Destination wedding ideas, and how to choose a location.

Destination wedding ideas hold up when they start from a limit: stay in the US if most guests live there, take a small group to the Amalfi Coast or Lake Como, or start in the value tier with the Algarve or Puglia. Find the row that describes you.

For a place-by-place comparison with months, flights and paperwork, see the guide to the best destination wedding locations.

Destination weddings in the US take two jobs off the list: guests who live in the country need no passport, and you marry on a state marriage license instead of working through a foreign registry.

Guests fly on a REAL ID driver’s license or state ID. The Transportation Security Administration has enforced REAL ID for domestic flights since May 7, 2025, and accepts a passport in its place.

The license comes from a state or county office, and the rules differ: Hawaii has no waiting period, while South Carolina holds the license for 24 hours after you apply. The marriage license table below covers six places.

For more places, browse North American wedding destinations or wedding venues in the United States by state.

The best destination wedding locations in the US depend on the setting you want: Maui for beaches, Napa Valley for wine country, Lake Tahoe for a mountain lake, Sedona for red-rock desert, and Charleston or Savannah for a historic city.

These are the six US places with a full Aisle guide, so read the list as a starting point and not a ranking. Each guide covers venues, estimated costs and the marriage license.

At wedding destinations in the US, you need a marriage license from the state where the ceremony takes place: Hawaii and Douglas County, Nevada, list no waiting period, while South Carolina holds the license for 24 hours after you apply.

Rules and fees change, so read the office’s page before you book travel around it.

Abroad, the legal route can rule a place out. France marries you only in a commune where one of you, or a parent, has a home or at least one month of continuous residence. Mexican requirements vary by state and municipality: the Baja California Sur civil registry asks foreign couples for apostilled, translated birth certificates, prenuptial tests valid for 15 days and four witnesses. If that does not suit you, marry at home and hold a symbolic ceremony at the destination. See international wedding legal requirements, country by country.

A small destination wedding of about 30 guests can use places that a 150-guest wedding cannot: the Amalfi Coast, Lake Como, Santorini, Mykonos and the Maldives all top out below that size. A short list helps in three more ways.

• You can ask everyone first. Check each guest’s flights, time off and budget before you choose.
• The legal steps fit inside the trip. Hawaii has no waiting period once the license is issued, so you can meet the agent and marry on the same visit.
• Some places are planned small. The Maldives estimate on this page is for 50 guests, not 70.

The budget tiers below are modelled for 70 guests, not 30. The destination wedding budget breakdown shows which lines are priced per guest, and resort packages are covered under all-inclusive destination wedding packages.

For unique destination wedding ideas, change one of three things: the type of place, the month, or the day of the week.

• A different type of place. A castle or historic estate, a vineyard or winery, or a mountain setting such as Aspen or the Swiss Alps in place of a beach.
• The quieter neighbour. Provence, the Algarve and the Tuscan interior are more understated than the Amalfi Coast, Santorini or the Maldives. Puglia, Paros and mainland Greece sit in the value tier.
• A shoulder-season or midweek date. The weeks between peak and off-peak often combine good weather with reasonable prices, and with under 10 months to plan a midweek date is often the way in.
• A long trip for a short list. See long-haul destination wedding locations.

To choose a destination wedding location, apply three filters in this order: where your guests live, what you can spend, and the kind of weekend you want. Guests come first because that is the one you cannot change.

1. Guest geography. Where the larger part of your guest list flies from sets the region.
2. Budget tier. Value, mid, premium or luxury, chosen before you fall for a venue.
3. The kind of weekend. Party or retreat, formal or informal, food-led or scenery-led.

The filters should leave two or three places. A site visit, a call with a destination wedding planner or a close read of each destination’s guide decides between them. A place you loved on holiday is a fair starting point; run it through the same filters before you book.

Get married where the larger part of your guest list can arrive on a direct flight or with one connection. List your guests’ main departure cities, then compare routes, connections, travel time and cost from each, for the season of the wedding.

One connection is fine. Treat two as a warning sign. A long trip can also be hard for reasons other than price: time off, health or caring responsibilities. Ask close family and friends what is workable before you commit, and let guests decline without pressure.

The guest travel cost estimator builds a travel budget in US dollars from guest groups, flight costs and hotel rates that you can edit, and one collection gathers the wedding destinations with shorter flights. If you wanted a quiz, the wedding style quiz asks seven questions and suggests a style, a palette and venue types.

Destination wedding location ideas sort into four budget tiers, from the Algarve, Puglia, mainland Greece and Paros at the value end to the Maldives at the top. Every figure is a modelled planning estimate, not a quote. Where a destination’s guide has a cost table, the figure is its typical total for 70 guests over three days. Where it has none, the figure is a band labelled a summary estimate, with no line items behind it.

The typical totals come from the destination guides, which price venue hire, catering, planner, photography, flowers and music line by line; the Algarve, Tuscany and Lake Como guides, among others, also give the cheapest and most expensive totals. Tulum is left out of the tiers: its guide’s estimate, about $151,000, includes a three-day hotel buyout, as the Cabo San Lucas figure includes a resort buyout.

Do not stretch a mid-tier budget over a premium-tier place. Going a tier below what you could afford frees money for food, flowers or a longer stay for guests. For ways to save, see the destination wedding budget tips.

Once guests and budget have cut the list, choose by the weekend you want to host.

• Party or retreat? Mykonos, Ibiza and Tulum lean party. Provence, Tuscany and Lake Como lean retreat.
• Is the food part of the invitation? In Tuscany, Provence, Mallorca and Bali it is.
• Showpiece or understated? The Amalfi Coast, Santorini and the Maldives read as “destination” on camera. Provence, the Algarve and the Tuscan interior are quieter.
• Beach, mountain, villa or city? Tulum and Turks and Caicos suit barefoot ceremonies on sand, Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast have historic villas and cliffside terraces, and Aspen and the Swiss Alps give an alpine backdrop. Charleston and Savannah are the city options among the US guides. Match the wedding to the place: a ballroom wedding does not transplant to a beach.

Browse by type: beach destination wedding venues, mountain destination weddings, European destination weddings and Caribbean and Mexico wedding destinations.

Check the season too: the Caribbean hurricane season runs June through November, and in a Mediterranean summer you pay peak prices for heat and crowds.

With two or three places left, check five things for each before you pay a deposit.

• The venue has your date open in your target month, at your guest count.
• The legal process is one you can live with, or you plan to marry at home.
• Flights from your guests’ main cities are direct or need one connection in that season.
• You have seen portfolios from the photographers, florists and planner the venue works with.
• No political, weather or health risk would make the trip unwise for guests.

If the budget allows, visit your top one or two places 12 to 18 months before the wedding. Walk the ceremony and reception spaces at the hour your events will happen, and eat the caterer’s food. If you cannot visit, arrange video calls with a local planner and ask the venue for photos of recent events.