A red carpet at the wedding ceremony at the town hall? That is then 255 euros extra in Alphen aan den Rijn

The town halls of Leeuwarden and Franeker are about a twenty -minute drive from each other by car. The wedding officials read the same text for, in both places in Frisian, and even for the photo it makes little difference to which of the stately town halls the wedding ceremony takes place.

And yet not every couple who gives each other in Franeker is the yes-word of the municipality of Waadhoeke. The reason is simple: on a Friday afternoon a wedding ceremony in Franeker costs 275 euros, in the neighboring municipality of Leeuwarden you will at least have lost double – and the desired room will be added.

This Friday (02-05-2025) is one of the most sought after wedding data of the year. But where do you give each other the yes, matters quite a matter of it, concluded ThePerfectwedding.nl this week. The course site compared the different price tags From wedding cerenomies in all 342 municipalities. They vary quite a bit.

Large cities make the crown. For example, in Utrecht you pay more than 1,000 euros to get married during the week. The stored variant, a ‘flash marriage’ at the counter in a city office, already costs more than a solemn ceremony in the Limburg Voerendaal (236 euros) in the same city with 270 euros.

This way every municipality seems to be drawing its own plan. A fact that wedding officials have been surprised about for some time, but that future bridal couples do not always know about. Whether you marry in one or the other place of residence can save hundreds of euros on a marriage budget.

Cost

Waadhoeke had to go all the way this Friday: eight wedding couples got married. They are cheap. « I think that no more should be paid than it actually costs, » says Hilda Twijnstra of the Civil Affairs department. « The disadvantage is that residents of Leeuwarden then say: we are going to a neighboring municipality. »

Bea van der Woude, her colleague in Leeuwarden, gets the question every year. How it is possible that her city always comes to the fore if one of the more expensive municipalities comes to the fore. The municipality had then started to take a closer look at its finances, to find out « whether we are really out of step. »

On Saturday there was something to be canceled in the room offer. But otherwise the rates are no more than cost -effective, Van der Woude assures. « It’s just with which you compare it, » she says. « You can also find municipalities that are more expensive than we are. Municipalities that make it cheaper may have different choices. »

Van der Woude can call some variables. « How big is the municipality? How much maintenance do the buildings require? If you have a very nice historic building, you spend more maintenance than in a new -build room. One municipality simply costs more than the other. »

Municipalities themselves are about the amount of the rates. They are not allowed to make a profit about their services, but there is the principle of ‘cruising subsidization’: increasing the price to be able to offer other services, such as providing a driver’s license, cheaper.

Municipalities cannot say how those choices are made during a telephone tour itself either. The term ‘cost -effective’ often falls, it must be ‘affordable’. But with the same reasoning, municipalities end up with various basic rates for ceremonies that hardly deviate from each other.

To establish

Do you get more value for money in one municipality than in the other? « Absolutely not, » says Guusta Veldman, wedding official in Velsen. « I sometimes think it’s a bit sad for the bridal couple. They often choose a location first, only then do they see what a municipality asks for fees. Then there is a huge cost item. »

Andrea Schipper, founder of the trade association of wedding officials Matrimonium, would like the rates to be laid down by law. « As long as the government does not do anything about it, nothing will happen. If municipalities are allowed to set up things themselves, they will do so in their own way. Of course, that is not surprising. »

Red carpet

That ‘own way’ also comes back in the range of possibilities that municipalities offer bridal couples. They can choose from a range of wedding packages, ranging from fifteen minutes of administrative act on the municipal counter to the most chic ceremonies with all the trimmings.

Here too, municipalities use different price tags. In Alphen aan den Rijn, the red carpet is being rolled out at the town hall for 255 euros. In Hoogeveen this is included in the rate for a common ceremony. Taking a host civil servant with you costs 118 euros, in Zuidplas you lost 234 euros.

At the same time, wedding officials also see a growing movement of bridal couples who do not find a solemn ceremony worth the money. Every municipality offers free marriages, as early as 1897 arose from the idea that the less fortunate should also be able to get married. Everyone can claim it.

Veldman regularly advises it as a wedding official. « If you want to remove the cost item from the town hall, go for the sober variant a few days earlier. Then the extensive ceremony will come on the wedding day itself. You don’t have to tell anyone. The wedding guests will not notice it. »

To share

Mail the editors