Port Stephens, New South Wales

Port Stephens wraps a drowned river valley twice the size of Sydney Harbour in bushland headlands and twenty-six white-sand beaches, an hour north of Newcastle. Couples marry on Shoal Bay's sheltered arc, in the dune country behind Anna Bay, on the marina at Nelson Bay or under spotted gums on the Tomaree headland, with dolphins in the bay for most of the year and whales passing through in winter.

The style here is coastal and unhurried rather than formal: barefoot ceremonies on the sand, receptions in waterfront clubs and resort pavilions, and photographs taken on the Stockton Bight dunes, the largest moving sand mass in the Southern Hemisphere. Tomaree Head rewards the climb with the whole bay laid out below at golden hour, and with the Hunter Valley an hour inland and Newcastle Airport at the door, guests can travel in easily and make a weekend of it.