Our employees only speak German in the office and on the phone.

Register marriage

  • Ausweise und Dokumente
  • Partnerschaft und Familie

If you wish to get married in a civil ceremony, you must register the marriage in advance.

  • Basic information

    You must register your intended marriage in person at the registry office in whose jurisdiction you have your place of residence or habitual abode.

    The city of Bremen has 2 registry office districts.

    • The registration for marriages with residence in Bremen-Mitte therefore takes place at the registry office in Bremen-Mitte.
    • For marriages taking place in Bremen-North, registration takes place at the Bremen-North registry office.
    • If the couple have different places of residence, they can register their marriage at one of the registry offices.

    In order to speed up the process, you can send the registry office your desired date for the marriage as well as the data required to check your eligibility for marriage by pre-registering.

    The place where you register the marriage does not necessarily have to be the place where your marriage is to take place. In principle, you can get married at any registry office in Germany.

    A civil marriage and a church wedding are independent of each other.

    No witnesses need to be present at the marriage ceremony. However, if you wish, you can appoint 1 or 2 people as witnesses.

    You can decide at the wedding or at a later date whether you wish to have a joint or separate surname.

    Requirements

    • You are of legal age.
    • You have legal capacity.
    • You are not related to each other in a direct line.
    • You may not marry your siblings or half-siblings. Marriage is also excluded if the relationship was established by adoption.
    • You must not be previously married. A previous marriage must have been dissolved. If you have divorced abroad, in many cases the divorce must first be recognized in Germany.
    • Even if you live in a registered civil partnership, this must be dissolved before the marriage. Unless you want to marry your civil partner.

  • Procedure

    The path to a civil marriage consists of 3 steps.

    Step 1: Pre-registration

    • Use the online pre-registration option.
      It shortens the processing time. The registry office receives the data you provide via the online pre-registration and can then provide you with information about the required documents.
    • This information will be sent to you by e-mail and should reach you within a week at the latest.
      • Please be patient and refrain from sending status inquiries.
      • If you have not received a reply after one week, please contact ehe@inneres.bremen.de.
    • You can then register for the marriage by making an appointment in advance.

    If you do not wish to or cannot use the online pre-registration, the relevant information will be provided during opening hours at the registry offices (see under "Responsible offices"). Please make an appointment for this. For this preliminary meeting, it is initially sufficient if it is attended by one of the future spouses.

    Step 2: Registration of the marriage

    • You must make an appointment with the registry office to register the marriage.
    • The required documents will be checked at this appointment.
    • You will receive information, for example, about the name and the procedure for the day of the marriage.
    • Once it has been established that the requirements for marriage have been met, the marriage registration is valid for 6 months.

    In principle, both partners should attend the marriage registration appointment. If this is not possible, the person who is unable to attend can issue a power of attorney (declaration of accession). You can find the form in the forms under "Declaration of accession".

    Step 3: Marriage ceremony

    • There are 2 wedding rooms available for marriages in the historic building of the Bremen-Mitte registry office.
    • In the Bremen-Nord registry office, weddings take place in the wedding room in the town hall on the top floor above the rooftops of Bremen-Nord in Gerhard-Rohlfs-Straße.

    For marriages in both registry office districts, you can also choose an outdoor location. Further information on the individual outdoor locations can be found under "Further information".

    For the registry office Bremen-Mitte

    • Arberger Mühle
    • botanika- The Green Science Center
    • Fallturm- ZARM- Betriebsgesellschaft- mbH
    • Lür-Kropp-Hof and Hochtiedshuus
    • Bremen Town Hall
    • Weser Stadium

    For the registry office Bremen- North

    • Blomendal Castle
    • Schönebeck Castle
    • Kahnschifferhaus

    Please arrange appointments for marriages in the external locations in the Bremen-Mitte district directly with the selected external location.
    Please contact the Bremen-Nord registry office to arrange appointments for marriages in the external locations in the Bremen-Nord district.

    More information

    In the case of foreign nationality, the respective national law/foreign law must be observed. The same applies if you were born abroad and in the case of previous marriages and/or their annulment abroad.

  • Necessary Documents
    • The documents required vary depending on your own life situation.

      You will find out which documents you need after pre-registration.

  • Competent Department

  • Online Services

  • Forms

  • Fees / Costs

    57,00 EUR Examination of the requirements for marriage, if only German law is to be observed.
    96,00 EUR Examination of the conditions for marriage, although foreign law must also be observed.
    143,00 EUR Examination of the requirements for marriage, although foreign law must also be observed and an application must be made for exemption from the requirement to produce a certificate of no impediment to marriage
    191,00 EUR Examination of the requirements for marriage, although foreign law must also be observed, an application must be made for exemption from the requirement to produce a certificate of no impediment to marriage and documents must be checked by the German mission abroad.
    29,00 EUR Re-examination of the marriage requirements if only German law is to be observed.
    72,00 EUR Re-examination of the conditions for marriage, even if foreign law must be observed.
    36,00 EUR Carrying out the marriage if the registration was made at another registry office.
    127,00 EUR Marriage at an outside wedding site.
    15,00 EUR Marriage certificate, each additional identical and simultaneously issued certificate 8 €.
    15,00 EUR International marriage certificate, each additional identical and simultaneously issued certificate 8 €.
    36,00 EUR Acceptance of an affidavit in lieu of oath.
    Fees can be paid in cash or by card (EC card, Maestro, Mastercard, Visa or VPay).
    Family registers are not offered by the registry offices.

  • Deadlines & processing time

    What deadlines must be paid attention to?

    6 months the registration of the marriage is valid as soon as it has been established that the requirements for marriage have been met.

    How long does it take to process

    No specification possible.

  • Legal Bases

  • More Information

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This page has been automatically translated by DeepL. We cannot guarantee that the translation is correct.

The official information in German is complete and correct. 25.02.2026

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