Dreaming of a wedding by the water, in an old town where the whole celebration fits along a single waterfront? Then take a close look at Perast. A Perast wedding is small and truly beautiful: baroque palazzi right at the water's edge, the islands of Our Lady of the Rocks and St George just off the promenade, and the mountains of the Bay of Kotor all around. You can marry legally here too, and the ceremony and dinner take place in historic hotels right in town.
We are Mariia Sosnina and Vasilii Khmelev, and we have been photographing weddings in Montenegro for more than 10 years, Perast included. So this is the honest version, not the brochure: where to hold the ceremony, which venue works for 20 guests and which for 120, how to run the day in a town you get around on foot, and where to leave extra time. Most importantly, we explain why a wedding here is so hard to pull off without a planner.
Perast in a nutshell
- Perast is tiny: the whole wedding happens along one waterfront, and guests walk almost everywhere.
- The main venues in town are Heritage Grand Perast for up to 150 guests, Leon Coronato for up to 80 and the intimate Hotel Conte.
- A legal civil ceremony at your venue is possible. You apply in advance to the Kotor municipality and need two witnesses.
- The sun drops behind the mountains before the official sunset, so we plan the ceremony and couple portraits around golden hour.
- Venues are few and the good dates go fast. A planner handles the dates, menu, paperwork and guests, and we can recommend a trusted one.
Why choose Perast for your wedding
Perast might be the prettiest little town on the whole Bay of Kotor. A single waterfront runs along the water, baroque palazzi and the bell tower of St Nicholas rise above it, and two islands sit right opposite. The town does the decorating for you.
The second plus is how compact it is. The venue, the guest hotel and the spot for your couple portraits are a few minutes' walk apart, so nobody loses half the day to transfers. Kotor is about 15 km away, and Tivat airport about 25 km.
The honest downsides
- The town is tiny. There are no big banquet halls, and the largest venue takes up to 150 guests.
- Summer is busy. Island tours arrive all day long, and the waterfront gets crowded.
- Venues are few. There aren't many good dates in season, and they get booked early.
- So are hotel rooms. Perast's hotels are small, so rooms for your guests need booking well ahead.
Where to hold the ceremony in Perast
Start by separating two questions: where you'll say your vows, and where you'll have dinner with your guests afterwards. In Perast these are often two different spots, even though they're only a couple of minutes' walk apart. Here are your options for getting married in Perast:
- A historic hotel's piazza. The ceremony takes place right on the palazzo's open square, and the guests stay on for cocktails in the same spot.
- A terrace by the water. If you want the bay behind you as you say your vows, choose a terrace facing the water.
- A palazzo garden. At Leon Coronato you can hold the ceremony in the garden. It's quiet and cosy there, but you can't see the islands.
- An off-site civil ceremony. The legal registration can take place right at your chosen venue rather than at the town hall.
- Just the two of you. If you're coming without guests, see how to plan an elopement in Montenegro.
Church weddings and photos on Our Lady of the Rocks
The church on the island of Our Lady of the Rocks is Catholic. These days it only marries couples who were baptised in that church or who come from the Kotor municipality. Foreign couples could marry there in the past, but not anymore, and for now the island isn't taking wedding bookings at all.
Photography on the island has its limits too. Commercial shoots are forbidden while the church is open, and in summer it closes at 6 pm. So we take any photos on the island itself after closing time. A shoot from the water with the islands in view is always possible, though: hop on a boat and they stay behind you for the whole session. We've explained how a boat photoshoot works in a separate guide.
One more thing. The ceremony spot and the best photo spot don't have to be the same place: you can say your vows in a garden and get the strongest frames on the waterfront or out on the water. We've gathered beautiful spots all around the area in our guide to photo locations in Montenegro.
Dreaming of photos on the island itself? Write to us. We'll help you fit a shoot after the church closes into your wedding day and recommend a trusted planner who can take care of the boat.
