Getting married in Belgium
Just engaged? The first steps towards your wedding in Belgium
You are engaged. Nothing has to happen today. A wedding in Belgium does have an order, though: money and a rough guest count first, then a period, a form and a place, and only inside a legal window the marriage declaration. Below are the first nine steps, short and in order, each with a link to the page that goes deeper. What the law says comes from Vlaanderen.be, the Constitution, notaris.be and the cities themselves.
Elian Van Cutsem, founder of Ringske
1. First, nothing at all
A proposal is not the starting gun for a to-do list. Give yourselves a few weeks in which it is just news. Legally nothing is running yet: the first step at the town hall, the marriage declaration, can be made six months before the wedding at the earliest, according to Vlaanderen.be . For most couples that is still a long way off.
Tell the people who should hear it from you first, before it is online. Agree together who that is, and in what order. It is also a first rehearsal for what is coming. A wedding brings conversations with parents and family, and they go more smoothly when you already know what the two of you want.
What can wait: visiting venues, trying on a dress, announcing a date. If you name a date before there is a venue and a town hall slot, you may have to take it back. Say "next year" or "in the summer" until the steps below are done.
2. The budget, and who pays what
The first real conversation is about money. Not a total, but who pays what: the two of you, your parents, or a mix. Also agree whether a contribution from the parents is an amount or an item, such as the drinks or the clothes. That conversation belongs at the start, before any quote is signed. That is why "set the budget, and who pays what" is the first task in Ringske's wedding checklist, more than a year before the wedding.
Do not copy a number you read somewhere. The page on what a wedding costs explains why an average will not help you, and which items do have a public tariff: the town hall, the notary, an apostille, the music licence. For the venue, food, photos and clothes, your own quotes are the only honest basis.
Write down what you want to spend and can spend together, and who carries which part. The wedding budget then calculates with your figures, item by item: a fixed amount or a price per guest. You see straight away which choice moves the total.
3. A rough guest count
Before you visit venues, you need to know roughly how many people are coming. The count decides which venues still fit, whether a seated dinner is realistic, and how big the large items get. Food and drinks grow per person.
A rough count is enough. Write one row per invitation with the number of people: a couple with two children is one row of four. Split by moment from the start. In Flanders some guests come only to the town hall or the reception, not to the dinner. They count for the reception, not for the caterer.
Each make a list, then put them side by side. Do the same with your parents' list, especially if they are paying part. The gap between those lists is the conversation you want to have now, not three months before the wedding. The guest list in Ringske works per invitation and per moment.
4. A window for the date
Choose a period first, not a day. A season, a month, a few Saturdays that could work. The day itself depends on the venue and the town hall, and you fix those two shortly after each other.
The legal window is the same everywhere. You make the marriage declaration at the earliest six months and at the latest fourteen days before the wedding date, at the town hall where one of you lives. That is how Vlaanderen.be puts it. Many towns ask for the declaration earlier. Ghent wants it at least six weeks and at most six months before the wedding date, writes the city of Ghent . What your town asks is in the overview per city. The steps are on the page about the marriage declaration.
Reserving a date at the town hall is not the same as the declaration, and when you can do it differs per town. In Ghent you reserve the day and time at most a year ahead, at the desk or by email. The city states plainly that a reservation is not yet a marriage declaration. With foreign documents, Ghent only fixes the date during the declaration. Leuven always works that way: the city fixes the date with you during the declaration, writes Leuven's site . The days differ too. Leuven holds weddings on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, within set hours.
How to pick a date that suits the venue, the town hall and the people you really want there is in the guide to the wedding date.
5. Civil, church, or both
Getting married in the eyes of the law in Belgium means the civil marriage. A registrar performs it, at the town hall or at another public place of a neutral character that the town council has designated for it. That is how Vlaanderen.be describes it. Whether your town has such a place, you ask the town itself.
A church wedding or another religious ceremony always comes after the civil one. Vlaanderen.be writes that the civil marriage must take place before any religious marriage. The rule itself is in article 21 of the Constitution, on the Senate's site : the civil marriage must always precede the religious blessing, apart from the exceptions the law sets. So the same day is possible, as long as the town hall comes first.
A ceremony with a speaker, in a garden or in the party venue, can be lovely. It does not replace the town hall: the registrar is the one who marries you in law.
Decide this early, because it shapes everything else. Two places on one day means transport and a schedule that fits the town hall's time slot. A church or another community has its own calendar: ask what they need at the parish or the community itself. Holding the civil marriage on a different day from the party is also possible. The party day is calmer that way.
