A Dutch couple who believed they were legally married for more than a year have discovered that their union is invalid after a court ruled that their wedding ceremony failed to meet statutory requirements because part of it was written using ChatGPT.
The couple married in April last year in a ceremony led by a friend acting as a special registrar. Seeking a light-hearted and personal tone, the celebrant used artificial intelligence to help craft parts of the speech. During the ceremony, the couple declared their love for one another, while the AI-generated text encouraged them to keep teasing each other and to hold on to one another when life became difficult.
The registrar went on to describe the pair as not just husband and wife, but a team, a “crazy couple,” and each other’s love and home. However, the district court of Overijssel ruled this week that the ceremony did not comply with the Dutch civil code, which sets out precise language that must be spoken for a marriage to be legally valid.
According to the court, the couple did not explicitly state that they accepted each other as spouses or that they would faithfully fulfil all duties legally associated with marriage. Without this mandatory declaration, the law states that a marriage cannot exist, regardless of the intentions of those involved.
An official registrar from the municipality of Zwolle was present during the ceremony alongside the friend acting as special registrar, and the marriage was formally registered and entered into the national database of personal records. The couple said they had no reason to believe anything was amiss until the local council later identified the omission and referred the matter to the public prosecutor’s office.
The couple challenged the ruling at a hearing earlier this week, telling the court that the decision had caused them significant emotional distress. Despite their objections, the court upheld the finding that the marriage was legally invalid.
The case comes amid growing reports of celebrants using artificial intelligence to assist with ceremonies in the Netherlands, the UK, and elsewhere. Eleanor Willock, an independent celebrant from Somerset who has worked in the profession since 2003, said the trend was accelerating but controversial within the industry.
She said that while the story sounded like something one might expect from Las Vegas, the use of ChatGPT by celebrants had undoubtedly increased over the past year. Willock added that many celebrants opposed the practice, arguing that AI struggles to capture personal hopes for the future or achieve the emotional cadence needed for a meaningful ceremony. In her view, such speeches rarely deliver the moments that bring families to tears, underscoring the risks of relying on technology for life-defining legal and emotional commitments.
