Couples travel to Berlin from all over the country to officially register their relationship here. The capital's registry offices have sensed the new trend in time, duly appreciated the unusual market niche, and offer marriage registration in the most unexpected places. The registry office of the central Berlin district of Mitte is especially famous for this. "We register people at the TV tower, on one of the twenty-five ships of the river fleet, recently we held a wedding ceremony in a casino, in the Kaiser Hall on Potsdamer Platz, in the Opera Palace, so the palette is quite extensive," said the director of the registry office, Rainer Ahnert.
About half of those marrying at the Mitte district registry office are out-of-town couples, and Berlin is the leader of German wedding tourism. Official registration of a family union has ceased to be a purely administrative event in Germany: you go in, say "yes", sign, and in the evening - to a restaurant. No, now the act of marriage is becoming a ritual whose course its participants want to determine themselves. According to a study conducted by the German magazine "Bride and Groom", since the early 90s there have been more and more lavish weddings, for the organization of which newlyweds or their relatives spend ten thousand euros or more. For example, spending on wedding dresses and all sorts of accessories for them has increased by almost a third: special stockings and shoes, a handkerchief and silk gloves, flower wreaths, not to mention the veil.
However, this is not just fashion, but also a reflection of profound changes in German society. According to sociologist Professor Jo Reicherts from Essen, "this is due to the fact that the age at which people marry here is getting higher. People have become more cautious. They now marry not at 18 or 19, but after completing their studies and landing a decent job." But since by that time couples usually have already been living together for a long time, many feel that they have missed something and need to catch up. And the wedding should become an unforgettable event. That is why there is a trend towards holding all sorts of unusual wedding ceremonies.
Moreover, Professor Reicherts sees in this also a reaction to the very high divorce rate - 33% of all marriage unions concluded in the Federal Republic of Germany break up again. The more refined the ritual, the more pomp - the stronger the faith in the sacred bonds of marriage during times of family crises.
The registry office of Berlin's Mitte district, of course, gives no guarantees, but is ready to satisfy almost any whim. Rainer Ahnert once conducted a marriage ceremony on board an airplane. The pilot of a battered Antonov had to circle over the very center of Berlin, fly from the TV tower to the high-rises on Potsdamer Platz and, making a sharp turn, back again. After all, an employee of the Mitte district registry office can register a marriage only on the territory of that very district or, as an exception, in the airspace above it.