154 couples tie knot in Cyprus in attempt to break record

Israeli and Russian couples get married in mass-wedding ceremony in medieval castle in Lanarca, Cyprus. One-hundred fifty-four Israeli and Russian couples were married in a mass-wedding ceremony in Lanarca, Cyprus on Saturday, according to a Cyprus Mail report.

The Israeli organizers and newly-wed couples hoped to get into the Guinness Book of World Records category for mass-marriages. The Israeli couples boarded a ship from Haifa port Saturday morning and arrived in Lanarca, Cyprus in the afternoon.

There they were greeted by family, friends, and local Cypriots coming just to share in the festivities. The couples were sprinkled with rose water and then bused to Lanarca's medieval castle for the ceremony, according to a Yahoo News report.

After the ceremony, which was conducted in both English and Russian, the couples were bused back to port to celebrate before they went their separate ways, some coming back to Haifa, others continuing their honeymoons in Cyprus, Greece, and beyond.

The event organizer, Natan Uretsky, said in an interview with AFP, "We were told by Guinness that the most couples who got married in a civil ceremony inside 24 hours was 163. We were aiming for 170 but I think we might have fewer than that, although we are hoping to break the record once the certificates are counted."

Uretsky has been bringing Israeli couples seeking civil marriages to Cyprus for decades. Hundreds of Israeli couples choose to get married in Cyprus each year because the island nation performs both same-sex marriages and mixed-faith marriages, which are not conducted in Israel.

Lanarca is proud to be Cyprus' most popular choice for foreigners seeking to get married, although both Ayia Napa and Paphos are choice destinations. The island nation has also seen a recent boom in tourism, particualrly among Israeli and Russian vacationers.

JPost.com - новостной сайт газеты The Jerusalem Post, публикация от 18 июня 2011 г.