Soccer star marry in Germany to avoid religious red tape

Religious red tape led soccer star Irfan Bachdim and his model girlfriend, Jennifer Kurniawan, to marry in Germany on Friday because performing inter-religion marriage ceremonies is against the law in Indonesia.

Irfan and Jennifer both grew up in Germany.

“We discussed the matter about the different religions with Irfan. They decided to marry abroad because of the restriction in the Marriage Law here,” Erick Rachmanto, Jennifer's manager, said on Friday.

He added that the parents of the bride and groom had given their blessings.

“There's no problem with their wedding. Everything is running smoothly,” he added as reported by kompas.com.

He further said that the couple might hold a wedding reception in Indonesia.

“The date is still unclear,” he added.