Following on from our last post – this post we continue with the Swedish requirements leading up to your Big Day with the help of Alex, a recent Ice Hotel bride…
Around two months before the wedding:
You will need to obtain a marriage licence from the local Swedish Tax Office (Skatteverket) in the area where the wedding is taking place. It is best to contact the tax office well in advance since you will most likely be required to visit in person, plus the procedure can take some time and you need to make sure that you have the correct documents. Your marriage licence is valid for four months from the date of issue.
You will both need to present the following documents:
- Certificates of No Impediment
If either of you have been previously married you will need to present a divorce decree, or death certificate should you or your partner have been widowed. It is possible that such documents will need to be notarised. This process can prove expensive so it is best to check the precise requirements with the registrar in Sweden.
Once you have presented the necessary documents you will be issued with a marriage licence, a Hindersprövning. The document and the process are very similar to that of the Certificate of No Impediment however it is issued by the local tax agency office where you intend to marry. It is only valid for four months, however it may need to be posted for 21 days prior to your marriage although this is not always the case.
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CASE STUDY: Alex explains! In order to get married in Sweden we didn't need to get any documents translated - the wedding co-ordinator at the Ice Hotel told us which documents we needed to bring with us and we had to supply a copy in advance so she could make the appointment with the registrar. On the morning of our wedding we went to the local tax office in Sweden where we had an appointment for the Hindersprövning. We took our long birth certificates, passports and Certificates of No Impediment and answered the same set of questions as in the UK and we signed a similar form. This form was then faxed to the nearest registrar - in an office in Umeå (as they don't have registrars in every town) where it was signed by the registrar and forwarded to the wedding venue so they could proceed with the ceremony. We had to sit and wait while they checked and said it was ok for us to get married! Lastly, they asked for our UK address so they could post the marriage certificate to us after the event and it arrived one week later. They also asked if we wanted an apostille stamp (which you don't for the UK) and how many copies we wanted to receive - we asked for two. |
Photo: Alex and Martin wed at the beautiful Ice Hotel in February.
Finally, a huge thank you to Alex for all her input and advice!