A wedding at the Juvet Landscape Hotel in the Valldal valley, Norway

Getting Married in Norway

Q: What is the Juvet Landscape Hotel actually like for a wedding?

A small landscape hotel of glass-walled rooms in forest above a river, familiar from the film Ex Machina. Wedding couples usually book the entire hotel, making the weekend completely private.

Q: Can foreigners legally get married in Norway?

Yes. Norway requires an apostilled certificate of no impediment submitted to the Tax Administration eight to twelve weeks ahead, valid four months. Many couples complete the legal step at home instead.

Q: Is Union Øye worth the journey?

Yes. The 1891 wooden grand hotel sits directly on the Norangsfjord beneath the Sunnmøre Alps, and hosts ceremonies and dinners with remarkable historic atmosphere.

Q: How many days should we plan?

One day for the wedding itself, photographed sunrise to sunset. Three or four nights for the trip, allowing for ferries, drives and weather.

A photographer’s guide to the fjord country, beyond Lofoten.

Western Norway is fjords with mountains standing in them, roads that take the ferry, and two of the best wedding hotels in the world hiding in the folds. I keep coming back, and this is where I would send you.

The Juvet & Valldal

The landscape hotel · glass rooms in the forest

The Juvet Landscape Hotel is a scatter of glass-walled rooms in a forest above a green river, and if it looks familiar, it starred in Ex Machina. Couples take the whole place over and the wedding fills the valley for a weekend.

I have photographed three weddings here and would drive back tomorrow: Ida and James, Nina and Will, who flew from the United States to marry in the valley, and Justyna and Jarrod. It sits about two and a half hours from Ålesund, ferries included, and the drive is part of the argument.

A wedding weekend at the Juvet Landscape Hotel, Norway

The Juvet, above the river

Union Øye & the Hjørundfjord

The 1891 hotel · the quiet fjord

Hotel Union Øye has stood at the head of the Norangsfjord since 1891, a wooden grand hotel from the age when kaisers and climbers came by steamship. The Sunnmøre Alps rise straight from the water around it.

Amy and Ben married here in July, and the hotel carried the whole day: ceremony, dinner, and mountains doing the decoration. If you want history with your fjord, this is the one.

A wedding at Hotel Union Øye on the Norangsfjord, Norway

Union Øye, on the water

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The fjords

The long arms · ferries and patience

Between the famous names run the quieter arms: villages at the waterline, farms on impossible ledges and light that changes by the quarter hour. Distances look short on the map and are not, because the road keeps meeting water.

Christine and Josh married out on the fjord, and the day ran on ferry timetables and weather windows, which is exactly how the west of Norway keeps you honest. Plan margins and the fjords repay them. And the west does not hold all of it: Nicola and Cato flew from Australia to marry on a mountaintop at Norefjell, two hours from Oslo, with their whole travelling family around them.

The fjord, mid-ceremony

Lofoten

The islands · a guide of their own

North of all this, above the Arctic Circle, the Lofoten islands stack granite walls straight out of the sea. They pull couples hard enough that they have a full guide of their own.

Start with Getting Married in Lofoten if the islands are calling: midnight sun dates, winter honesty and the crowd truths included.

The weddings and elopements that got me here.

The Juvet, in Black & White

Justyna & Jarrod

Read the story

What I would tell you before you book the flights.

When to go

Late May to September is the green season, when the ferries run often and the light barely leaves. June trades certainty for the brightest nights. Winter is dark, dramatic and for the committed, and the hotels get quieter and better for it.

Getting there

Ålesund is the airport for everything in this guide, usually reached through Oslo. From there it is a rental car and the ferry network, which is not an obstacle but the itinerary: budget the crossings into the day and enjoy them.

The legal part

Norway asks for a certificate of no impediment from your home country, apostilled, sent to the Norwegian Tax Administration eight to twelve weeks ahead; the certificate holds for four months. Many of my couples sign at home and keep Norway for the day itself, which the fjords do not mind at all.

The questions couples actually ask.

What is the Juvet Landscape Hotel actually like for a wedding?

Nine or so glass-walled rooms scattered through forest above a rushing river, a bath house, and a long table for dinner. Couples usually take the whole hotel, so the wedding owns the valley for a weekend. It is the film set from Ex Machina, and somehow calmer in real life. I have photographed three weddings there and each one felt private in a way venues rarely manage.

Can foreigners legally get married in Norway?

Yes, with lead time. A certificate of no impediment from your home country, apostilled, goes to the Norwegian Tax Administration eight to twelve weeks before the date, and the certificate stays valid four months. Plenty of couples skip the wait, sign at home, and let the fjords host the day rather than the paperwork.

Is Union Øye worth the journey?

If history moves you, more than almost anywhere. The hotel has stood on the Norangsfjord since 1891 and the guest book runs to kaisers and mountaineers. The Sunnmøre Alps come straight down to the water, the rooms creak in the right way, and a wedding there borrows a century and a half of atmosphere without trying.

How many days should we plan?

The wedding needs one: sunrise to sunset is how I work, and the fjords fill a day generously. The trip wants three or four, because the ferries, the drives and the weather all deserve slack, and because leaving the Juvet or Øye after one night is genuinely difficult.

If Norway is on your mind, tell me about it. I would love to help you find your fjord.

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