When it comes to weddings—just like real estate—location counts. One of the all-time best weddings I’ve attended was held on a hot July day in the backyard garden of a house in gorgeous Qualicum Beach, BC. The reception followed at an oceanfront restaurant, the sound of lapping waves and gulls mixed with the music of a jazz trio. Everyone mingled on the deck, champagne in hand, while the sun set over the beach. It was a heavenly getaway, as intimate and memorable for us as it was for the happy couple who arranged it from their hometown of Edmonton, AB.

Destination weddings—or running away to get married, albeit with close family and friends in tow—have exploded in popularity. And why not, when you can roll your wedding and honeymoon into one glorious vacation accompanied by the people you love most in the world? Plus, destination weddings tend to be smaller, hence typically less expensive, even when factoring in travel costs.

In keeping, here are a few idyllic locales where you can elope with your entire clan for the wedding of your dreams in Canada. 

1. British Columbia: Picture lavender fields forever and the two of you saying your vows in waving fields of purple blooms at the Okanagan Lavender Herb Farm overlooking Okanagan Lake. With average summer temperatures of 27 degrees C (81 degrees F) British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley (wine country) is one of Canada’s sunniest regions, famous for its wedding-friendly orchards and wineries. Capture the mood of a Mediterranean hillside and get married on the lakeview veranda at Cedar Creek Estate Winery in Kelowna, BC. The bonus—a chance to serve your guests Cedar Creek’s international-medal-winning wines.

Play a game of count the garden weddings from your balcony at Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa in southwestern BC while surveying the panoramic lake and mountain views. Your wedding party can dance the night away in the swanky 1950s-era Copper Room to live music by the house band, then soothe away any post-nuptial hangovers the next day in the hot-spring pools kept at a balmy 30 to 38 degrees C (86 to 100 degrees F).

Luxe with the utmost in privacy? Then make like Canadian Ryan Reynolds and starlet bride Scarlett Johansson did in September, 2008: fly into Clayoquot Wilderness Resort to say “I do.” Saddle up to go horseback riding through this pristine coastal reserve before—or during—the nuptials.   

2. Alberta: Quiet music (guitars, flutes and harps) is welcome, though no confetti allowed. And you must be bear-aware to get married in the great outdoors at spectacular Banff National Park, AB. It’s free; you and your guests—maximum 20 people—only need a park pass. You can use the day-use areas and shelters till 11 pm. There are plenty of luxury accomodations close by, too, in the lovely mountain towns of Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise; all three are prime, postcard-pretty wedding destinations in themselves. Canadian figure-skating world champs Jamie Salé and David Pelletier chose the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel to host their special day. You don’t have to be a champion, but you will feel like royalty in this castle in the Rockies.

3. Saskatchewan: Get hitched at a country ceremony in Craven, SK, just 20 minutes north of capital city Regina. Saskatchewan is the reputed “Land of Living Skies,’’ and in this wide-open setting you can be married on a beautifully landscaped acreage with gardens, ponds and a waterfall, plus two outdoor fire pits and a campsite. Everything’s provided—from the wedding tent and tables to the dance floor and DJ booth. Arrangements for catering are left up to you.

4. Ontario: There is nowhere in Canada more famous for weddings than Niagara Falls, ON, the so-called Honeymoon Capital of the World. It’s all here for you, from planners to chapels, florists, photographers and limos, to 50 area hotels and the neon-bright Fallsview Casino Resort. Tie the knot, then sail away on a romantic Maid-of-the-Mist boat tour as fireworks light up the falls. Or get married in a park gazebo in quieter, pastoral Niagara-on-the-Lake, just 25 minutes away, and home to world-famous wineries and theatre.

5. Prince Edward Island: If your heart is set on a storybook wedding—literally—fans of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables can make like protoganists Anne and Gilbert and declare their love in Avonlea theme village in Cavendish, PEI. Or go boldly barefoot for a wedding on the red-, pink- and champagne-coloured sands of PEI’s stunning beaches. 

6. Quebec: Scandinavia has them, but this is the only place in North Amerca where you can get married in a cathedral of ice. From January to the beginning of April, the Hôtel de Glace in Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, a half-hour west of Québec City, QC, swings open the elegant doors to the ice chapel. Ride in style to your ceremony in a horse-drawn carriage. Walk the red carpet in an elegant robe of winter white. Sip champagne from handmade ice flutes. The services of a wedding planner are included in the ice hotel’s Romantic, Exotic and Magical wedding packages.