Chloe & Ryan

Terrace ceremony with the lagoon underneath and, entirely by accident, a paraglider in the background of the first-kiss photograph.

Sixty-two guests from Dublin and Cork, all in the same hotel, all still talking about it.

Why Fethiye

Because of the flights. Chloe and Ryan looked at Kalkan first and did the arithmetic on sixty-two people driving two and a half hours from Dalaman, twice. Ölüdeniz is an hour from the same airport with the same coastline, and the saving in time and complaint across that guest list was decisive.

Late September

The last week of September is the quiet favourite for Irish and British couples, and the reason is not weather: the week falls outside most school holidays, and flight prices drop accordingly. When a third of your guest list is bringing children, that fortnight is worth planning around. The flights and airports piece goes into it properly.

The paperwork

Signed at home in Ireland beforehand. The Irish checklist is on the site for couples who want to do it the other way, and Irish apostille processing runs slow in summer. Start ten weeks out if you go that route.