You don’t have to learn to say “I do” in Danish (a complicated language) to get married in Copenhagen in the fast lane, Las Vegas style, because even the municipal official on duty speaks perfect English. Nor be a resident in the country. All you have to do is apply for a license online, bring your passport or ID, have a valid tourist visa (citizens of the European Union and the United Kingdom, not even that), pay 295 euros, and in no time at all one has in his hand a marriage certificate in five languages ??(including Spanish) and is obliged to love and care for another person, “in happiness and in pain, in the fat times and in the lean times, even May death – or divorce – do you part.”
The City Hall of the Danish capital is an imposing “national romantic” style building in the center, with a 105-meter-high clock tower, a souvenir shop to celebrate with a last-minute gift, a flower shop where you can rent a bouquet for 25 euros and a couple of hours if the couple doesn’t feel especially romantic that day, and a coffee where they can give the thing one last thought before it’s too late. But of course, it lacks the kitsch of the more than fifty wedding chapels that there are in Las Vegas, and one cannot get married through the window without getting out of the car, nor boast of having gotten married in the same place as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Michael Jordan, Demi Moore, Britney Spears, Mike Tyson or Andre Agassi…
Nor does it have dozens of casinos where you can spend the night in a honeymoon suite at a discount price (as long as you can spend your salary on the slot machines or roulette), or eat all you can eat at a buffet for five dollars, or – for that matter – buy a pistol or a semi-automatic rifle, for which in Nevada you only have to be eighteen years old, not be illegal, a fugitive or a drug addict or have been convicted of domestic violence, or spent more than a year in jail, or generally being sick in the head (although the latter is susceptible to various interpretations).
There is one casino, the one in Copenhagen, one of the seven in Denmark, and an evening in its halls is part of the packages that for just over 500 euros (flights apart) are offered by agencies specialized in organizing express weddings. Their business has skyrocketed since Brexit due to the increase in bureaucracy and paperwork in the United Kingdom, and because British officials have become allergic to the office and try to do all the paperwork from home, in their pajamas, with the delays that that entails. In Denmark you have the ring on your finger or the certificate in your hand faster than it takes to get a stamp in Manchester.
Denmark has one of the most liberal and simple legislation for marriage, whether between people of the same or different sex, and of any nationality. It is only a matter of proving that the relationship is real, for which photos or messages on WhatsApp are enough, and proof that you are widowed or divorced if that is the case. When the application is submitted online, the authorization is accepted (almost always) or denied within a maximum of five business days, but it is also possible to delegate the bureaucracy to an agency that takes care of everything, except saying “Yes, I do.” (“ja eg gor”, yes I want).
In 2019, the City Council issued 2,266 marriage certificates among Danes and 2,797 (almost the same) among foreigners; but last year the first figure dropped to 2,440, and the second skyrocketed to 4,310, almost double, leading to the city being nicknamed the Las Vegas of the Baltic. Although more than one hundred thousand fast-track weddings are celebrated annually in the Nevada oasis, another league…
Brexit has made life very difficult for international couples in Great Britain, even if they are Europeans. On the one hand, the obligation to present the original of the birth certificate, with the Hague apostille, and give 28 days’ notice. Additionally, if a German or Spanish citizen does not meet the minimum salary requirements for an immigrant visa, she can marry a special boyfriend or girlfriend, but without the right to work and possible problems every time she visits.
The tradition of getting married in the Nordic country began after World War II, when American soldiers stationed in Germany crossed the border with their girlfriends. Today there are many civilians from all over who say “jeg elsker dig” (I love you).
