Popular European city limits foreign weddings after ‘crazy’ surge in demand

Officials in a beautiful European city are cracking down on a new strand of foreign tourism – ‘location weddings’, which have surged in number over the last few years. Copenhagen City Hall performed around 8,000 wedding ceremonies last year – more than half of which were for couples who didn’t live in Denmark – according to the Associated Press. In response to complaints from locals who have been unable to get married in their home city, 40% of the weddings in Copenhagen will be reserved for residents from October.

The city’s reputation as the ‘Las Vegas of Europe’ is due in part to its liberal marriage laws, with only a valid passport or visa needed for a civil ceremony. For many, including mixed-nationality and same-sex couples, it offers an attractive and hassle-free way to say “I do”, in a historic and ornate setting. On the ground, though, public discontent is palpable. “I can see, if you’re Danish, how it would be really frustrating,” Leanne Hindle, director of Marry Abroad Simply, which organises weddings in Denmark and elsewhere, said.

“You pay your taxes and you live there, and you just can’t married,” Ms Hindle told the New York Times. “There’s so many people from other countries coming to Denmark to get married,” wedding planner Cecilie Julbo added. “It’s really crazy.”

Karen Dulong, who lives in Copenhagen, was set on getting married on March 8, the sixth anniversary of when she told her partner she really liked him. When she called to book a slot at City Hall last year, however, it was already booked, leaving her little choice but to find a registrar elsewhere.

Danish journalist Ida Rud was also hoping to book a last-minute summer slot after becoming pregnant in 2023. “I thought it could be kind of spontaneous,” the Copenhagen local said.

After learning that there were no Saturdays free at City Hall until November, Ms Rud eventually settled on a date in September 2024, well after she had given birth. “We just couldn’t find a date that worked for us,” she explained. “We had to really compromise.”

Alongside reserving 40% of ceremonies for local couples, the city’s authorities will increase its total wedding capacity from 8,000 to 10,000 from next year.

The strain caused by the excess demand was evident in a major error uncovered earlier this year, when it emerged that Copenhagen had accidentally charged almost 15,000 couples, many of them foreign, around $3.6 million (£2.6 million) in illegal wedding fees. According to Danish law, locals and foreigners alike should be able to marry at City Hall for free.

The fees have since been abolished and local authorities have budgeted money for refunds. 

The relaxed rules around civil ceremonies, seized upon by many same-sex couples unable to marry at home for legal reasons, have spurred some to admit they’d be happy to keep paying the fees, especially against the backdrop of a volatile political climate in the US and Europe.

Jamie Kilbane, an Irishman who lives in Berlin, paid roughly $385 (£285) to marry his husband in July, which will likely now be refunded. “I would pay it again in a heartbeat,” he said.