When it comes to white weddings, Antarctica could be the most spectacular destination in the world. Exchanging vows against a backdrop of snowy mountains and glaciers is an unforgettable way to start a life together – and the penguins who often serve as marriage witnesses already come dressed in their own black and white wedding attire.
At Swoop, we’re romantics as well as Antarctic experts, and we love helping couples fulfill their polar wedding dreams. But saying ‘I do’ out on the ice requires a bit of extra planning in comparison to other wedding destinations. To help plan the big day, we’ve put together this ultimate guide to getting married in Antarctica.
- Can you get married in Antarctica?
- When should you plan your Antarctic wedding?
- Can you get married in South Georgia?
- Do all Antarctic cruise ships offer legal weddings?
- Can you have unofficial wedding celebrations in Antarctica?
- What to expect from your Antarctic wedding
- Wedding locations in Antarctica
- What to wear for an Antarctic wedding
Can you get married in Antarctica?
Yes! The Antarctic Peninsula—the destination for almost all expedition cruises—is part of the British Antarctic Territory, where it’s possible to get legally married, including for same sex couples. The first official wedding there took place in 2017, between two guides who were working for the British Antarctic Survey at the Rothera Research Station. Since then, it’s been possible for anyone to get legally married in the territory, provided they complete the necessary paperwork.
Hannah Lawson, an Antarctic Expedition Leader who is licensed to perform weddings, explains how things work: ‘Couples need to have their license ahead of time and I have my documents including a copy of the marriage certificate. We fill this out onboard the ship at a later date in the presence of their witnesses.’ Newlyweds get their copy of the marriage certificate, while another copy is sent to the Registrar General to be entered in the register of marriages in the UK.
The legal side of getting married in the British Antarctic Territory depends on where you’re from. If you’re British, tying the knot here is exactly the same as getting married anywhere in the UK. If you’re a non-UK national, you’ll need to consult in advance with your national authorities about registering the marriage at home – something you would need to do when getting married anywhere else overseas. For example, UK marriages are legally valid in the USA, but each state has its own marriage regulations, so you would need to contact your state’s attorney general to confirm that your marriage certificate will be recognised.
When should you plan your Antarctic wedding?
As with all Antarctic cruises, we recommend that you start planning your wedding in Antarctica as early as possible, so that you can get your preferred ship, cabin type and departure all tied up. This is especially important if you’re also planning to include any optional adventure activities like kayaking, camping or snorkelling – these often have limited spots that can book up early, so many of our regular polar travellers book their trips more than a year in advance.
However, if you’re planning to get legally married, it’s important to note that it’s not always possible to confirm which members of the expedition team will be sailing on a particular departure – including those licensed to perform weddings – that far ahead of time. Because of this, we strongly recommend getting in touch with us directly so that we can use our contacts across the polar fleet to confirm which ships and departures are going to suit you best.
In terms of paperwork, you must apply and pay for your wedding license with the British Antarctic Territory Administration: we cannot do this for you. The fee is paid directly and is separate to any of the costs of your Antarctic cruise, and you’ll need to apply for the license three months before your intended marriage date. As most travellers book their Antarctic cruises far in advance, this isn’t usually a problem, but is something to keep in mind should you plan a last minute elopement.
Can you get married on South Georgia Island?
Yes – most years there are a handful of weddings on South Georgia cruises, which are held in the old whaling station of Grytviken in South Georgia. This is home to a beautiful Norwegian church that was erected for the whaling station there in 1913, although the first wedding there wasn’t until 1932. It’s an amazing venue for a wedding.
As South Georgia is a British Overseas Territory, the legal requirements are similar to getting married on the Peninsula. You need to apply for a license three months in advance by completing a Notice of Marriage form from the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI), and paying a fee directly to them. Your wedding will be registered in the Falkland Islands, so you’ll also need to provide copies of your passport and proof of address to the Registrar General in Stanley: full details of how to do this are on the GSGSSI website.
It’s worth noting that in Grytviken, you’ll be married by a government officer rather than a member of your ship’s expedition team. While you can get married inside the church, as there are no registered ministers on the island, ceremonies here are civil affairs rather than religious services.
Do all Antarctic cruise ships offer legal weddings?
No. To get legally married in Antarctica, you need to sail on a ship that has a guide who is also a Marriage Officer for the British Antarctic Territory. Although an increasing number of guides on expedition cruise ships are able to marry travellers, not all ships offer this service.
The first ship in the polar fleet to offer legal marriages in Antarctica was Seaventure. Their long experience helping couples get married makes them one of our preferred ships for weddings, and they can also arrange special wedding packages for clients looking to celebrate their special day. As well as taking care of the legal ceremony, they provide all the other wedding essentials like a cake and a photographer, as well as something uniquely polar: your own private cruise in a ‘just married’ zodiac.
Can you have unofficial wedding celebrations in Antarctica?
If you want to do your official marriage paperwork in your home country, it’s still possible to celebrate your wedding in Antarctica with a special ceremony, no matter which ship you sail on. That’s what Swoop passengers Lauren and Cooper did when they sailed on the Sylvia Earle. They got engaged after they booked their cruise with us, and completed the official paperwork elsewhere.
