Hi all,

We are looking at the possibility of getting married in Switzerland this summer. We are trying to lock our search down to an area. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Imagine you're us where would you pick for your perfect day. So can you think of places that you bring tourists or you love yourself and see if any of these might work for us?

There will be 20 people including 5 children. Our plan is small church wedding, followed by meal in a restaurant with everyone staying in the same pension / guesthouse / small hotel. There are lots of all of these in Switzerland so finding one should be OK once we lock down an area.

Some info on what we're thinking / the "rules" of the search
- if must be < 90 mins from Zurich airport by car / train because of the group size and the kids and people will only be here for 2 nights
- it should not be too built up (eg: not a city like Zurich / Luzern)
- there should be some stunning views of lakes / mountains etc. Some guests have never been to Switzerland and we'd like to "show it off" and get some nice photos!

To help you see where we're going at the moment, we thinking of somewhere maybe like Rigi or Walensee. I know there are stunning places like Jungfrau etc but they are just too much travel for the group we have.

Thanks!
K

schaffhausen rheinfall? it's a popular wedding location.

Good idea, brought our parents there when they came actually but thinking maybe more mountains / mountain views. Give people the more "Alpine" feel of Switzerland maybe?

What religion are you? (and your spouse to be)

Catholic churches are usually more amenable to payment for a wedding service but depending on the canton, Protestant/Reformation churches expect you to marry in your local church.

Catholic. Phoned a few and they do seem open to the idea alright yeah!

quite a lot of villages in the interlaken area which will give you some lake and mountains. but maybe far for you.

Arosa Chapel, in one of the most beautiful locations of Arosa.

Would be better in winter than in summer i think, here is a blog for someone who had a same idea.

The chapel is up on the mountain itself, views amazing.

http://tag7blog.ch/2010/01/17/winter...atalia-sandro/

yeah, honestly that would be the perfect idea - places like Wengen etc are lovely but really is a 3 hour trip from Zurich airport again you sort trains / cogwheels etc. Just too far for us sadly.

Within a smaller radius is Rigi the best place for "Alpine" views? I know Pilatus is lovely too but are less (no) options for places to stay etc. Are there other places I'm not thinking of that would give the same sort of experience / views?

Looks amazing! But is more like a 2.5 hour drive or 3 hours by train. We'll probably be on the train. People will land about 4pm on Friday and leave about 9pm on Sunday with the wedding on Saturday. So that 5-6 hours adds a lot of travel on top of the flights they've already taken. So too far sadly

Oh sorry, got carried away with title and not the detail of your OP,

Erm......., will come back if I have other idea

OK......bit of a reality check here....

90 minutes from Zurich Airport to the top of a snowy Swiss mountain ain't going to happen....it just doesn't work IMO.

So it needs to be a lake - and I think that the only three in that kind of reach are in Luzern, Zurich itself or the southern shore of Lake Konstanz (St Gallen area). You could also make Thun or Interlaken if you are prepared to hike the journey up to 2 hours.

I don't know any places for the first three, but we got married around Lake Thun, so if you can push the distance, I can help. I think that area of the Oberland is probably the "Swissest" of the options

there is a nice chapel on mount rigi. try to call the hotel there for more details.
Also a very nice chapel at Kaltbad, a little lower on the mountain.

Hi thanks for the reply. Just a few tidy ups

We plan a summer wedding in June / July. Place like Rigi for example at c. 2,000m are still mountains

I hadn't thought of St Gallen. I'll look into it, thanks

Thun is probably still too far as we'll be on the train. Although it is a direct train. I'll look into that too. Appreciate the tip!

But if you had to cut it back down to be say somewhere an hour drive from the airport give or take and wanted mountains where would you go?

The Busskirche outside Rapperswil is next to the Lake and has a stunning backdrop of mountains and the Lake.

Be aware that if you book somewhere up in the mountains and the weather is bad (it's much more fickle up high) then you could end up having a wedding in thick mountain mist, or worse.

Maybe somewhere along Lake Luzern, like Weggis? Then it would be a train to Luzern + boat ride. Who doesn't love boats?

I was thinking Spiez, near Thun. It's lovely, but 2 1/2 hours by train. Thun is 2, one stop from Bern. Thun is also lovely, just don't know about churches.

My family came to my wedding in the Netherlands nearly 18 years ago. Quite an operation, so i wish you a lot of patience and good weather.

AFAIK, the "nice" spots are very heavily booked a long time in advance, depending on the date.

That, and the price of things drives people to Germany, Italy or Austria for weddings.
I suggest you widen the search-area also to the German part of the Bodensee (Meersburg, some smaller towns etc.).
It should be reachable via Stuttgart Airport in about 90-120 Minutes (flights should also be cheaper anyway).
In any case, the location should have some sort of "backup-option" in case the weather is bad.
I don't know any specific locations, your best bet would be to ask around at work/EF, search google or go on a scouting-trip yourself...

Am starting to realise that

90min travel by train sounds a little impossible if you want to go up a mountain. Personally I really love Rigi because I had one of my first dates with my husband there. Are you looking for great mountain views or also a church up there to get married at? Or do you want to get married and then see the mountain afterward?

For our "mountain views" we went to the top of Säntis in March while there was still snow. I think it was worth the long journey there!



If your heart is set on mountains and you really want to wow your guests, maybe something around Luzern is a good idea because the boat rides and train rides are fun themselves and Luzern is a very pretty town. We took my brother up Rigi when he visited at Christmas and had a nice hot chocolate on the boat ride across the lake.

Stanserhorn is also nearby Luzern. They have 360º views of the alps that amazed my parents. It takes around 1.5 hrs to get to Stans from Zürich. I'm not sure how long including to get up the mountain, but you could check it out: http://www.stanserhorn.ch They were closed for construction when we were trying to do our wedding shoot but maybe they have reopened.

Good luck!

How about a place like this? It's Urmiberg, above lake Luzern. I have not been myself, this is a photo from friends.Seems to be close to Brunnen, about 1h30 from ZRH airport...