How to get a humanist wedding in:
Belgium
Who offers a humanist wedding in Belgium?
Humanist weddings in Belgium are offered by the humanist organization Demens.nu.
Languages offered:
Demens.nu offers wedding ceremonies in Dutch and when possible in English, French and German.
Do we get to choose the humanist wedding celebrant ourselves?
Demens.nu will find an appropriate celebrant based on your answers in the introductory conversation and questionnaire.
How to book a humanist wedding in Belgium:
You can contact Demens.nu, either by email or through their online contact form.
Demens.no requires that you are legally married prior to the humanist ceremony. Demens.nu will be able to help you with this. Read more under “The boring legal part” below.
After you have made contact, Demens.nu will invite you to a meeting where you will discuss humanist values and the humanist lifestance, including Demens.nu´s organization and working processes. You will also be asked whether you feel comfortable with Demens.nu´s name being mentioned during the ceremony, and that humanism will be referred to at least once. If this is ok, you will get a questionnaire that you have to complete separately..
Based on the answers, Demens.nu will appoint a celebrant that will be in charge of the preparations and the ceremony itself. The celebrant will have two or three conversations with you, to get to know you better, and to find out what drives you to get married and what values are important to you.
After that, the ceremony and celebration is designed by the celebrant, of course in cooperation with you. Sometimes the celebrant will also visit the location of the wedding ceremony together with you, before the celebration.
On the day of the wedding, the celebrant normally leads the wedding ceremony.
However, you can also choose what role the wedding celebrant should have. If you just want help to prepare and oversee the ceremony, while another person, friend, family or other, conducts it on the day of the wedding, that will be possible.
Price:
Humanist wedding services offered by Demens.nu are free of charge. Demens.nu are supported by the state to provide these services to anyone who wants them.
How to get in touch:
You can send an email to info@demens.nu or use the contact form their website. Phone number: +32 2 735 81 92
The boring legal part
Demens.nu, like all other Belgian faith or belief communities, are not authorized to marry people legally.
The custom in Belgium is to go to a municipality office first, and get a civil, legally binding marriage there. And then, afterwards, it is customary to have a symbolic wedding ceremony arranged by a humanist organization like Demens.nu, or in a church, a mosque, or similar arranged by other faith or belief communities.
Demens.nu requires that you are legally married before you can have a humanist wedding ceremony. Normally, the civil, legally binding marriage ceremony is performed the same day, right before the humanist ceremony, but it can also be done a longer time in advance.
The legally binding marriage certificate required by Demens.nu can be from Belgium or another country.
If you want to book a civil, legally binding wedding in Belgium, click here for instructions. The best thing, if you are not a Belgian citizen, will be to ask Demens.nu for help on how to book.
If you bring a marriage certificate from another country, it has to be duly legalized or apostilled by the authorities in that country.
- Read more under “is my marriage valid in Belgium?” on this page.
- Read more about transfer of legal wedding certificates across borders.