Perast wedding venues
Perast doesn't have many wedding venues, and nearly all of them are in historic palazzi. Below are the three main ones. The capacities come from our detailed guides and the venues' official websites. We don't quote venue prices, because they depend on the date and the number of guests.
Heritage Grand Perast
Heritage Grand Perast occupies a restored 18th-century Venetian palazzo on the water. The five-star hotel has about 130 rooms across four buildings, and it's the largest venue in town by capacity. Ceremonies take place on the piazza, an open square with a small church that holds up to 150 guests. For a smaller wedding there's a panoramic terrace for 60 guests overlooking the bay, plus a restaurant, the Riva terrace and a pier.
Leon Coronato
Leon Coronato is known as Montenegro's first heritage hotel. It sits in a 17th-century baroque palazzo on the Perast waterfront. Weddings here are intimate: dinner is laid out in the Đardin garden restaurant for up to 80 guests, though fewer feels more comfortable. The hotel has only 14 rooms, so the two of you and your closest family can stay right at the venue. The garden is quiet but has no view of the islands, so we shoot the waterside frames on the promenade or from a boat.
Hotel Conte
Hotel Conte, a small boutique hotel in Perast, offers three settings to choose from: a terrace by the water, a terrace on the old square and the restaurant's stone-walled dining room. The stone room is lovely for a really intimate ceremony. It's a good fit if you're inviting only your nearest and dearest and want the cosy feel of old Perast.
| Venue | Setting | Capacity | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heritage Grand Perast | Five-star hotel in an 18th-century palazzo: piazza with a small church, panoramic terrace, restaurant | Up to 150 on the piazza, up to 60 on the terrace | A large wedding with the ceremony and dinner on one property |
| Leon Coronato | 17th-century baroque palazzo, Đardin garden restaurant | Up to 80, more comfortable with fewer | An intimate garden dinner within historic walls |
| Hotel Conte | Boutique hotel: waterside terrace, terrace on the old square, stone-walled restaurant room | Intimate | A very small wedding for your closest people |
With more than 150 guests, Perast itself simply runs out of room. In that case, look at the neighbouring town and read how a wedding in Kotor works. And if you're still deciding on the type of venue, from a villa to a resort hotel, our overview of wedding venues in Montenegro breaks them down by type.
How a Perast wedding day works
A town you explore on foot
Perast is a walking town: it stretches along a single waterfront, and guests walk from the hotel to the ceremony and on to dinner. It's wonderfully atmospheric when the whole party strolls along the water from one palazzo to the next. A few things are worth thinking through in advance, though: how guests will get there with their luggage, where older relatives can wait, and which shoes the bride can comfortably wear on the old stone. By the way, golf carts run along the lower road, and older guests will find them far easier.
Good to know: in summer, cars aren't allowed into Perast, and it's about a five-minute walk from the car park to the centre. The waterfront stays busy with tourists in the daytime and in the evening, so don't expect an empty town by golden hour. A professional photographer, though, knows the spots where tourists stay out of the background and, if needed, can frame the shot so the crowd simply isn't in it. |
Every wedding has its own rhythm, and you'll set the exact times together with your planner. But for a summer day in Perast we usually build the schedule around the light rather than the clock. Roughly like this:
A sample wedding day timeline
- Afternoon, getting ready. You get ready at the hotel while we photograph the details and those first excited moments.
- Around 5 pm, the ceremony. By then the heat has eased.
- Around 6 pm, cocktails. Guests gather with a glass on the piazza or the waterside terrace, and we catch the congratulations and candid moments.
- Before the sun goes behind the mountains, couple portraits. 30 to 40 minutes on a beautiful boat or against the old facades.
- Around 7 pm, dinner. The reception on a terrace, in a garden or in the hotel restaurant.
- Evening, the party. First dance, toasts and dancing.
In late summer and September the sun slips behind the mountains even earlier, so we move the whole schedule forward.
