The appeal of a destination wedding is clear: an extraordinary setting, a natural reason for the event to last more than one day, and the convenient social calculus that turns a 200-person obligation into an intimate 40-person gathering by virtue of a flight. The complication is that you're planning something complex, in a country whose regulations you may not know, with suppliers you can't easily visit, for guests whose logistics you can only partially control.
This guide covers the decisions that matter most.
Choosing a location
The first decision is the broadest: which part of Europe suits your wedding. Shortlist Wedding covers venues across the continent — here's how the main regions differ.
Italy
The benchmark for destination weddings — not without reason. The country has an extraordinary concentration of historic venues: hillside convents, lakeside villas on Como and Maggiore, baroque masserie in Puglia, terraced estates in Tuscany. Bureaucracy is real: civil ceremony paperwork for foreign nationals takes 3–6 months and requires notarised documents. Religious ceremonies have their own track. Most couples use a local coordinator whose primary value is navigating this.
Browse venues near Lake Como, Tuscany →
France
The Loire Valley, Provence and the Dordogne each offer different aesthetics: châteaux amid vineyards, stone farmhouses with lavender fields, river-valley estates. French bureaucracy for civil ceremonies is slightly more straightforward than Italian for EU nationals; post-Brexit, UK nationals need additional documentation. The south of France (May–June, September) offers the most consistent weather.
Spain
Spain splits between the mainland (Andalusia, Catalonia) and the islands (Mallorca, Ibiza, Canary Islands). Mainland venues in rural Andalusia — cortijos, historic fincas — offer exceptional value compared to France and Italy. The Balearic Islands command a premium. Weather is the most reliably good in mainland Europe outside Portugal, and the outdoor wedding season runs April to October.
Greece
Santorini and Mykonos are the famous options; Crete, Rhodes, and the mainland Peloponnese are often better value with fewer tourists. Greek bureaucracy for foreign weddings is specific and changeable — a local wedding planner is non-negotiable.
Portugal
The Algarve coast, the Douro wine valley, and the Sintra hills near Lisbon attract growing interest. Portugal has become popular partly because the infrastructure is good, the bureaucracy is manageable (a civil ceremony requires 30 days' notice and is simpler than Italy or Greece), and prices are lower than Spain.
Legal considerations
A destination wedding can mean different things legally. The simplest approach for UK couples: have a legally binding ceremony at home (register office or approved venue), and then hold a blessing or symbolic ceremony at the destination. This separates the paperwork from the celebration.
If you want a fully legal ceremony abroad:
- Research the specific requirements for your destination country at least 12 months ahead
- Budget time and money for certified translations, notarised documents, and local registration
- Use a local wedding planner or coordinator who has done this before — their knowledge of which official to call is worth more than all the research you'll do online
Building your supplier team
Local planner or coordinator
Non-negotiable for international weddings. A local planner handles venue liaison, supplier booking, on-the-day coordination, and the inevitable things that go wrong. Budget 10–15% of total event costs.
Venue
Many European destination wedding venues include an in-house caterer or have preferred supplier lists. These lists exist to maintain quality — the caterer who drives three hours from the city for the venue's preferred price is also the one who knows the kitchen and the timing. Working within the preferred list is usually worth it.
Photography
The destination wedding community has a distinct photographic style — light, airy, sun-drenched, cinematic. Whether that matches what you want from your images is worth thinking about. Ask for full galleries from European weddings, not just portfolio highlights.
Browse wedding photographers for destination weddings →
UK-based versus local suppliers
Some UK couples bring their photographer from home; others book local. The local booking is usually cheaper and eliminates accommodation and travel costs. The UK booking gives you someone you've met in person and whose work you know well. Both approaches work.
Guest logistics
For a 40–80 person destination wedding, group accommodation makes planning cleaner. Many European venues have accommodation on-site or in attached gîtes, cottages or farmhouses. Booking a block of rooms at a nearby hotel and providing a coach transfer is the alternative.
What guests need to know, early:
- Destination and dates (obviously — give 12 months minimum)
- Whether the venue has accommodation and how to book it
- Nearest airports and rough flight costs
- What level of dress to expect for different parts of the event (outdoor ceremony ≠ formal)
- Whether there are pre- or post-wedding dinners, and what they cost
Realistic costs
Destination wedding costs depend enormously on destination, season and guest count. Some benchmarks:
- A Provençal château for 60 guests in September: venue hire £5,000–£15,000, catering £120–£180 per head
- A Mallorcan finca for 50 guests: venue hire £4,000–£12,000, catering £100–£160 per head
- A Tuscan villa for 40 guests: venue hire €8,000–€25,000 (all-inclusive packages common here)
Add flights and accommodation for UK guests (estimate £300–£800 per person for travel and accommodation over a long weekend) and the total commitment for guests is significant. This is why destination wedding guest lists tend to be smaller and more intentional.
Where to start
Browse European wedding destinations →