You want your wedding day to be one of the most memorable days in your life, and choosing the perfect location helps you create the wedding of your dreams. America offers many great places to consider, whether you’re looking for somewhere that offers natural beauty, historical significance, a casual atmosphere, or an exciting city vibe. Here are some of the best locations to consider for your wedding.

Oheka Castle in Huntington, NY

Located in Long Island, New York, Oheka Castle offers a grand and historic setting for your wedding. It would be costly but unforgettable. The castle can accommodate up to 550 guests for indoor weddings or up to 1,000 guests if you choose the Gatsby-style outdoor wedding. The outdoor spaces include formal gardens and lawns. You can have your ceremony and reception at this elegant venue, which includes award-winning cuisine and wedding cake. Since the castle is also a hotel, your guests can enjoy convenient and upscale lodging when they’re in town for your wedding.

Dunton Hot Springs in Dolores, CO

If you’re looking for a rustic setting for your wedding with plenty of outdoor activities available, consider Dunton Hot Springs. This 1800s ghost town, located across from Telluride, offers 13 luxurious cabins that you can reserve for up to 44 guests. The cabins have a rugged exterior with high-end interiors, providing the best of both worlds. You can rent the town for your wedding, which includes customized catering and access to all facilities, including a dancehall, open air chapel and bathhouse. Dunton Hot Springs also offers scenic views of the surrounding mountains for spectacular wedding pictures, as well as fly fishing, hiking and other outdoor activities for you and your guests to enjoy.

Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains, TN

Gatlinburg is among the top places to get married in the U.S. In fact, it comes in second just behind Las Vegas. When you plan a Gatlinburg elopement in this area, you can choose from a wide range of venues and picturesque spots. Tennessee makes it easy to get married, and local skilled services abound to help. Gatlinburg has several wedding chapels available, including larger ones to accommodate more guests or smaller ones for a more intimate setting. Accommodations are plentiful, including hundreds of Gatlinburg cabins nestled in the foothills that offer full luxury in a rustic setting. The surrounding Smoky Mountains are impossibly romantic in their own right, and offer multiple stunningly scenic backdrops for an outside wedding ceremony.

French Quarter in New Orleans, LA

The French Quarter of New Orleans is the heart of this charming Southern city, and provides several elegant and enchanting places to have your wedding. You can plan a lively wedding with jazz music at Preservation Hall, or hop aboard Steamboat Natchez for a ceremony and reception on the Mississippi River. The French Quarter also offers large, upscale venues with beautiful views of the city, as well as courtyards filled with magnolia trees and other lush surroundings. More unusual venues to consider include the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, the Old Ursuline Convent Museum and the New Orleans School of Cooking. With a wedding in New Orleans, you can also plan a menu featuring authentic Cajun cuisine.

Napa Valley, CA

Napa Valley is known for its wineries, but it’s also a great place to plan a wedding. A handful of the wineries themselves do hold weddings, and you can find many other venues and outdoor locations to consider for your ceremony and reception. You can have a scenic wedding surrounded by vineyards at Charles Krug Winery or Beringer Vineyards in St. Helena, or plan a high-end indoor wedding at Brasswood Estate or Ackerman Heritage House. Other venues and places to consider in Napa Valley include Chardonnay Golf Club, Di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art and the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.

The Chapel at Seaside on the Emerald Coast, FL

The northern sweep of Florida that fronts the Gulf of Mexico is known as the Emerald Coast, a booming vacation spot with fabulous sugar-white sand beaches. The quaint town of Seaside (location for the Jim Carrey film, The Truman Show) hosts the equally unique Chapel at Seaside, named as one of the South’s Most Beautiful Chapels by Southern Living magazine. The interfaith Chapel holds 175 people and offers the services of a wedding minister. Seaside deliberately has no hotels and instead offers many pastel-painted luxury cottages as accommodations, as well as gourmet Airstream food trucks and plenty of classy amenities to keep your guests delighted.

Cafe Brauer at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL

For a more unusual setting for your wedding, consider Cafe Brauer. The cafe, located at Lincoln Park Zoo, offers an elegant venue with a bit of a rustic touch and impressive views of Nature Boardwalk, the rest of the zoo and the city skyline. This wedding venue can hold up to 250 seated guests or up to 500 for a reception. You and your guests can have plenty of space to dance in this venue while also enjoying great food. The cafe’s setting also offers easy access to Chicago’s many attractions and amenities, so you can do some local sightseeing before your big day.

Hacienda Del Sol in Tucson, AZ

Hacienda Del Sol is a ranch resort that provides a scenic desert setting for your destination wedding. The resort offers beautiful venues with Southwestern decor and the surrounding Santa Catalina Mountain Range as a backdrop (and only half an hour from Tucson International Airport). The Casa Feliz venue has Old World charm with a cozy fireplace, while Casa Luna features a 5,100-square-foot ballroom with wood-beamed ceilings and sunset views. The Inner Courtyard offers an elegant fountain centerpiece and botanical gardens decorated with strings of light, creating a whimsical atmosphere.

Parting thoughts

You can also look just outside the US for wedding ideas. Consider a quiet beach wedding in Mexico, or a wedding venue backed by mountains in Calgary, Canada.