The boat: the best photos of the day
Our number one tip for a Perast wedding: set aside a short couple shoot on a beautiful boat, 30 to 40 minutes. From the water the town looks completely different: the palazzo facades, the bell tower and green mountains behind you, with the islands close by. We approach Our Lady of the Rocks from the water and keep it in the frame as a backdrop. Your wedding planner usually helps find the boat.
On the boat, the two of you are finally alone for the first time all day: no guests, no phones, just the water and the mountains. That's why this half hour almost always gives us the most relaxed and natural photos of the wedding, even when the rest of the day has been a rush.Mariia Sosnina
Would you love portraits like these on the water? Write to us early: we'll work out the best light for your date and recommend a trusted planner who can fit the boat into your timeline.
When to have your wedding in Perast
The best time for a wedding in Perast is late May, June and September. It's warm without the peak heat of July and August, there are fewer people around, and the evening light over the bay is especially soft. July and August weddings work too, we just move everything important closer to the evening. Popular dates in those months get snapped up early, so don't leave the booking too late.
The light in Perast plays by its own rules. The town sits deep inside the Bay of Kotor, and the mountains hide the sun before the official sunset. So we plan the ceremony and couple portraits around golden hour and work out the start time in advance for the season and the exact spot. Don't go by the sunset time on your weather app: by then the soft light is already gone.
Already have a month in mind? Write to us and we'll recommend a trusted planner. They'll find a venue that's free on your date and fits your guest count, and put together a quote.
Where your guests can stay
The easiest option is to put guests up at the venue itself. Heritage Grand Perast has about 130 rooms, so most of your guests can stay there. Leon Coronato has only 14, enough for the two of you and your closest family. Everyone else can stay at one of Perast's small hotels:
- Hotel Conte
- Hotel Per Astra
- Vila Perast
- Palace Jelena
- Monte Bay Retreat
Perast has few rooms, so book your guests' accommodation as soon as you've set the date. If there still isn't enough space, Dobrota and Kotor come to the rescue: they're close by and have far more hotels.
Getting legally married in Perast
In Perast you can marry legally, not just hold a symbolic ceremony. Perast belongs to the Kotor municipality, so that's where you file the application, a few weeks before the date. You'll need two witnesses, and the civil ceremony itself can be held off-site, right at your chosen venue.
The exact paperwork depends on your citizenship, so check translations, apostilles and deadlines early. We've laid it all out step by step in our guide to documents for a wedding in Montenegro. Your planner usually handles the application and the back-and-forth with the municipality.
Why you need a wedding planner
A Perast wedding is close to impossible without an experienced planner, and it's not about luxury. The town has only a handful of venues, the good dates go first, cars aren't allowed in summer, and your guests need rooms and help getting around on foot. Pulling it all together yourselves, from another country and with no local contacts, is really hard. Here's what a planner takes on:
- Dates and venue. Asks the venue for available dates and terms, and holds the booking.
- Budget. Puts together a full quote for your guest count: venue hire, menu, decor, music.
- Decor and suppliers. Venues often don't handle decor themselves, so the planner brings in florists and rents furniture and equipment from outside, then coordinates everyone.
- Paperwork. Handles the application to the Kotor municipality and keeps track of the deadlines.
- Guests and the boat. Helps with accommodation, meeting your guests, the walk from the car park and a boat for your couple shoot.
- Timeline. Fits the ceremony, portraits and dinner into a calm schedule around golden hour.
Where to start is covered in our guide on how to choose a wedding planner. And so nothing slips through the cracks while you prepare, keep our wedding planning checklist close at hand.
The easiest way to start is with us. Write to us: we'll recommend a trusted planner, and you can request a quote from them. They'll ask the venue for available dates and terms and put together a full budget for your guests. And we'll take care of the photo and video.
Perast wedding photography and video
We shoot weddings as a team: I'm Mariia Sosnina and I take the photos, while Vasilii Khmelev films the video. Our style is artistic documentary: real moments, no staged posing and no ordering anyone around. To see what a celebration in this town really looks like, have a look at Joe and Ellie's wedding in Perast.
