Spike in weddings as Covid restrictions relax

With the Netherlands scrapping most of its coronavirus restrictions in the coming weeks, municipalities are seeing an explosive increase in the number of marriage requests, De Telegraaf reports after speaking with the large cities.

Marriages usually have to be reported six weeks in advance. After February 25, large-scale events will be possible again without restrictions for the first time since the pandemic hit the Netherlands nearly two years ago.

Rotterdam has some 900 marriages planned in the coming months and expects the increase to last throughout 2022.

The Hague expects more marriages this year than in 2019 and 2018. For February 22 alone, the city has 36 weddings scheduled. On a typical Tuesday, there are six. Though the peculiar date - 22-02-2022 - may also play a role in this.

The municipality of Amsterdam also told the newspaper that it expects a flood of marriages this year because many people postponed their weddings until after the coronavirus crisis.

The downside to the wedding boom is that engaged couples may face waiting lists to get the venue, officiator, or caterer they want. "We still get questions about celebration later this year, but we have no more space," Saskia Koning of Zwolle venue Havezate den Alerdinck said to the newspaper. "Every week, I get three serious queries for a wedding. That's a lot because we do only one per weekend."

Venues throughout the country told De Telegraaf that their phones are ringing off the hook. "Everyone's been living from press conference to press conference for two years. It's great that it seems to be done," Marcel Beukema of Slot Zeist said to the newspaper. The venue received many bookings for weddings, but also conferences and other business-related gatherings.