The simplest approach is to buy an add-on to your holiday from a tour operator that has a specialist wedding department. The cost - from about £150 to over £2,000 - is determined by location and exotic extras. Options such as mariachi bands, helicopter rides and Balinese dancers send the price rocketing.  As a rule, the package includes sorting out the legal administration, organising the bouquet, buttonholes, cake and a Champagne reception. Photography or video recording usually costs extra. Most wedding packages are overseen by a co-ordinator, and can usually be customised, on request.  Be wary of "free weddings" tacked on to the cost of a honeymoon package. These can sometimes translate into a swift exchange of vows witnessed by gawking hotel guests - with dodgy photographs, cheap cake and sweet fizzy wine.  Before choosing a hotel, check the number of weddings it carries out. Some resorts stage so many that newlyweds can find themselves sharing their special day with rather more people than they had intended. Couples who decide not to bring any relatives may enjoy the cameraderie. But those who want to avoid the risk of a ceremony conducted as the next party is lined up on the lawn would be well advised to select a hotel where weddings are not the main trade.  Weddings abroad can be insured, although this is intended to supplement rather than replace travel insurance. Similarly, a ceremony overseas and a reception at home can be covered under one policy.  Besides contacting tour operators and tourist boards, you can obtain general advice on the internet. Useful sites include www.confetti.co.uk's travel section and and www.weddingsabroad.com.  In Las Vegas just about anything goes. Pick up your licence from the county clerk's office at the courthouse and then, for the most bizarre ceremonies, look up Charlotte Richards, "the wedding queen", an ordained minister who owns the most famous chapels in town. She has officiated at weddings on horseback, while a bride-to-be was in labour, and even on a mountain, where the lovers were supported by ropes.  More mundane Vegas choices include drive-in chapels, where the ceremony takes three minutes and you don't even have to turn the engine off, and themed ceremonies such as the "Elvis Experience", complete with a Presley-lookalike serenading the nuptials and a ride in a pink Cadillac.  British Airways Holidays (0870 608 2244) has Las Vegas wedding packages from £149 per couple. Flights, transfers and accommodation extra.  In Florida, keen divers can mouth, "I do," surrounded by branches of coral and in the company of grouper and angel fish. White taffeta and lace wetsuits might be hard to track down, but a tick on a slate will confirm you as man and wife. Non-divers are taught enough basics to last them for the 20 minutes underwater, while qualified divers need only bring their dive certificates.  The cost of the wedding starts at $100 (about £69) payable locally, and the basic diving course costs from £134. Contact Virgin Holidays (01293 744265).  Follow in the footsteps of Taylor and Burton and marry in Botswana. Their second wedding took place within the Moorish-style Chobe Game Lodge, in the national park in the north-east of the country. The lodge is famed for its incomparable viewing of elephants, buffalo and antelope. Couples marry on the terrace or while cruising on the Chobe River. The tour operator promises all brides and grooms a "complimentary mini-bar with unlimited supply of drinks".  Argo Holidays (020 7331 7095) has three- night all-inclusive wedding packages to Chobe from £2,059 per person.  Only a few years ago, the red tape surrounding marrying in Italy, made the Maastricht Treaty sound simple. But now you can leave the to-ing and fro-ing between consulates to a handful of specialists.  The choice of venues can be wonderfully romantic - from a Venetian gondola to a sailing boat off Capri, or a Tuscan castle.  The Castello Vincigliata near Fiesole, a medieval tower discovered and restored by Lord John Temple Leader in 1840, overlooks Florence. You can exchange vows with an English-speaking Catholic or Anglican priest officiating, enjoy a wedding picnic in an olive grove, or even - if you give enough notice and money - stage a six-course Italian feast with performance by Luciano Pavarotti himself.  Weddings Made in Italy (020 7520 0470) can arrange a wedding package here from £1,989 including a priest and a picnic.  New to the nuptial scene is Lapland. For skiing couples fancying a touch of synchronised wipe-out, Inghams (020 8780 4433) features weddings on the slopes, followed by a blessing in the parish church of Levi. At £50, the ceremony is something of a bargain - but alcohol in Lapland is far from cheap and unfortunately you can't take your own. Interesting extras include stag or hen sauna-parties, a horse-drawn sleigh ride to church, and - something of a passion-killer perhaps - a honeymoon igloo.  A week in Levi costs from £398 per person including half board in a three-star hotel, return flights and transfers.
If you don't want a traditional ceremony,  you can tie the knot on  the beach,  on safari, or on  the sea bed.   Judith Woods and Louise Roddon report