ChatGPT marriage vows ruled invalid in the Netherlands, court rules

A Dutch couple has been told by a court that “no marriage has been established” after a one-day civil registrar and good friend officiated their wedding with a speech written using ChatGPT.

The couple’s wedding was in April last year, but Monday’s judgment in the district court of Overijssel, in the east of the Netherlands, ​​saw their marriage certificate cancelled.

According to the court, the officiating speech fell short of Dutch civil code requirements - that prospective spouses “accept each other as husband and wife” and “will faithfully fulfil all duties which the law connects to their marital status.”

The couple rejects the decision that ChatGPT was used to draft the speech, telling RTL News on Thursday: “That's not right. However, [the registrar] asked AI whether his text was legally valid."

The disputed speech reads: “Do you promise…to laugh together, grow together, and love each other - whatever life brings? What is your answer to that?

“Do you choose…to keep supporting each other, teasing each other, holding on - even when life is bad? What is your answer to that?

“Then I declare to you with this: Not only husband and wife, but above all a team, a crazy couple, each other’s love and each other’s home!”

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The celebrant aimed to create a light-hearted tone in accordance with the couple’s wishes.

The Dutch civil code states that without this mandatory declaration, a marriage cannot be legal.

Losing the wedding date, the court heard, had a significant emotional impact, and the pair have requested that the court offer them the opportunity to keep the original marriage date.

This follows a reported global rise in celebrants using artificial intelligence.

Zola, a wedding planning platform, surveyed almost 6,000 couples who got married in 2025 and found that 74 per cent were happy to use AI tools to write wedding toasts and speeches.

Opinions on wedding vows proved more divided, with approximately half of surveyed couples in support of the use of AI in writing vows.

Eleanor Willock, 50, an independent celebrant, told The Times: “People using ChatGPT has undoubtedly been on the rise over the past year. My job is to write and a lot of celebrants, like myself, are dead against it.

“ChatGPT will struggle to write your hopes for the future or replicate the right cadence or tone. These types of speeches will struggle to make the parents of the bride or groom cry with joy.”