Facing bureaucracy at home in Poland, Magdalena Kujawinska and her Colombian fiancé Heinner Valenzuela traveled to Copenhagen to marry. "We realized that it's not that easy to get married in Poland," the 30-year-old Kujawinska said as the couple waited for their 10-minute ceremony at the Danish capital's 19th-century City Hall. "You need a certificate that you are not married," she said. "We tried to get it from Colombia, but it's only valid for three months, and it couldn't get to Poland from Colombia in three months. It was just impossible for us."
The couple, who live in Krakow, had been engaged for more than three years when Kujawinska heard about Denmark's relatively relaxed marriage laws from a colleague, reports the AP. Working with an online wedding planner, the couple prepared the necessary documents. "And in four days, we had the decision that the marriage could be done here," a smiling Kujawinska said. Their story is becoming more typical: Couples who don't live in Denmark, both mixed- and same-sex, are increasingly getting married in the Scandinavian country—prompting some to dub Copenhagen the "Las Vegas of Europe."
The head of the marriage office at Copenhagen City Hall said that about 5,400 of the 8,000 wedding ceremonies performed there last year were for couples in which neither partner was a Danish resident. "That's almost double what we saw five years ago," she said. But the city sees a downside: demand for ceremonies at City Hall now far exceeds the number of slots available, which "poses challenges for Copenhagen-based couples wishing to get married," per Mia Nyegaard, the Copenhagen official in charge of culture and leisure. Local authorities plan to take action: About 40% of wedding slots available at City Hall will be reserved for Copenhagen residents starting from the end of October.
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While booking a slot there is the most obvious way to get married in the city, arranging a ceremony with a private registrar is also an option, and that won't be affected. Denmark's marriage laws are liberal in several ways:
- In 1989, the country became the world's first to allow the registration of same-sex civil unions. The legalization of same-sex marriage followed in 2012.
- For unions of all kinds, Denmark—unlike many European countries—doesn't require a birth certificate or proof of single status to obtain a certificate that grants the right to get married in Denmark within four months. Officials might, in cases where divorce papers don't show clearly that a divorce has been finalized, ask for a civil status certificate.
- Non-resident couples can travel to Denmark and get married with just a valid passport and, if required, a tourist visa.
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