Those of you who found out pretty early on in the piece re: the engagement also know that the original plan was for us to have the whole shebang in Singapore. This would've meant the tea ceremony and legal wedding ceremony and a small reception dinner taking place overseas, with us having a casual celebratory party here in Perth for all our friends. That was our Plan A.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, Singapore is just not the place to go for a destination wedding. If neither you nor your partner are a Singaporean citizen, one of you must have resided in Singapore for 15 consecutive days immediately before the intended wedding date for your marriage to be legally solemnised there. This doesn't even include the day of your arrival in Singapore!

“The Registrar shall not issue a marriage licence until he has been satisfied by Statutory Declaration made by each of the parties to the proposed marriage that:

a) for couples where at least one party is not a Singapore Citizen or Singapore Permanent Resident, one of the parties to the intended marriage must have been physically present in Singapore for at least 15 days preceding the date of the notice. (Please note that the day of arrival in Singapore is not included.); ”

— Registry of Marriages, Singapore

Source: http://app.rom.gov.sg/reg_info/rom_marriage_rules.asp

Now, I'm absolutely sure there is a logical reason for this. The prevention of Singapore turning into Las Vegas, possibly. But my brain just can't be bothered being open-minded and understanding about this, because it directly interferes with something I wanted! Anyway, I've already had a few hissy fits about it, and it's made a great addition to my long-running comedy series: Reasons Vivienne Finds Singapore Kind of Annoying Sometimes. Its 31st season has just debuted!

Has anyone managed to come up with some legit reasons for this particular policy? Or have you encountered it in other countries? I'd love to know!