The Destination Wedding Index 2021
Thinking about getting married abroad? Well, you’re not the only one! There are so many reasons why having a destination wedding could be right for you. Beautiful locations, fantastic weather and vibrant cultures are all big draws for couples looking to make the very most of their big day.
To make things easier, we’ve once again compared information on some of the most sought-after wedding locations, comparing factors such as the weather, hotel prices and how LGBTQ+ friendly they are.
Take a look at our ranking to find the best location for your destination wedding.
Top 3 Wedding Destinations
1. Las Vegas
Once again Las Vegas takes the top spot as the best place for a destination wedding. With warm temperatures and plenty of sun to brighten your big day, and a lack of rain to spoil it, Las Vegas has excellent weather for weddings.
This classic choice is one of the most searched-for wedding destinations out there, and it’s a fantastic place for wedding photos, judging by the number posted on Instagram. It’s difficult to beat a city where weddings are such a big part of the local culture.
2. Majorca
In second place comes the sunny island of Majorca. This Mediterranean getaway is a popular holiday destination for many Europeans, especially here in the UK. The warm weather and hospitable local culture lead many of us to fall in love with Majorca, making it an ideal place to tie the knot.
3. Sydney
Taking third place is Sydney, home to many beautiful locations from the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, to a plethora of stunning beaches from Bondi to Manly. It’s no wonder that this city is a hugely popular location for wedding photographs!
The Most Desired Wedding Location
Las Vegas takes the top spot as the most desirable place to tie the knot, winning this accolade two years running.
The Destination Best for Wedding Photos
The most Instagrammed wedding destination is the beautiful city of Sydney, with 496,201 posts.
The Cheapest & Most Expensive Wedding Destinations
Niagara Falls in Canada is the most affordable destination, where a five-star hotel room will cost an average of £94 a night, while the Florida Keys are the most expensive, at £561 per night.
The Wedding Destination for the Best Weather
Two locations are tied as the warmest with Honolulu and Florida Keys recording the highest average temperature (25.4˚C). However, the driest place is Los Cabos in Mexico, with just 15.9 days of rain each year.
Wedding Destination with the Best LGBTQ+ Score
Scoring 8 out of 9 for being LGBTQ+ friendly, Portugal’s Lagos and Lisbon along with Franschhoek in South Africa are tied for first place.
Methodology
We compiled a list of some of the most popular destinations for weddings abroad and compared them against seven factors which we combined to create an overall score.
We recorded the average temperature and number of rainy days that each location experiences. We also found the average cost of a 5* hotel room for one night. The temperatures and rainfall figures came from www.weatherbase.com and hotel prices from www.booking.com.
Next, we used https://www.equaldex.com to assess how LGBTQ+ friendly each country was, and whether they allow gay marriage, civil ceremonies, or have no official recognition for gay couples. We excluded countries where homosexuality is illegal and the countries that don’t allow gay marriage or only allow civil unions. There were 9 other societal factors that we noted, awarding 1 point for every time the country’s policy was LGBTQ+ friendly, giving a score out of 9.
We then looked at relevant hashtags on Instagram for each location and recorded the number of posts of the most popular hashtag in each instance.
Additionally, we looked at search data using Google Keyword Planner to see how frequently each wedding location was searched for using appropriate search terms such as “Getting married in X” or “X Wedding”. We recorded the monthly UK searched for each term.
We combined these seven factors to create an overall score for each location, ranking them from one to fifty, and allowing us to see the top performer in each specific category.