Swoop worked things out with the ship team to make sure everything went smoothly, discussing what the day would actually look like in Antarctica and taking care of details like champagne. On many occasions, ships will stick to the nautical tradition of having the captain marry the couple, though we’re bound to point out that this is a ceremonial role only. For other couples, a member of the expedition team might do the honours: Lauren and Cooper were married by their paddling instructor, who pulled out his suit and tie for the occasion, and helped write the vows to fit the location.
What to expect from your Antarctic wedding
The first rule about Antarctic expedition cruising is that precise day to day itineraries don’t exist. In Antarctica, the weather always dictates what you’ll do each day. This flexibility is perfect for adventures—no two cruises are ever alike—but it presents an interesting challenge when it comes to planning your big day: how do you set a wedding date?
Helpfully, wedding licenses issued for the British Antarctic Territory or South Georgia are valid for three months after the date of issue, rather than for a specific date, to take into account the flexible nature of cruising.
At the start of the cruise, the Marriage Officer will meet with the couple to explain what they can expect, both for the date and the location of the ceremony. Hannah explains: ‘I’ll look ahead at the weather and the proposed landings for the Antarctic Peninsula and plan for a suitable spot, but the couple are warned that things might change.’
There will be a discussion about what vows have been prepared, and whether the couple prefer the ceremony to be discreet or have other passengers present. The ship’s Passenger Service Manager will often sit in on these meetings, as they take care of some of the practicalities: there may be a wedding cake to bake, or the ship’s bosun may have to make sure that a ‘just married’ zodiac is ready for the proposed day.
‘Humpback whales are the ultimate wedding bombers! I had a pair come up so close to shore and blow just as I was doing the “Do you take?” part of the wedding. We could only pause and laugh!’
‘We actually didn’t pick our ceremony day,’ Lauren explains. ‘It was based on weather conditions and the crew’s discretion. They were able to let us know the day before and confirmed the morning of, which gave us a few hours to get ready. We had at least one false alarm, thinking it would be the day before it actually happened but the ship had to move to a new location due to weather.’
Wedding locations in Antarctica
Although the exact location of the wedding can never be planned in advance, the expedition team will work hard to find the best—and most beautiful—place for the wedding ceremony. The inbuilt flexibility of polar cruising is a real strength here, allowing the team to switch things up to find the perfect backdrop for saying ‘I do.’ This is what happened for Lauren and Cooper.
‘The crew scouted an amazing iceberg near where we were around Girard Bay, commenting that it looked just like a cathedral. We had the ceremony on a zodiac in front of this ice cathedral with an amazing snow-covered mountain in the background. The location was absolutely breathtaking!’
‘So far it’s always worked out that couples have been married in scenic locations,’ adds Hannah. But she notes that while she’s often had penguins in attendance, they haven’t always been the only wedding guests.
‘Humpback whales are the ultimate wedding bombers! I had a pair come up so close to shore and blow just as I was doing the “Do you take?” part of the wedding. We could only pause and laugh!’
What to wear for an Antarctic wedding?
There’s no reason your wedding outfit should be any less special in Antarctica. Brides can still pack a wedding dress – you should just be prepared for weather that hovers around freezing point.
For their Antarctic wedding, Lauren wore her wedding dress with a faux-fur shawl, but kept cosy under her dress with a pair of skin-coloured leggings lined with fleece. Cooper had it perhaps a little easier with his custom wedding suit. ‘On the zodiac boat ride to the location we wore our parkas and life vests, but were able to shed these layers for the actual ceremony,’ Lauren told me, so it’s essential that outfits can fit under these compulsory items.
Footwear is the most crucial wardrobe item. On any Antarctic landing, everyone must wear muck boots: the insulated rubber boots provided by ships that you’ll need for getting in and out of zodiacs. These fashion outrages can be partially hidden by a wedding dress, but fitted smart trousers won’t go over them at all.
In Lauren and Cooper’s case, he was able to wear tennis shoes, as their ceremony was in a zodiac, but weddings on land are a different prospect. Hannah says that the guiding team onboard Seaventure is used to the challenge: ‘We try for a clean-ish spot on snow, and have grooms change into ‘smart’ shoes from muck boots. We take a tarpaulin and have helpers so the couple can remove layers and change footwear if they wish.’
In keeping with Antarctica’s important biosecurity rules however, it’s important to remember that any footwear must be able to be disinfected before and after a landing – so perhaps it’s better to forget the strappy sandals for a polar wedding.
Even stricter rules apply to fresh flowers, which are an absolute biosecurity no-no. Instead, bouquets of paper or plastic flowers are the order of the day in Antarctica.
A day to remember
The most important thing about getting married in Antarctica, advises Lauren, is flexibility. ‘You really just have to go with the flow. Understand you have no control – it’s all up to the continent. If Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate, it could restrict your options, but with the backdrop of icebergs and mountains, there really are no bad locations.’
At Swoop, we love helping couples start their new lives together, so if you would like a truly unique location for your wedding, do get in touch. One thing is for certain, with Antarctica as your backdrop, you’ll have the most incredible set of wedding photos imaginable – very few people can say their wedding album features icebergs and penguins!.
‘Our most shared picture may be our polar plunge which happened immediately after the ceremony,’ says Lauren. ‘We commemorated the occasion by wearing our fur shawl and button-down while the ship’s crew and other guests cheered us on. Nothing says “taking the plunge” like jumping into ice cold water together!’
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