6. The venue
With a period, a budget and a count, you can start visiting venues. Earlier makes little sense: a room that is too small or eats the budget drops out anyway.
Ask every venue the same questions, and ask in writing. Which dates are still free in your window. How many guests fit, seated and standing. How late the party can go on. Whether there is a fixed caterer or you choose your own. Whether there is a minimum number of guests. What is included and what is extra. Without those answers you cannot compare two quotes.
Fix the venue and the town hall shortly after each other. A venue without a town hall date, or the other way round, can still make your day move. In Ringske's task list, "fix the date and venue" sits a year before the wedding, and "reserve the date and time at the town hall" shortly after. That is not a law but an order: a sought-after venue may already be taken by then. More on choosing and comparing is in the guide to wedding venues.
7. A marriage contract, yes or no
A marriage contract is not compulsory. If you do not make one, the legal regime applies automatically from the day of the civil marriage, writes notaris.be . According to the notaries, the main feature of that regime is that both your incomes go into one community. With a contract you can fine-tune that regime, or choose another, such as separation of property. That is on notaris.be .
Whether you need one depends on your situation. Notaris.be gives examples: self-employed work, a blended family, building land owned by one of you that you want to build on together. Those are examples, not advice for your case. That is what the notary is for.
If you want a contract, plan the meeting well before the wedding. The notary registers it in the Central Register of Marriage Contracts. The town hall no longer needs a certificate, according to Vlaanderen.be . What it costs is on what a wedding costs. The choices themselves are in the guide to the marriage contract.
8. Witnesses
Witnesses are not compulsory. According to Vlaanderen.be you may appoint them, at most two per partner. A witness must be an adult, but does not have to be family. Ghent puts it per couple: none, one, two, three or four adult witnesses per couple (the city of Ghent ).
There is no rush. In Ghent you can pass on your witnesses at the declaration. If you have not chosen yet, you get an email to do it later. Bring each witness's national register number or a copy of their ID. Your town may ask for other details.
Do ask them in person and in good time, so they keep the date free. How to choose is in the guide to witnesses.
9. A plan that moves with the date
Once you have a date, it helps to have a list that knows what a Belgian wedding involves. Ringske's wedding checklist has over forty tasks, from the budget more than a year ahead to the thank-you cards afterwards. Each task sits at a distance from the wedding date, for example six weeks before. If the date moves, the tasks move with it.
The marriage declaration is in it, with the legal window. If you choose the town of your town hall in the settings, the planner follows the terms of the towns it supports. Without a town, the deadline follows the Ghent example, six weeks before the wedding. The legal latest remains fourteen days. Don't know the date yet? Choose "We don't know yet" when you start.
Planning in Ringske is free: guest list, budget, task list, and a wedding site as long as it is not online. What publishing costs is on the pricing page. Each of you has your own login, and on your phone it is the same plan: see the wedding planner on your phone. If you want to see the whole order first without an account, read the month-by-month timeline.
The engagement and the law
I found no official source that says what legal effect an engagement itself has in Belgium. So there is no rule about it here. What is clear are the conditions for getting married. For Belgians, Vlaanderen.be lists the main ones: you are both at least 18, you both consent freely, you are not too closely related by blood or marriage, neither of you is already married, and it is not a sham marriage. For someone of another nationality, the law of that country sets the conditions. That is covered in the guide for couples where one of you is not Belgian.
If you already live together as legal cohabitants, that does not stand in the way. Notaris.be writes that an existing legal cohabitation must have ended, unless you marry the person you are legally cohabiting with (notaris.be ). The marriage itself ends the legal cohabitation, according to Vlaanderen.be .
Living together or getting married: what differs
Not every engaged couple marries straight away, and if you are in doubt, Belgium has three forms. De facto cohabitation is living under one roof without a declaration at the town hall. Legal cohabitation is a declaration before the registrar. Marriage is the civil marriage. Notaris.be calls marriage the form of living together with the most obligations, but also the most rights (notaris.be ).
According to notaris.be , legal cohabitation has no personal effects: there is no duty to live together, to be faithful, or to help and support each other, as there is for spouses. It does affect your property. The family home and its contents are protected, you contribute to the costs in proportion to your means, and each keeps their own property. There is no joint estate. Married without a contract, that is different: the legal regime applies, with incomes in one community.
It differs on death too. A surviving spouse always inherits the usufruct of the family home, with its contents and furniture, according to notaris.be. Someone who only cohabits de facto does not inherit from the other unless there is a will. Legal cohabitants do inherit from each other. How far that goes in your case, with children or a home of your own, is a question for a notary. This page puts the forms side by side. The choice is yours.