Roeselare (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Every Roeselare citizen who wants to get married according to the law also has the option to perform their wedding outside. The ceremony will happen at the Het Venster, which is a steel construction in an artistic house shape that stands in the newly built city hall inner garden.
Roeselare hosted its initial outdoor wedding within the newly opened internal garden of the city hall inside the ‘Het Venster’ metal framework designed as a house structure.
The creative genius Maarten Schaubroeck designed ‘Het Venster’, which he then used to perform the first marriage between himself and Isolde at the artwork’s site after its completion. Mayors Kris Declercq (CD&V) of Roeselare and Jeroen Vandromme (CD&V) of Houthulst officiated the wedding event.
Maarten Schaubroeck lived in Houthulst, where he married Isolde in the outdoor wedding venue ‘Het Venster’, which he specifically created for civil weddings in Roeselare’s city hall courtyard.
The structure symbolizes the union of two households into one, with Schaubroeck explaining,
“Here, lovers and their families come together from their homes. In this beautiful place in the heart of the city hall, people give each other their hearts.”
The mayors from Roeselare and Houthulst officiated the wedding, which became the city’s inaugural outdoor wedding under legal authorization.
The government of Roeselare followed various Flemish municipalities’ advice to allow public outdoor civil marriage ceremonies because of rising public interest. According to Alderman Stefaan Van Coillie (CD&V), public interest in the new wedding choice has been considerable. The city of Koksijde has implemented outdoor wedding options, which now include beach wedding celebrations as an additional choice.
How common are outdoor weddings in Flanders?
Outdoor civil weddings have obtained increasing popularity in Flanders because various municipalities have approved this celebration type in recent years. The Flemish government records over 50 locations throughout Flanders, which now allow outdoor weddings in specific public areas, including Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp. The number of outdoor civil weddings in Flanders reached 12% of the total in 2023 while maintaining a significant rise from the previous 5%.
Roeselare joined the growing number of Flanders communities that authorized ceremonies to take place in municipal gardens. A substantial number exceeding thirty prospective couples contacted Roeselare within the first calendar month after the garden wedding announcement showed market readiness.
Between introducing beach weddings in 2022, Koksijde experienced a 20% increase in wedding registration demand. The number of botanical garden weddings in Leuven has grown by 15% each year since 2020.
The Belgian government allowed outdoor weddings through a federal legislation change in 2017. Flanders has shown leadership in this policy development, while Wallonia and Brussels adopted the same approach sequentially. Public authorities report that couples prefer outdoor weddings since they lead to higher satisfaction rates along with additional economic value from increased tourism and event-linked spending.
The data demonstrates that couples younger than 35 years old represent the leading group who choose non-traditional wedding locations since they make up 68% of all nuptial ceremonies.
Due to weather conditions, outdoor weddings in Flanders need alternate indoor venues in case of rain, according to statistics, which show a requirement rate of 17%. Communities keep extending their approved locations for outdoor weddings, starting with parks and historic squares, and recently, they have been adding artworks like ‘Het Venster’.
