How Do You Get Married in Dubai?

This guide was researched on 18 September 2026. Use it to prepare your questions, and obtain the current instructions from the relevant court before paying for ceremony-related travel. Wedded Wonderland cannot approve your documents, but once your route is confirmed a Wedded Advisor can plan the celebration around it through Wonderland Concierge.

Start with the correct authority

For Dubai's civil route, the Dubai Courts service page specifies non-Muslim applicants, age 21 and at least one partner resident in Dubai. It also calls for an attested marital-status certificate and sets out Arabic translation and foreign-document certification requirements. Check the Dubai Courts marriage service.

For couples who are both visitors, investigate the separate Abu Dhabi civil route. Its current dedicated service page permits tourist applications and excludes Muslim UAE citizens; it expressly makes an exception for non-Muslim UAE nationals. An older general FAQ describes a broader nationality exclusion, so anyone whose case involves UAE citizenship should obtain direct confirmation. The general FAQ describes applicants as over 18; confirm eligibility with the court if an age boundary affects your application. ADJD civil marriage service, general eligibility FAQ.

The distinction matters geographically as well as legally. Planning a reception in Dubai does not make an Abu Dhabi court ceremony a Dubai marriage appointment.

Do not use one checklist for every couple

For religious marriages, do not borrow the civil-marriage document list. Confirm any medical screening, witness, guardian or nationality-specific requirements directly. The UAE Ministry of Justice maintains a marriage-contract service page, but your chosen authority should confirm its application to your circumstances.

Prepare the documents before fixing the celebration date

Create a folder for each person and ask the authority to mark which documents are necessary. A working list for discussion includes identity documents, residency evidence where applicable, evidence of marital status and any relevant divorce or death certificate.

For Abu Dhabi, prepare passports, Emirates IDs where applicable and evidence ending any previous marriage. The dedicated service allows remote attendance only where all parties are UAE residents; tourists must attend in Abu Dhabi. Witnesses are not required. ADJD service instructions.

Ask four practical questions about every document: who must issue it, how recent it must be, whether translation is required and which attestations are accepted. A scanned certificate and a legally attested certificate are not necessarily interchangeable.

Check names against passports, including spelling and order. Resolve inconsistencies before submission rather than hoping the application reviewer will overlook them.

Confirm the application and appointment process

Use the official channel for the service you have chosen. Ask whether an application needs approval before a ceremony can be scheduled, how both parties verify identity and what originals must be brought on the day.

Treat an indicative processing time as an estimate. Missing paperwork, required amendments and appointment availability can change your timeline. Build a buffer between the legal appointment and any event that depends on it.

If a private provider assists with paperwork, request a breakdown separating its fee from government charges. Establish whether it is advising, translating, submitting documents or arranging transport. A service fee does not itself guarantee court approval.

Budget for the process around the certificate

The court fee may be only one part of the expense. Ask about translations, attestations, any applicable screening, travel between emirates, document delivery and copies needed later.

ADJD lists AED 300 for standard service, estimated at up to ten working days, and AED 2,500 for urgent service, estimated within one working day. Appointment confirmation remains subject to availability. These are service estimates, not a guarantee that a ceremony can take place on your preferred date. Published ADJD fees. Where a provider advertises a fast service, confirm exactly what can be expedited and what remains dependent on approval or available appointments.

Keep receipts and copies of the approved documents together. This makes later administrative steps easier and helps you distinguish official charges from optional assistance.

Check how the certificate will be used at home

Ask the relevant embassy or receiving authority what it needs before you leave the UAE. Marriage recognition, document attestation, immigration and changing your name are separate questions.

For US readers, the US Department of State's marriage-abroad guidance is a starting point. Couples from the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere should consult their own embassy and the authority that will receive the certificate. Nationality and the purpose for which the document is needed can change the questions to ask; another couple's checklist is not a substitute for your own.

If the marriage will be used for a visa application, pension matter or other official purpose, ask that receiving body about its evidence requirements. Avoid treating general statements of international recognition as a guarantee for every later transaction.

Keep the legal process and wedding design connected

Give your planner the confirmed legal arrangements, but assign responsibility clearly. The venue team can organise a beautiful ceremony setting without being the authority that determines whether the marriage is legally valid.

Our overview of everything you need to know when planning a wedding in Dubai covers the celebration side. If you prefer to complete the legal marriage at home, tell the Dubai venue that the event is symbolic. You can still exchange vows, include meaningful traditions and celebrate with your guests. Our Dubai destination wedding guide covers that wider planning journey.

Turn your document folder into an application plan

The most useful preparation is a record of what has been accepted, not simply a collection of scans. Build one row per document with the issuing body, exact name shown, translation status, attestation status and the authority's response. Keep the original file separate from translated and certified versions so the wrong copy is not accidentally submitted.

Consider two planning examples. Two visitors hosting a Dubai reception may investigate Abu Dhabi's tourist service and reserve a separate day for the appointment and travel. A couple eligible for Dubai's civil route should use Dubai's own checklist and submission instructions. Neither couple gains legal eligibility by booking a luxury hotel or employing an event planner.

After the paperwork, the celebration

Wedded Wonderland cannot approve your documents, and neither can any advisor. That belongs to the authorities, and this guide exists to get you to the right one. Once your route is confirmed, though, the celebration around it is a separate piece of work, and that part we do take on.

Where an approval, a permit or a closure decides whether something can happen at all, we engage the relevant authorities directly. For the celebration itself, rooms held through invitation-only hotel programs carry breakfast, flexible arrival and departure and a credit at the property, and reservations reach the property's leadership rather than a booking queue.

There is no fee for the first conversation. Benefits vary by property and booking. Eligibility and availability conditions apply.

What should happen before and after approval?

Before submission, resolve identity and marital-history questions and establish what the receiving authority at home will require later. After submission, preserve the application reference and answer any document queries through the designated channel. After approval, confirm the appointment details before arranging dependent transport, photography or a family dinner. After the ceremony, check the certificate's names and particulars before starting any further certification process.

That sequence gives a planner useful information without asking them to make legal decisions. For example, the event brief can say "symbolic vows at the reception; legal appointment arranged separately" or "legal appointment confirmed for an earlier day." It should not say "legal marriage included" unless the responsible service and approved arrangements are identified.

For a Muslim or religious marriage, replace this civil-service workflow with the instructions from the competent authority. The UAE government's Sharia marriage overview identifies the applicable framework; medical, witness and guardian requirements must be established for the actual route. A civil-marriage article cannot safely resolve every nationality, religion and prior-marriage combination.