Portugal

The Algarve

The cheapest and the easiest, at the same time

An unusual combination, and the reason this is the answer more couples should get than do: Portugal is both the simplest country in Europe to marry in legally and roughly 30–40% below Italy for a comparable wedding.

At a glance

Guests: No structural ceiling — beach resorts take exclusive-use bookings across the range.
Budget: Total budgets commonly €20,000–€50,000 and up. Set that against Como, where 50–80 guests starts at €90,000.
Venues: Quinta €5,000–€15,000. Boutique hotel or villa €7,000–€12,000. Beach resort, exclusive use, €10,000–€20,000.
Best months: May–June, then September–October. The longest season of the three Portuguese regions.
The paperwork: No residency test. €500–€1,500 for the documents.

Can you legally marry there?

Open to non-residents

The easiest of the five. No residency requirement, any registry office in the country, and the whole document exercise typically runs €500–€1,500. Allow four to six weeks at the conservatória once the file is complete.

The catch

It is the Atlantic, not the Mediterranean, and couples are consistently surprised by what that means: the sea is cooler, wind is a genuine factor on exposed coastline, and evenings drop further than the daytime temperature suggests. A cliff-top ceremony there is windier than the photographs imply — tell guests to bring something for after dark.

Where these facts come from

Everything above is drawn from these guides, which carry the primary sources and the date each figure was last checked. Requirements and prices change — confirm anything you are about to spend money on with the relevant municipality or your consulate.

Paperwork