International {couples} flock to Denmark to get married, much more than locals

By JAMES BROOKS, Related Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Going through complicated paperwork at dwelling in Poland, Magdalena Kujawińska and her Colombian fiancé Heinner Valenzuela traveled to Copenhagen to turn out to be husband and spouse.

“We realized that it’s not that simple to get married in Poland,” the 30-year-old Kujawińska stated because the couple waited for his or her 10-minute ceremony on the Danish capital’s Nineteenth-century Metropolis Corridor.

“You want a certificates that you’re not married,” she stated. “We tried to get it from Colombia, nevertheless it’s solely legitimate for 3 months, and it couldn’t get to Poland from Colombia in three months. It was simply not possible for us.”

The couple, who stay in Krakow, had been engaged for greater than three years when Kujawińska heard about Denmark’s comparatively relaxed marriage legal guidelines from a colleague. Working with an internet wedding ceremony planner, the couple ready the mandatory paperwork.

“And in 4 days, we had the choice that the wedding might be performed right here,” a smiling Kujawińska stated.

Copenhagen attracts {couples} from around the globe

{Couples} who don’t stay in Denmark, each mixed- and same-sex, are more and more getting married within the Scandinavian nation — prompting some to dub Copenhagen the “Las Vegas of Europe.”

The pinnacle of the wedding workplace at Copenhagen Metropolis Corridor, Anita Okkels Birk Thomsen, stated that about 8,000 wedding ceremony ceremonies had been carried out there final 12 months. Of these, some 5,400 of them had been for {couples} during which neither associate was a Danish resident.

“That’s virtually double what we noticed 5 years in the past,” she stated. “They arrive from everywhere in the world.”

Metropolis needs to make sure room for locals

However the metropolis sees a draw back to that: demand for ceremonies at Metropolis Corridor now far exceeds the variety of slots accessible.

Mia Nyegaard, the Copenhagen official accountable for tradition and leisure, stated in an announcement to The Related Press that the “important rise” within the variety of international {couples} getting married within the capital “poses challenges for Copenhagen-based {couples} wishing to get married.”

Native authorities plan to take motion. Nyegaard stated about 40% of wedding ceremony slots accessible at Metropolis Corridor shall be reserved for Copenhagen residents ranging from the top of October. Whereas reserving a slot there may be the obvious solution to get married within the metropolis, arranging a ceremony with a non-public registrar can also be an possibility, and that received’t be affected.

Copenhagen lawmakers will take care of the summer time break at what else they will do to alleviate total stress on wedding ceremony capability within the metropolis.

Liberal legal guidelines

Denmark’s marriage legal guidelines are liberal in a number of methods. In 1989, the nation grew to become the world’s first to permit the registration of same-sex civil unions. The legalization of same-sex marriage adopted in 2012.

For unions of every kind, Denmark — in contrast to many different European international locations — doesn’t require a beginning certificates or proof of single standing to acquire a certificates that grants the precise to get married in Denmark inside 4 months. Officers may, in circumstances the place divorce papers don’t present clearly {that a} divorce has been finalized, ask for a civil standing certificates.

Purposes to Denmark’s company of household legislation value 2,100 kroner ($326), and {couples} are issued with a certificates inside 5 working days in the event that they fulfill the necessities.

Non-resident {couples} can journey to Denmark and get married with only a legitimate passport and, if required, a vacationer visa.