If you are getting married in Switzerland there are few things you have to keep in mind:
1️⃣ In CH you can’t just invite one of the civil office workers to any location of your choice to have a civil wedding there: for each canton there is a specific list of places outside of City Hall where you can have your civil wedding officiated, so access the list provided by the canton in advance to check them out
2️⃣ Partly it is because of a very ancient Law - you cannot be officially registered as a couple if there is no physical roof above your heads! That is why you will never have an opportunity to get wedded by civil office worker somewhere in a field, on a lawn with a Matterhorn view or next to the lake, luckily symbolic ceremonies exist!
3️⃣ Be aware that every canton has different deadlines for the marriage applications: ex. in Geneva you can only choose a date within 3 months range, in canton Vaud this is a year! And of course weekends, especially Saturdays are the busiest ones, so don’t wait up if there is a specific day you want - the slots fill out fast.
▶️ Thankfully long have passed the time when the civil wedding had to be the same day as your actual celebration. Nowadays, no rules apply! I am always telling my clients that registration in the civil office is important, but if you are having a symbolic ceremony that is customized and thought-through - this is going to be the moment to remember! This is what is going to stay with you forever because of the more intense emotional and visual representation of your union! Plus, the venue is chosen by YOU, and right after you can enjoy the location during the apero, dinner, party time without an urge to move everyone somewhere else, spending additional time and money to organise transportation and logistics.
1️⃣ In CH you can’t just invite one of the civil office workers to any location of your choice to have a civil wedding there: for each canton there is a specific list of places outside of City Hall where you can have your civil wedding officiated, so access the list provided by the canton in advance to check them out
2️⃣ Partly it is because of a very ancient Law - you cannot be officially registered as a couple if there is no physical roof above your heads! That is why you will never have an opportunity to get wedded by civil office worker somewhere in a field, on a lawn with a Matterhorn view or next to the lake, luckily symbolic ceremonies exist!
3️⃣ Be aware that every canton has different deadlines for the marriage applications: ex. in Geneva you can only choose a date within 3 months range, in canton Vaud this is a year! And of course weekends, especially Saturdays are the busiest ones, so don’t wait up if there is a specific day you want - the slots fill out fast.
▶️ Thankfully long have passed the time when the civil wedding had to be the same day as your actual celebration. Nowadays, no rules apply! I am always telling my clients that registration in the civil office is important, but if you are having a symbolic ceremony that is customized and thought-through - this is going to be the moment to remember! This is what is going to stay with you forever because of the more intense emotional and visual representation of your union! Plus, the venue is chosen by YOU, and right after you can enjoy the location during the apero, dinner, party time without an urge to move everyone somewhere else, spending additional time and money to organise transportation and logistics.