Marrying at the town hall in City of Brussels
What is known about costs, booking and the declaration in City of Brussels, with official sources and explicit notes about missing information.
Go to the steps and document checklist →
Elian Van Cutsem, founder of Ringske
General Belgian rules
Marriage declaration in City of Brussels: step by step
Reserving a date, having your file checked and signing the declaration are separate steps. Here is what to arrange and in which order.
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1. Check where to file your declaration
Start with the civil registry of the municipality where one of you is registered. Do you both live abroad? First confirm which Belgian municipality can handle your file.
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2. Request your wedding date and start the file
Have the date confirmed before making other bookings final. A date request is not the formal declaration. Also ask when all documents must be submitted.
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3. Have your documents checked
Use the checklist below to prepare. Ask which records the municipality obtains itself and which you must supply. Only order foreign records after the municipality has confirmed its requirements.
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4. Make the formal marriage declaration
Vlaanderen.be describes the general window as six calendar months to fourteen days before the wedding. Local instructions may differ. Both partners declare together; if one cannot attend, ask for the required consent or power-of-attorney form beforehand.
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5. Check the confirmation and complete the file
Check the date, time, venue, any payments and your witnesses’ details. Keep the municipality’s confirmation. Have any change of date or circumstances checked again; do not assume an automatic extension.
The exact local procedure has not yet been confirmed here. Ask the civil registry how to start your file, whether you can declare online and which appointment you need.
Which documents do you need?
This is general preparation, not a personal document list issued by City of Brussels. Your nationality, birthplace, residence and previous marriages determine which additional records are required.
For each partner
- A valid identity document.
- A birth certificate: the municipality obtains it if you were born in Belgium or the certificate has been transcribed here.
- Evidence of unmarried status or dissolution of a previous marriage, if the municipality does not have that information in its registers.
Foreign documents or residence abroad
- First ask the civil registry for a personal document list.
- Not registered in the population or foreigners register? Also allow for proof of nationality, marital status and principal residence.
- Confirm how recent documents must be and whether legalisation, an apostille or a sworn translation is needed. This depends on the document and country.
One partner cannot attend
- Ask for the local consent or power-of-attorney form.
- Confirm whether an identity document copy, legalisation of the signature or a translation is also required.
Witnesses and a marriage contract
- Witnesses are optional: zero to four adults for the couple together. Ask which details the municipality needs.
- A marriage contract is optional. A notary’s certificate is no longer required for the declaration; the notary registers the contract.
Calculate the general declaration window
Dates use calendar months. They are only kept in this shareable link; nothing is sent to us.
- General window: from
- General window: by
This is Vlaanderen.be’s general window, not confirmation of an appointment or local deadline. Follow the municipal instructions above; earlier notification or file preparation may be required.
Get started in City of Brussels
Use the official instructions to start the declaration or book an appointment. Cannot find your situation? Ask the civil registry to confirm:
- How do we reserve a date and when must we open the file?
- Which records do you obtain and which must we provide?
- Can we declare online, and by when must everything be signed?
Sources for the general preparation
Ceremony, costs and practical arrangements in City of Brussels
- Free
- simple formula, Fri and Sat (€50 file and booklet)
- Paid
- €300 (Grand staircase, 20 min)
- Date, appointment or declaration
- online via MyBXL, date up to 1 year ahead
You marry in the wedding hall on the first floor of the Town Hall on the Grand-Place, only on Fridays and Saturdays. In the simple formula, of about fifteen minutes, the City sets the time and confirms it the week before the wedding; you then pay €50 for the file and the wedding booklet. With the Grand staircase formula you are received in the courtyard of honour, choose the date and time yourself and pay €300 for twenty minutes (City of Brussels ). The tax regulation 2026–2032 does not charge for the classic ceremony itself, and also lists a forty-minute Grand staircase ceremony for €500 (regulation ).
You file the declaration online through MyBXL with eID or itsme; your partner confirms within ten days, and you can then marry between fourteen days and six months later. With a complete file you book up to a year ahead. At least one of you lives in the City; the hall takes at most a hundred people, with at most four witnesses. You bring a sworn interpreter yourself, and rice, confetti, animals and drones are forbidden, with a fine of up to €200 (City of Brussels ).
This information was previously checked on 6 November 2026. The new source review could not reconfirm every local detail. Ask the municipality to confirm fees, available venues and deadlines for your date.
What is the same everywhere
Vlaanderen.be describes the general marriage declaration window as six calendar months to fourteen days before the wedding. Some municipalities describe a wider local declaration window; follow their instructions. A free ceremony does not mean that the file or wedding booklet is also free.
Everything else differs: on which days and at what times you can marry, when it is free, what a Saturday costs, whether you can marry outdoors or in a castle, and whether the city is stricter than the law. Ghent wants the declaration at least six weeks ahead, Hasselt three weeks. In most cities you can book a year ahead.
If one of you does not speak Dutch, in Flanders you bring an interpreter and pay them yourselves: see marrying as a foreigner.
The steps in order, from the window to the documents, are in the marriage declaration checklist. What a city itself asks for the deadline or the ceremony is on its page here, not in that checklist.
Neighbouring municipalities and districts