Yes, in Denmark you can have a civil wedding on the beach, in a garden or on a boat, but only where the municipality allows it. Copenhagen, Fanø, Varde, Aabenraa, Kolding, Ærø and Samsø, among others, explicitly offer this to couples from abroad too, often with two witnesses of your own and for the municipality's extra costs, in Copenhagen DKK 2,732. According to our research, no municipality explicitly offers couples from abroad a ceremony on a lighthouse.
What Danish law allows
A civil ceremony takes place where the municipality designates, usually at the town hall. The municipality can, however, allow you to marry at another place in Denmark (Marriage Act § 18(3)). The ministry's guidance gives your own garden, a forest or the sea within Danish territory as examples.
The key word is “can”: the municipality is not obliged to do so (guidance VEJ 10410/2022, point 3.3), so you have no right to a beach wedding anywhere. The ceremony itself is free. For another place, the municipality may charge the costs this causes (Marriage Order BEK 289/2019 § 21), according to the guidance mainly for travel. Copenhagen explains its DKK 2,732 as the average cost price of these extra costs, calculated in 2026. What matters is what your municipality offers couples who do not live in Denmark, not what its Danish page for residents says.
These municipalities offer special places to couples from abroad too
The table shows what the municipalities state on their official pages for couples from abroad. Our page current free wedding dates shows free town hall dates in several municipalities; whether an outdoor place works on your preferred day, you clarify directly with the municipality.
| Municipality | Places according to the municipality | Cost according to the municipality | Witnesses and conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copenhagen, “Book a registrar” | a place of your choice in the municipality, such as a garden, home, park, boat or restaurant; not City Hall or the City Hall Garden | DKK 2,732 | two witnesses of your own; Danish or English only; request only once approved, date one month later at the earliest |
| Copenhagen, open-air days | days and places chosen by the city, in 2026 for example Amager Beach Park, King's Garden, the Rose Garden in Valbyparken, the schooner Halmø and Tivoli | no fee | witnesses provided by the city; Danish, English or German |
| Fanø | the beach at Fanø Bad or Rindby, Børsen in Sønderho, your holiday home | by time spent, guide prices DKK 350 in Nordby, DKK 700 in Fanø Bad, Rindby and Sønderho | two witnesses of your own |
| Varde | holiday home, beach, forest or another place | €143 plus a travel allowance | municipal witnesses only on two days a month; check the wedding days beforehand at heiraten@varde.dk |
| Aabenraa | beach | not stated | only with two witnesses of your own |
| Kolding | Søstrehuset in Christiansfeld, other places on request | not stated for other places | the municipality can provide witnesses |
| Ærø | “a beautiful place” on the island | not stated | the municipality names no places or prices; enquiries to info@weddinginfo.dk |
| Samsø | beach, forest or another place on the island | not stated | the place must be accessible; on private land, the owner's permission |
Only with written confirmation: Stevns (DKK 800 plus mileage), Haderslev (DKK 550 plus travel, agree on the place before applying) and Sønderborg (then with witnesses of your own) also mention such ceremonies but do not say explicitly whether this applies to couples who do not live in Denmark; more in our guide Getting married in Haderslev. Frederikshavn with Skagen, Vordingborg, Jammerbugt, Ringkøbing-Skjern, Aarhus, Helsingør and Faaborg-Midtfyn do not mention couples from abroad in this context either; ask there before you apply.
Getting married on the beach in Denmark
According to their pages, Fanø, Aabenraa, Varde and Samsø explicitly hold ceremonies on the beach; in Copenhagen, Amager Beach Park was one of the city's open-air locations in 2026. Aabenraa names neither the beach nor days or costs; more in our guide Getting married in Aabenraa. Varde municipality includes the beaches at Blåvand and Henne Strand, among others; which beach is possible, you clarify beforehand at heiraten@varde.dk.
On Ærø, the municipality names no places. The tourist office VisitÆrø lists beaches, the Voderup Klint cliffs and the small island of Birkholm among possible wedding spots; whether the municipality holds ceremonies there, you clarify with its wedding team. More in our Ærø island guide. Which municipalities also marry couples on Saturdays is covered in our guide Saturday and beach weddings.
Getting married on a lighthouse: what is officially known
- Stevns Fyr: Stevns states a surcharge of DKK 3,000 for a ceremony in the lighthouse, on top of the DKK 800 plus mileage for a ceremony outside the town hall. Whether this is open to couples who do not live in Denmark is not stated.
- Skjoldnæs Fyr on Ærø: The municipality does not mention the lighthouse. According to VisitÆrø, a ceremony at the top of the lighthouse is arranged through a private wedding planner.
- Blåvandshuk Fyr: Varde municipality does not mention the lighthouse on its wedding page. Whether ceremonies take place there is not confirmed; ask at heiraten@varde.dk.
For Lyngvig Fyr, Rubjerg Knude Fyr and the lighthouses near Skagen, we found no official offer from the municipalities.
Garden, park or boat: the two routes in Copenhagen
Book a registrar: your place, your time
With the “Book a registrar” service, a registrar comes to a place and at a time of your choice, explicitly including a boat. The place must be within the Municipality of Copenhagen. The registrar gives a personal speech based on your input and stays for up to 30 minutes. You do not get the DKK 2,732 fee back if you cancel less than 30 days before. If one of you understands neither Danish nor English, you need an interpreter.
