Irish wedding in Sorrento, in a fairytale location

Half a lifetime after spending their honeymoon in Sorrento, Margaret and her better half return to the jewel of the Amalfi Coast for their son’s wedding. Following in the footsteps of a growing number of Irish citizens who have married abroad.

If the wealth of a country were to be calculated by the size and opulence of its weddings, Ireland would rank first with Qatar.

If you go to any wedding ceremony anywhere in Ireland, you’ll encounter everything from photo booths to candy; from glittering ballroom floors to gilded thrones; from checkered curtains to exorbitant wedding gifts.

That’s fair enough if your father owns an oil well and the guests are all lottery winners. For many others, Irish weddings can be too much. Those tales of torrential waterfalls and flights of incontinent doves are not all urban myths.

But there is an alternative, and it seems more and more couples are opting for it – moving abroad for the wedding. According to official statistics, more than 3,000 Irish citizens celebrated their nuptials abroad last year, with Italy being the most popular destination.

And we actually attended one of them.

The bride and groom had decided on a small, low-key August wedding in the seaside town of Sorrento, a Mediterranean jewel perched on the Amalfi Coast overlooking the Bay of Naples.

Based on its climate (August is the hottest and sunniest month in Sorrento, with an average temperature of 24 °C, cooled by a gentle sea breeze); the choice of venue would be a problem. Natural scenery, world-class cuisine and accessible transport (Aer Lingus flies regularly to Naples, which is only an hour away from Sorrento, with excellent transport links) and it’s no wonder this clifftop idyll is one of the most popular wedding destinations in Europe.

With wedding planners on hand to organise everything from the wedding ceremony to the reception, transport, floral decorations, hairdressers and make-up artists, photographers, entertainment, legal paperwork and honeymoon. Couples are happy and their guests just need to relax and let go.

Wedding in Sorrento, fairytale location. Casa Vacanze La Terrazza comfortably accommodates you and your family

And so in Sorrento, my husband and I experienced the excitement of finally seeing our wedding venue again.

Little had changed in the intervening years: the pastel-coloured houses still clung to the rocks like mussels to reefs. Bus drivers and taxi drivers still raced madly around vertiginous mountain bends. And the air was still imbued with the scent of citrus fruits, with lemons the size of turnips, lemon-scented soap, lemon liqueur. Lemons adorned everything from postcards to towels from tea to fruit bowls.

In 1977, with airline baggage restrictions still far away, we returned laden with enough lemonized dishes to feed an army. Now, with the confusion of a life accumulated, we are collecting only memories.

In our pre-wedding free time, we decided to retrace our steps to some of the region’s most iconic attractions. First, to Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried under tons of volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. On our first visit here, the sheer impact of the place left us breathless.

Nearly 40 years later, Pompeii has lost none of its power to amaze and confuse: the sunken amphitheater, one of the oldest human structures on Earth and capable of seating up to 12,000 spectators. The stunning bronze, marble and terracotta sculptures scattered throughout the city. A loaf of bread—the last piece of toast—charred in an oven. Mosaics and graffiti, still alive and vibrant after nearly 2,000 years, depicting a way of life that disappeared in a flash.

Even with so many tourists – as one of the country’s most popular attractions and a UNESCO World Heritage Site – Pompeii stands out. Walking in the chariot tracks along its cobbled streets is like stepping back in time.

Coming back to the present and, after having missed the first visit to Capri, we went by boat to this legendary island.

Stretching across just four square miles of sun-kissed limestone cliffs, pine forests and cactus- and pine-covered shores, Capri is imposing, with a history stretching into the pebbles of time. Over countless millennia it has been home to everything from Neolithic Man, the Phoenicians and the ancient Greeks and Romans. In more recent times, Capri’s stunning vistas, Michelin-starred restaurants, boutiques and designer hotels have welcomed the international jet set that has regularly approached on private yachts, helicopters and luxury cruise ships. Fay Dunaway, Liz Taylor and Sophia Loren have all spent time on Capri, and Mariah Carey is said to have a villa in the hills overlooking the fabled Blue Grotto.

You could spend forever here just people-watching and shopping – but we had to go to a big wedding.

And although, between churches and beaches, villas and lemons, there are perhaps many wedding venues in Sorrento, where weddings are celebrated, there would have been only one suitable place for this wedding party.

Located in the center of Sorrento, but a world away from its 21st-century vibe, the Convent of San Francesco is set within a 19th-century Franciscan convent overlooking Mount Vesuvius. A hybrid of architectural styles nestled among ancient vines and fragrant wisteria.

This cloister, trodden for centuries by the topped feet of countless Franciscan friars, resonates with atmosphere and birdsong. Close your eyes, stay a while and you can almost hear the habits as generations of friars rushed to prayer.

We came here as newlyweds, captivated by the history and the timeless beauty of the place. We learned recently that our son would one day marry the girl of his dreams – and ours – in this place.

Then, in a flurry of confetti, a vintage VW convertible, identical to the bride’s father’s beloved and lamented first series of cars, set off to ferry the newlyweds to their cliffside reception. And later, as the Bay of Naples faded from aquamarine to lilac in the evening sun, we raised a glass to the happy couple and promised to return one day.

Because that’s the thing about Sorrento – once you’ve been there, you always, always want to go back.