Yes, couples without Danish residence can get married in Stevns, south of Copenhagen, too. Weddings take place at the town hall in Store Heddinge on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 to 14:00 and on selected Saturdays. On request the registrar also comes to another place, for example the Stevns Fyr lighthouse on the Stevns Klint cliff, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Can couples without Danish residence get married in Stevns?
Yes. The municipality's page has its own section for international couples: they apply for the approval to marry (Danish: prøvelsesattest) to Familieretshuset, the Danish Agency of Family Law. Stevns states no restriction for couples who do not live in Denmark. And the municipality is in demand: according to its statistics, Familieretshuset issued 483 approvals for Stevns in 2023, ninth among all Danish municipalities.
The page is in Danish and offers no language selection (as of 03.11.2026). The approval is valid for the municipality you name in your application, so enter Stevns. Familieretshuset usually decides complete applications within 5 working days. If it asks for more documents, as of 03.11.2026 it is working on cases from August 2026 in that queue. The fee of DKK 2,100 (about €281) is not refunded. Which documents you need is shown in our guide Documents for your wedding in Denmark.
On which days does Stevns hold weddings?
According to the municipality's page (as of 03.11.2026), weddings take place at these times:
| Day | Time | Witnesses |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | 10:00 to 14:00 | always two of your own |
| Thursday | 10:00 to 14:00 | provided by the municipality on request |
| First Saturday of the month | 10:00 to 14:00 | provided by the municipality on request |
| Other Saturdays from May to August | 10:00 to 14:00 | two of your own |
For the summer Saturdays the municipality names exceptions: closed in weeks 28, 29 and 30 and on "special Saturdays". It schedules weddings back to back as far as possible, so the time of the first wedding of the day determines the following ones. So only count on a time once the municipality has confirmed it.
The registry office also has fixed closing periods, among them the winter holidays (week 8), Easter, Ascension Day, Whitsun, Constitution Day, the summer weeks 28 to 30, the autumn holidays (week 42) and the period between Christmas and New Year. The exact days are on the municipality's page.
Your approval is valid for four months from issue, or less if a passport, visa or residence permit expires earlier. If that window contains many closing weeks, for example in July or around New Year, fewer wedding days remain. If you want a Saturday, you will find more municipalities in our guide Saturday or beach weddings in Denmark.
Witnesses: as a rule, your own
Stevns says explicitly that as a starting point you arrange the two witnesses yourselves. If you do not want to bring any, the municipality provides them on Thursdays or on the first Saturday of the month. On Tuesdays, on the other Saturdays and usually also for weddings outside the town hall, plan with two witnesses of your own, for example family or friends who travel with you.
When other municipalities provide witnesses is compared in our guide Wedding witnesses in Denmark.
In which language is the ceremony held?
The municipality's page does not say. So before you apply, ask by e-mail to stevns@stevns.dk whether the ceremony is possible in English or German, and get the answer in writing. In every Danish municipality you must both understand what is said during the ceremony. If one of you does not understand the language, you need an interpreter; more in our guide Interpreters at the wedding.
Weddings outside the town hall: Stevns Fyr and other places
Stevns also holds weddings outside the town hall, within the opening hours for weddings, that is on the days and at the times above. You state the place you want when you register. The prices according to the municipality:
| Place | Price according to the municipality |
|---|---|
| Town hall in Store Heddinge | no fee stated |
| Any other place except Stevns Fyr | DKK 800 (about €107) plus mileage |
| Up in the Stevns Fyr lighthouse | surcharge of DKK 3,000 (about €402) for the extra costs |
The municipality charges mileage at the highest state rate, for the trip from the town hall to the venue and back. Whether the DKK 800 and the mileage are added for the lighthouse is not stated explicitly; ask for the total to be confirmed in advance. For the ceremony at the town hall itself, Stevns names no fee. This is in line with the situation since August 2025: back then, the City of Copenhagen concluded in its own legal review that there is no legal basis for charging fees for town hall weddings; what may be charged are the extra costs of a wedding at another place.
The Stevns Fyr lighthouse stands on the cliff near Højerup; the visitor brochure describes the site as the highest point of the cliff. The municipality names no other fixed venues. If you want to marry right on the cliff, agree the exact spot with the municipality beforehand. Keep in mind: according to UNESCO, most of the World Heritage area is privately owned, and the visitor brochure for Stevns Klint (2026) asks visitors to respect residents, private land and signs, and warns of landslides on the cliff and along the coast.
Which other municipalities hold weddings at special places, and what it costs, is compared in our guide Special places to get married in Denmark.
How to plan your wedding in Stevns
- Choose the day and place. This decides whether you need your own witnesses and what the wedding costs.
- Apply for an approval for Stevns. To Familieretshuset, with Stevns as the place of the wedding. It is valid for four months from issue.
- Fix the time with the municipality. According to the municipality, it gets in touch once your registration has reached it, so that you can fix the time. The wedding is only final once the wedding office has confirmed it. Contact: Stevns Kommune, Rådhuspladsen 4, 4660 Store Heddinge, stevns@stevns.dk, +45 56 57 57 57.
- Have the place and costs confirmed. For a wedding outside the town hall, name the place and get the amount and the witness rule confirmed in writing beforehand.
How the wedding day itself works, from arrival to marriage certificate, is explained in our guide The wedding ceremony in Denmark, step by step. Whether your case has any special features is shown by the free eligibility check; in the Complete package we file the application with Stevns as the place of the wedding and arrange the date with the municipality, and the prices are on the prices page. We are often in contact with municipalities and ask them. If Stevns does not work out within your time frame, Familieretshuset can forward the approval to another municipality; how that works is explained in our guide Approved but no wedding date, and we handle it as a change of municipality.
Getting to Stevns
Store Heddinge lies on the Stevns peninsula south of Copenhagen, east of Køge.
- By train: from Copenhagen to Køge, then on Lokaltog's Østbanen line to Store Heddinge; the line continues to Rødvig on the coast.
- By car from Germany: by ferry from Puttgarden to Rødby or from Rostock to Gedser and then north towards Køge, or via Jutland and the Great Belt bridge.
- From Switzerland and Austria: fly to Copenhagen and continue by rental car or by train via Køge.
In summer, according to the visitor brochure, a free shuttle bus runs along the cliff. If you would rather marry in the capital itself, the rules are on our page Getting married in Copenhagen.
Stevns Klint: why couples come here
Stevns Klint has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2014: a fossil-rich coastal cliff of chalk and limestone about 15 kilometres long. In a thin layer, the Fish Clay (Danish: Fiskeler), it preserves the traces of the meteorite impact at the end of the Cretaceous that is regarded as the cause of the mass extinction in which the dinosaurs also disappeared. The brochure asks visitors not to chip into the Fish Clay or the cliff and to take only loose finds from the beach. Good spots for photos and an outing after the wedding:
- Højerup Church: the old church right on the edge of the cliff, part of which fell into the sea.
- Stevns Fyrcenter: the lighthouse, which visitors can climb to the top.
- FORT: a Cold War installation 18 metres deep in the cliff, with guided tours.
- Stevns Klint Experience: the World Heritage exhibition in the former Boesdal limestone quarry.
- Rødvig: the small harbour village with beaches and cafés on the coast of Stevns.
How to get a wedding date in Denmark and what rules other municipalities have is explained on our page How to get a wedding date in Denmark; how long you wait in popular municipalities is shown in the waiting times comparison 2026. Municipalities sometimes change wedding days and rules at short notice; what counts is what the municipality confirms.