For photos in Perast, we want to catch the soft light before the sun disappears behind the mountains, spend half an hour on the water and duck into the quiet lanes away from the waterfront. That's why we plan the shoot timing with your planner in advance rather than improvising on the day. Here's another of our stories from this town: Mitch and Anna's wedding in Perast.
Want to see one more day in the same town? Here's a third wedding in Perast from our portfolio. The rest of our stories are in the full wedding portfolio, and you'll find Vasilii's films in our section on wedding videography in Montenegro.
Planning a wedding in Perast? Write to us while your date is still free. I'm Mariia Sosnina, a wedding photographer in Montenegro, and I know Perast inside out: I'll tell you where to photograph the two of you, which hour catches the best light and how to fit the boat into the day. And if you'd like a separate photo session before or after the wedding, have a look at our photographer in Perast page.
Perast wedding FAQ
Can you get legally married in Perast?
Yes. Perast belongs to the Kotor municipality, and you apply there in advance, a few weeks before the date. You need two witnesses, and the civil ceremony can be held off-site at your chosen venue. The exact list of documents depends on your citizenship.
Can you have a ceremony on Our Lady of the Rocks?
Not at the moment, unless you were baptised in that church or come from the Kotor municipality. Foreign couples used to be able to marry in the island's Catholic church, but wedding dates there are no longer being booked. Commercial photography on the island is only allowed after the church closes, which is 6 pm in summer. You can always photograph the islands from a boat, though, and they'll become the main backdrop of your portraits.
How many guests do Perast wedding venues hold?
The largest venue, Heritage Grand Perast, takes up to 150 guests on the piazza and up to 60 on the panoramic terrace. Leon Coronato is designed for about 80 guests, though fewer feels more comfortable. Hotel Conte suits a very intimate wedding. With more than 150 guests, look at venues around the wider Bay of Kotor.
When is the best time for a wedding in Perast?
The best season is late May, June and September. It's warm without the peak heat, and there are fewer people around. The mountains hide the sun before the official sunset, so we plan the ceremony and couple portraits around golden hour and work out the timing in advance.
Do you need a planner for a wedding in Perast?
Yes, almost always. Venues are few, dates go fast, cars aren't allowed in summer, and the menu, decor, paperwork and guest accommodation all have to come together in one day. Write to us: we'll recommend a trusted planner who will request dates and put together a quote, and we'll take care of the photo and video.
How much does a wedding in Perast cost?
We don't quote venue prices: the total depends on the date, the number of guests, the menu and the decor. Your planner will put together an exact quote for your date. To get a rough idea of the budget line by line, see how much a wedding in Montenegro costs.
More wedding venues in Montenegro
Still choosing where to say your vows? Here are other venues we've written about:
- Sumosan (Dukley), a wedding on the water in Budva
- Casa del Mare, a hotel base for a wedding on the Bay of Kotor
- Limoneto, a terrace venue on the Bay of Kotor
- Bocasa, a terrace reception on the Bay of Kotor
- One & Only Portonovi, a luxury resort wedding
Set on Perast? Tell us your date and guest count. We'll recommend a trusted planner you can request a quote from, and we'll photograph and film the whole day, from getting ready to your first dance.
Blog
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Mamula Island Wedding: A Fortress Island at the Mouth of the Bay of Kotor
Best Hotels in Kotor: Where to Stay and What to Look For
Photographer in Porto Montenegro and Tivat
Photographer in Budva
Photographer in Perast
Photographer in Kotor
Wedding in Kotor: Venues, Ceremony and a Photographer’s Tips
A Wedding at Eagle Eye Villa Above Kotor
Adriatica: a Wedding on the Terrace and the Pier in Kotor Bay
Marriage Proposal for a Gay Couple in Montenegro
A Budva Citadel Wedding: A Seaside Fortress in the Old Town
Lovćen National Park: the Njegoš Mausoleum, the Kotor Serpentine and Montenegro’s Widest Views
