Backpacker wedding: easy countries to get married in!

Hi Folks,

My fiance and I need some advice about getting hitched overseas this March. He's Norwegian and I'm Australian and we're trying to avoid cross-continental family dramas by eloping...yeehah!

We'd love to do the deed somewhere cold and snowy...we're dedicated ski bums from way back.

We're currently living in China, so a place that doesn't require us to first travel back to our respective countries and organise witnessed paperwork would be ideal. Anything that can be done by correspondance is A OK.

Any suggestions, tips, ticks or potential problems that we might encounter??

Cheers,

Alessia and Thomas

Congratulations!

You've got a lot of options. I had actually hoped to pass along a really cool site that I recall from years back, but couldn't find it. It was a blog by a couple who was traveling the world and got married in as many countries as they could, according to the local traditions and customs. It was a great site, but sadly I couldn't find it -- maybe someone else will have better luck.

I did find a few things that may be helpful though -- overall you can get married just about wherever you want, just as long as you've got the paperwork in order. Here are some things that might help:

Wedding Traditions and Customs around the World

How to Get Married in Another Country

And this one, just for fun
26 Most Bizzare Wedding Customs from Around the World

If you want super easy.....Las Vegas. You can literally just show up with your passports and be married within a few hours. No extra identification documents required, no x number of days required in country, no waiting period, no need to pre-book anything, and marriage cert should be valid anywhere.