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Stockholm City Hall popular for marriages

Xinhua, July 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Demand for civil marriages is on the rise in Sweden, and the city hall in the nation's capital, Stockholm, is fully booked throughout the summer.

Summer is high season for registry-office weddings in Sweden, and the waiting list for the five-minute ceremonies conducted at the Stockholm City Hall currently stretches until October. Most couples prefer to get married in August.

"In the middle of last summer we expanded the number of ceremonies from 40 to 60 on Saturdays," Ulrika Sandstrom, a wedding ceremony administrator at the municipal board in Stockholm, told newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.

Sandstrom added that while summer is the most popular season for weddings, the Stockholm City Hall is also fully booked for most part of the year. In 2013, a total 1,667 couples got married there and last year that figure was 2,398.

The high demand has forced the Stockholm municipality to increase the number of wedding officiators, and the situation looks similar in other parts of the country, too.

The Stockholm City Hall is one of Sweden's most famous buildings, and one of the capital's most visited tourist attractions. It houses offices for 200 people including the municipal council, and is also famous for its grand ceremonial halls and unique art pieces. The Stockholm City Hall is the venue of the Nobel Prize banquet, held on Dec. 10 each year. Endit