Get Hitched Abroad

Let’s face it, most couples getting married want their wedding to be spectacular and super-unique, but the choices in Ireland for making that happen are a tad limited. But there are other options out there, like travelling abroad to do the deed.

If you walk up the aisle in another country where same-sex marriage is legal, then your marriage will be legally recognised in Ireland, which means you have the choice of 23 other countries to in which to pledge your undying love for each other. Out of those 23, I’ve picked my top four places.

1 HAWAII, USA

Formed from under-sea volcanoes, Hawaii is a Pacific island chain comprising of hundreds of picturesque islands, big and small. There are eight main islands, of which are O’ahu and Maui are among most popular with visitors. The state’s geographical diversity is astounding, with jagged mountain spires and active volcanoes together with lush waterfalls, sweeping canyons and breathtakingly beautiful beaches.

All this makes it an exceptionally popular wedding destination (don’t believe me? Think of an American sitcom where a married couple decide to renew their vows. Where did you picture them?)

QUEER HISTORY

Same-sex marriages have been legally taking place on the island since 2013 but historically Hawaii has had an accepting view of homosexuality. In the pre Colonial era same-sex activity was an accepted cultural tradition known as Aikāne. Aikāne relationships were open and considered natural by Hawaiians.

British explorer Captain Cook and his crew were utterly scandalised when he was asked by a chief to leave his Lieutenant behind as an aikāne – something that was considered a great honour by the Hawaiians but evidently not by the British, if Cook’s diary entries on the subject are to be believed.

In fact, many behaviours that we now consider socially progressive were commonplace in pre-colonial Hawaii. Aikāne, māhū (transgender people), hānai (adoption), and punalua (multiple lovers) were common and socially acceptable until the advent of colonialism and Christianity. In traditional Hawaiian culture there was no concept of marriage, and relationship statuses were noted by “moe aku, moe mai” or ”sleeping here and there.”

WHY GET MARRIED HERE?

Where else can you get married on a breathtaking beach, and then spend your honeymoon walking around an active volcano? Well, on the island of Pahoa you can do just that. There are organised hikes, boat rides and even scenic flights around the roiling magma.

On Punalu’u Beach on Hawaii’s Big Island, the volcanic influence has created a natural wonder by turning all the beach sand jet-black (caused by basalt from underwater lava vents). This unique environment attracts similarly unique species of endangered wildlife for animal lovers, like the Hawaiian Monk Seal and the lesser-spotted Goth-Billed Sunbather.

2 BERLIN, GERMANY

It’s hard to believe that one of the most sensible countries in the world only introduced full marriage equality this year, especially since that country’s capital is a mecca for European LGBTs.

QUEER HISTORY

As far back as the beginning of the 20th century, Berlin was already a sophisticated, progressive society. In 1896, Der Eigene the first-ever gay magazine, began publication. By the 1920s gay films and pop songs were in circulation and by 1929, the Reichstag made moves to decriminalise homosexuality. This was scuppered by the events of stock-market crash which unsurprisingly drew all governmental focus around that time.

However, in the period between the end of World War I and the beginning of WII, Berlin was a hotbed of LGBT activity and queer publications, movies, cafés, and theatres were commonplace. Unfortunately, all this progress was quickly wiped out by the Nazis who introduced Draconian anti-gay laws in 1935, which criminalised and persecuted those guilty of ‘homosexual fraternisation’.

WHY GET MARRIED HERE?

Berlin has a lot to offer, post-ceremony. There are epic nightclubs, dingy dive bars and everything in between.

Keeping it low-key, Berlin is full of museums, most of which are handily located on Museumsinsel (Museum Island). One that isn’t but is still worth a look is the DDR Museum, which gives visitors a chance to experience what life was like in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The museum has interactive exhibits and over 200,000 artefacts to help build a miserable picture of life behind the Iron Curtain. Spoiler alert, though: a lot of the stuff looks very ‘80s rural Ireland.

3 New Zealand

New Zealand legalised gay marriage in 2013, making it a popular wedding destination for couples from across the Tasman in Australia, where marriage equality is still a matter of public debate.

QUEER HISTORY

Like many other countries, homosexuality was a recognised part of society until the advent of colonialism. There are Maori (the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand) cave drawings depicting same-sex relationships and some English colonisers even wrote about witnessing same-sex activity.

There is an old Maori word which has been recently been adopted and repurposed by LGBT+ activists within the community. ‘Takatāpui’ originally meant ‘a devoted partner of the same sex’, but is now used by activists to convey a sense of both queerness and Maori identity.

WHY GET MARRIED HERE?

If like me you are such a Lord of the Rings nerd that your video shop boss once censured you for playing the trilogy on a continuous loop for seven months, then New Zealand means one thing: Middle Earth. Your first stop should be the pastoral beauty of Matamata, aka The Shire. Although still an active sheep farm (New Zealand is 90 per cent sheep), there are guide tours where fans can wander around Bag End and even treat themselves to an ale or miruvor in The Green Dragon.

Or perhaps you more into geothermal activity and geysers? If so, Rotorua (known as ‘Sulphur City’ due the town’s rotten egg stench, a by-product of the aforementioned geothermal activity) is for you. There are around 500 pools and thermal springs as well as seven active geysers, the most of active of which can erupt to a height of 30 meters.

4 Iceland

Despite having a soul-crushing 20 hours of darkness during the winter months, Iceland is also home to epic volcanoes, lava fields, geysers and some beautiful national parks. You can even go whale-watching in the capital, Reykjavik during the summer and during colder months you might catch a glimpse of the Aurora Borealia (Northern Lights).

QUEER HISTORY

Iceland holds the distinction of having the world’s first openly lesbian Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir. Sigurðardóttir and her partner, Jónína Leósdóttir were the first couple to turn their civil union into a marriage when same-sex marriage became legal in 2010.

Very little documented evidence exists around the proliferation of homosexuals in Iceland pre-1970. When the country’s first gay rights group Samtökin was established in 1978, some of its members were dismayed to discover that there were virtually no records of homosexuality.

Further back, Icelandic Vikings didn’t consider homosexuality a crime, per se, but if a man used it as an excuse not to get married (Viking society was big on breeding), that was illegal. There was even a term for those men: Fuðlogi, which literally translates as “runs away/flees from vagina”.

WHY GET MARRIED HERE?

Iceland is also home to one of the most interesting if intense, museums of all time: the Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft (located in Hólmavík). Sorcery was the widely practiced in Iceland up until the 17th century when the Icelandic Brennuöld (the Icelandic Salem Witch Trials) sort of put an end to all that.

Amid the magical runes and and other spell-binding accoutrements is a singularly gruesome artefact: the nábrók or ‘necropants’, a pair of trousers made from human skin (don’t worry – they’re just a really realistic recreation).

If gruesome museums aren’t yout bag, Iceland is also a nature-lovers paradise, offering unparrallelled unique wedding ceremony opportunies. Ever fancied having your wedding inside in an ice chapel inside Iceland’s second largest glacier? Well you can do just that in Langjökull, a 500 metre long tunnel made of solid ice. Or you can get married at the Blue Lagoon, a bright blue geothermal spring located in the lava Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula, which is the most-visited attraction in Iceland.