Know the place before you choose the venue

Villas, castle estates, palazzi and grand hotels, from the lakes of the north to Sicily. Every venue has been checked against its own official sources.

Amalfi CoastThe most vertical wedding in the world. 4 venues→ Lake ComoTimeless lakeside theatre — villas, water and light. 2 venues→ PugliaWhere stone walls hold centuries of ceremony. 7 venues→ RomeWhere history and ceremony become one. 7 venues→ SardiniaWild coast. Ancient stone. Unmatched light. 3 venues→ SicilyAncient island. Extraordinary light. 5 venues→ TuscanyWhere the landscape is the ceremony. 37 venues→ UmbriaItaly's green heart, unhurried and unexploited. 11 venues→ Venice and the VenetoPalladian villas in the wine hills. The architecture of the Venetian Republic. 7 venues→

The United Kingdom collection begins in London, from the ballrooms of Mayfair and Park Lane to the livery halls of the City of London. Every venue has been checked against its own official sources.

KentThe Garden of England: oast houses, medieval castles, and England's finest vineyards. 4 venues→ LondonThe world's most connected city and one of its finest wedding stages. 50 venues→ YorkshireEngland's largest county: dales, moors, abbeys, and a wedding landscape without compromise. 4 venues→

Cyprus is the easternmost island of the Mediterranean and the one with the longest summer: dry, sunny and warm from early April to late October, with no rain to speak of between May and October. Weddings are held on the beaches and in the resort hotels of Paphos, Limassol, Larnaca, Ayia Napa and Protaras, in the sea caves and at the rock of Aphrodite on the west coast, and in the small Byzantine chapels of the Troodos mountains. Civil marriage is performed by the municipality's marriage officer, at the town hall or at an approved venue, after fifteen days' notice or sooner on a special licence.

CyprusThe whole Mediterranean on one island, and a town hall that marries you within the month. 6 venues→

Malaysia is a wedding destination that works all year, provided the coast is chosen for the month: Langkawi and the west from November to April, the east-coast islands and Sabah's Borneo from March to October, and Kuala Lumpur's hotels whenever. A civil marriage for a non-Muslim couple is registered with the National Registration Department after a twenty-one-day notice; the beach or garden ceremony follows it.

MalaysiaTwo coasts, two monsoons, and the right island for every month of the year. 2 venues→

Malta is three islands of limestone in the middle of the Mediterranean, an hour or so south of Sicily: Valletta's baroque churches and the palaces of its knights, the walled citadel of Mdina, the Grand Harbour and its gardens, and Gozo, the quieter sister island. A civil marriage may take place at the Marriage Registry or at any public place the Registrar has approved beforehand, which is why terraces, gardens and palazzi marry couples here. Apply at least three months ahead; there is no residency requirement.

MaltaHoney-coloured stone, a harbour at every turn and a registry that marries anyone, anywhere approved. The guide→

Romania is the castle country: Bran and Peleș in the Carpathians, the fortified Saxon towns of Brașov, Sibiu and Sighișoara, the forests and alpine villages of Transylvania, and a capital, Bucharest, of boulevards and belle-époque palaces. Only a civil marriage at the town hall is legally valid, concluded eleven to fourteen days after the declaration of marriage; a religious or symbolic ceremony at the castle or in the garden follows it. April to June and September to October are the months to marry here.

RomaniaCastles in the Carpathians, Saxon towns and a town hall that marries in a fortnight. 1 venue→

Turkey takes a wedding to the water: the Ottoman palaces and waterfront mansions of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, the marinas and beachfront resorts of the Bodrum peninsula, the Mediterranean beaches below Antalya, the yachting harbours of Fethiye and Göcek, the vineyards and olive groves of Urla behind Çeşme, and inland, the cave hotels and balloons of Cappadocia. Only a civil ceremony before the registrar is legally binding; a religious or symbolic ceremony is held beside it.

TurkeyThree seas, the Bosphorus and the Aegean light. 11 venues→

The United Arab Emirates is seven emirates along the Arabian Gulf. For a foreign couple the legal marriage and the celebration are two separate decisions: the civil ceremony takes place at the Civil Family Court in Abu Dhabi, which marries visiting couples with no residency requirement, and the celebration can follow in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah or the desert. The winter months are warm and dry; the summer heat is severe.

United Arab EmiratesA civil ceremony in Abu Dhabi, then the celebration wherever the Emirates' coast or desert suits you. 9 venues→