage office in your municipality can in some cases arrange for witnesses. Whatever you choose to do, you have to have two witnesses present so it’s important you establish who will be witnessing before the ceremony.
Decide on a surname in advance
You don’t have to change your surname after having gotten married in a civil wedding ceremony. However if you want to, it can be convenient to apply for a name change before the wedding. You can change to your partner’s surname, or you can choose a completely new name formed from your previous surnames. If you decide to change your surname, you have to apply for a name change with the Swedish Tax Agency. Once they approve your name change, they will send you confirmation of the change. They will also notify of the change with other authorities and with many companies. If you don’t want to change your name, nothing will happen once you get married. You’ll just keep the names you have even after the wedding ceremony.
Consider prenuptial agreements
After your civil wedding ceremony and entering marriage, everything you own will belong to both of you. This applies to both the assets you had before getting married and the assets you acquire together during marriage. Many times it doesn’t matter and many married couples are fully in agreement that they own half each. But there are times when it’s to an advantage that certain assets and possessions are counted as individual property. This means that those particular assets and possessions aren’t regarded in what you share together. This could be, for example, if one of you inherits money, an apartment, property and such. Or if one of you owns a business.
At Kliently, you can choose to write a prenuptial agreement yourself for a small cost. You’ll get guidance in our agreement service, which makes it very easy to draw up a prenuptial agreement on your own. The only thing you need to remember is to register it with the Swedish Tax Agency for it to be valid.
If, on the other hand, you need the help of a lawyer to tailor the prenuptial agreement further, you can choose to fill in the information in our agreement service and then go through and review the document with one of our lawyers to make corrections based on your wishes. You can also simply book a consultation with our lawyers to discuss whether a prenuptial agreement makes sense in your case or whether you would benefit from another solution.
