Denmark’s love festival redefines wedding

Marry in a castle, in a former church transformed into a contemporary art center, or on a Viking boat? Almost anything is possible during the 2025 edition of the Golden Days festival, which celebrates love through such events organized in various locations in Copenhagen and its surroundings, AFP reports.

On September 13, 50 couples from Denmark and around the world were married in unusual ceremonies from a European traditions perspective. Prior to this, civil ceremonies had been held in private, ensuring the legal validity of these unions, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

“Dark clouds are hovering over Europe right now (...), what could be better than love, not only as a means of escape, but also as a genuine attempt to bring people together,” said the festival’s director, Svante Lindeburg.

One of the officiants, trans artist Noah Umur Kanber, wanted to create “a performance that was fun, dramatic, and at the same time emotional.”

The wedding-performance she organized took place in a former church that now houses a contemporary art center, Nikolaj Kunsthal. Five couples took part in the event.

“In this context, it was important to me that the cast was made up exclusively of trans people and that each of them represented something from the Bible, a religious symbol, such as angels, God, and the devil,” she explained.

At the beginning of the show, which lasted less than an hour, an angel with a crystalline voice answered the lamentations of the devil, devastated by the fact that he had “no one to love him.”

To be able to marry during the festival, Danes Josefine and Lasse Gravesen Klint applied along with about 500 other couples.

These thirty-somethings from Copenhagen said that “if we’re not having a traditional wedding and not at city hall, then at least let’s do it in a truly untraditional way.”

The fact that they got married at the same time as others didn’t discourage them.

“I like the idea of a big celebration of love, and love is such a universal feeling,” said the young bride, who works in advertising.

“Even if today only Lasse and I were getting married, we would still share this love with our friends and family. So why not spread the love even more?” she added.

The festival is presenting about 300 plays and events on the theme of love until September 21.