The guide
How to get married abroad without losing your mind
Everything I have learned photographing weddings in eleven countries, in the order you will need it. Twenty minutes to read.
Getting married somewhere you do not live is easier than it looks and harder than the internet suggests. Almost all of the difficulty is administrative, and almost none of it is on the day itself.
Start with the paperwork, not the venue
Every couple I have photographed abroad has done this in the wrong order: they fall in love with a place, book it, and then discover the residency requirement is thirty days. Find out what the country actually requires first, and let that narrow the list.
Most couples solve it by marrying legally at home, quietly, a week or two before — and then having the wedding they actually wanted, with a celebrant, wherever they like. Nobody at the party can tell, and the photographs are identical.
Light decides your timings, not the caterer
A three o’clock ceremony in southern Italy in July means everyone squinting and nobody comfortable. Half past five is a different wedding entirely, and it costs nothing to move.
Work backwards from sunset. Everything else on the day can move; the sun cannot.
Guests will forgive almost anything except being hot and hungry
Shade, water and something to eat within an hour of the ceremony. That is the whole of guest experience abroad, and it matters more than the flowers.
Three places I would go back to tomorrow
Val d'Orcia, Tuscany
A single chapel, cypresses, and light that does most of the work for you. Easiest of the lot for paperwork.
Lisbon
City weddings with a coastline forty minutes away. Cheap to fly to and warm eight months of the year.
The Amalfi coast
Beautiful and genuinely difficult — narrow roads, steep steps, and worth every bit of it.
The twelve-month timeline
A single page telling you what to do and when, from the year out to the week before. Free, and no follow-up sequence.
Point this form at your own mailing list in the setup guide. It sends nowhere until you do.