You send your request by email to wedding@kk.dk with the address, preferred date, time, your full names and the case number of your approval, no earlier than four months before the preferred date and only once the approval has been issued. Because the approval is valid for four months and the date is at least one month after the request, it is best to ask right after you are approved. Immediately after the ceremony you receive two multilingual marriage certificates in five languages, including English and German.
Open-air days: chosen by the city and free of charge
In addition, the Wedding Office itself selects individual days and special places. These ceremonies are free, the city always provides two witnesses, and the ceremony is held in Danish, English or German. You receive the booking link with your approval; the booking system shows which days are free. From 2026, the city plans around 350 of these ceremonies a year, out of around 10,000 ceremonies in total.
Background: the ceremony at Copenhagen City Hall is free, and since summer 2025 there have been no paid variants either. The city stopped the paid City Hall variant “I Do Now” on 3 July 2025 and no longer charges a fee for open-air ceremonies, following its own legal review, not a court ruling. Everything about City Hall is on our page Getting married in Copenhagen.
Manor house or castle: what really exists
We found no manor house or castle where a municipality explicitly marries couples from abroad; these places come closest:
- Søstrehuset in Christiansfeld: Kolding also marries couples from abroad at the historic Søstrehuset in Christiansfeld, a UNESCO World Heritage Site south of Kolding, every day except Sunday.
- Koldinghus: The castle rents out rooms for weddings itself, according to the operator from DKK 4,000 for the chapel in 2026/27; you arrange the registrar separately through the municipality. Whether Kolding marries couples from abroad there is not confirmed; ask Borgerservice.
- Egeskov Castle: explicitly no ceremonies here, only celebrations.
Where it does not work
- Tønder: Couples from abroad marry only on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the registry office, and the booking system has no outdoor places. The Danish page, according to which the mayor can allow other places, applies to residents; more in our guide Tønder registry office.
- Lyngby-Taarbæk and Thisted: Outside the town hall, Lyngby-Taarbæk generally marries only residents or couples with a special connection to the municipality, and Thisted only residents and people from Thy.
- Bornholm: unclear. In July 2026 DR reported a stop on new ceremonies for foreign couples, but the municipality's English information still mentions ceremonies outside the town hall. Ask directly before you apply.
- Egeskov Castle: no ceremonies (see above).
What a ceremony at a special place costs
On top of the municipality's costs, there is always Familieretshuset's mandatory fee, which is not refunded. A worked example for Copenhagen, with the registrar in a friend's garden:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Familieretshuset fee (mandatory) | DKK 2,100 (about €281) |
| Registrar at your place (“Book a registrar”) | DKK 2,732 (about €366) |
| Total | DKK 4,832 (about €647) |
Add travel, accommodation and your witnesses' journey. Other places cost less: on Fanø the guide price for the beach is DKK 700, in Varde €143 plus a travel allowance. Our cost comparison 2026 shows the full calculation for every route.
Weather and plan B
An outdoor ceremony depends on the weather, even in summer. Fanø explicitly advises always planning an alternative place sheltered from rain and wind. Name it right away in your request, for example a restaurant or your holiday home, and agree beforehand who decides on the switch on the day. On private land you need the owner's permission, and the place must be accessible for the registrar; Samsø states both explicitly.
Symbolic ceremony: lovely, but not legally valid in Denmark
You can hold a symbolic ceremony with a celebrant wherever the place allows it, including on the beach. In Denmark it does not make you legally married, though: a ceremony is only valid before an authorised body (Marriage Act § 21). If you want both, have the civil ceremony and celebrate the symbolic one afterwards, on the same day or later at home; ideas are in our guide church or symbolic wedding later. Whether a church wedding in Denmark is an option for you is explained in our guide Church wedding in Denmark.
How we help
In the Complete package (€649.99, including Familieretshuset's fee) we check your documents, submit the application and book your ceremony date with the municipality. A place of your choice, such as the registrar in Copenhagen on a boat or in a garden, we arrange on request through the Express add-on, where the municipality offers it; the overview is under packages and add-ons. Our prices are plus the municipality's fee, in Copenhagen DKK 2,732 (as of October 2026). We cannot promise you a place, a date or the weather, because the municipality decides whether a place is possible. Whether Denmark suits you and which documents you need, our free eligibility check shows beforehand.
Sources, as of October 2026
The information comes from Danish law and the municipalities' official pages; tourism and press sources are marked:
- Law: Marriage Act, LBK 663/2026 (§§ 18–21), Marriage Order, BEK 289/2019 (§ 21), guidance VEJ 10410/2022 (point 3.3) and borger.dk (all Danish)
- Copenhagen: Book a registrar and Open-air wedding (English), price catalogue 2026, memo of 16 May 2025, committee meeting of 14 August 2025 and committee meeting of 20 February 2026 (Danish)
- Fanø: Vielse, Varde: Vielse and Heiraten, Aabenraa: Marriage Registry Office, Kolding: International marriages, Koldinghus: Vielser
- Ærø: Heiraten and VisitÆrø (tourist office), Samsø: Vielse, Stevns: Bliv gift, Haderslev: Vielse og ægteskab, Sønderborg: Vielse
- No information for couples from abroad: Frederikshavn, Vordingborg, Jammerbugt, Ringkøbing-Skjern, Aarhus, Helsingør, Faaborg-Midtfyn
- Tønder: Marriage, Lyngby-Taarbæk: Vielse uden for Lyngby Rådhus, Thisted: Vielse, Bornholm: Nice to know and DR, 15 July 2026 (press), Egeskov: wedding package (PDF)
As of October 2026. Municipalities sometimes change places, conditions and prices at short notice. Check your municipality's current page before you apply.
