When my fiancée Emma and I first announced we were eloping, the first question we were asked was: ‘So how many people are actually coming on the day?’
Despite having been around for centuries – the tradition dates back to the 1700s – the concept of slipping away to tie the knot has, evidently, become difficult for some to grasp.
For the biggest day of our lives, we had decided to go somewhere just the two of us – away from our dysfunctional families back home, with guaranteed peace and sunshine.
After much web trawling around cheesy pictures of yacht weddings and firework displays across Europe, I thought of Gozo, which I’d last visited 23 years ago.
It’s a sleepy, bijou, undemonstrative kind of place. And despite having no personal connection with the island, we were sold.
It was a decision that felt right from the moment we arrived, via the 30-minute ferry ride from the far north of Malta’s mainland.
Nearly a quarter of a century on from my last trip there, the petite sister island has almost entirely eschewed the temptation to develop myriad glitzy coastal resorts and larcenous marinas.
Instead, Gozo – which is half the size of Jersey – features strange, clifftop ridges that look, in places, like upturned crème caramels. Moving inland, the quiet, dusty roads are lined by bulbous palm trees and squat olive groves.
Travel writer Rob Crossan and his now-wife Emma, pictured, decided they wanted to go somewhere just the two of them for the biggest day of their lives, with guaranteed peace and sunshine
Only a 30-minute ferry ride from the main island of Malta, Rob explains how Gozo felt ‘just right’ from the moment they arrived on the island
The handful of villages are comprised of warm clusters of honeycomb-coloured stone houses and tiny squares. Churches cast shadows over minuscule wine bars, and bakeries serve up local (and sensational!) ‘ftira’ sourdough flatbread, slathered with tuna, olives, tomatoes and capers.
There were, however, less romantic reasons why Gozo suited us as a wedding location.
Since Brexit, saying ‘I do’ in Europe has become a touch more bureaucratic for British couples, as we’re now treated as ‘third-country nationals’, rather than EU citizens.
In practical terms this means extra paperwork, stricter document checks and, in some countries, demands for translated, apostilled birth certificates and proof of marital status before a wedding can go ahead.
Some EU nations, including France, Italy and Spain, also impose residency periods or require multiple appointments in person.
Malta and Gozo, however, remain one of the easier options for Brits keen on a destination wedding. There’s no formal residency requirement for foreign couples, ceremonies can be conducted in English and marriage certificates are issued in English too.
All in all, the process is relatively straightforward – provided all the paperwork is submitted at least six weeks in advance.
For the ceremony itself, we picked one of the island’s few luxury hotels: the Kempinski, a low-rise, limestone charmer, where butterscotch walls blend in seamlessly with the surrounding landscape of tapering lanes and dry-stone walls hemming in plots of fennel, tomatoes and vines.
For the ceremony itself, Rob and Emma opted for the ‘sole’ luxury hotel on Gozo, the Kempinski, a ‘low-rise, limestone charmer’
Gozo’s bijou size meant that newly-weds Rob and Emma could decide ‘on the hoof’ what they wanted to do with the days following their wedding, whether strolling alongside the glittering Med waters or sprawling on Ramla Bay beach’s powdered sands, pictured
The hotel didn’t raise an eyebrow when we asked for two members of staff to act as our witnesses. And so, on a sun-dappled Monday afternoon, Emma and I exchanged rings and sipped champagne underneath a cluster of olive trees in the hotel’s garden.
The Gozo Kempinski hosts quite a few weddings in the warmer months, but there was no sense of ‘nuptial conveyor belt’ tedium in the attitude of the staff.
In fact, they seemed genuinely thrilled that Emma and I had chosen their small island for our big day and showed not the slightest irritation with our decision to eschew the tradition of canapes and wedding cake in favour of an al fresco dinner of local cheeses and a chestnut ravioli from the hotel kitchen.
Gozo is ideal for honeymoons as well as weddings. It’s not an island that demands itineraries.
Nowhere is more than a 25-minute drive away, meaning we could decide on the hoof if we felt like sprawling on the powdered sands of Ramla Bay beach, walking the clifftop paths alongside the glittering Med waters, or exploring the lonely watchtowers that stand as remnants to the ruling epoch of the Knights of Malta.
Leaving was a wrench – not just because it meant the end of our honeymoon, but because it was hard for either of us to believe that somewhere so unspoiled still exists in this part of the Southern Med.
Gozo doesn’t like to shout about its charms, making it a perfect backdrop for us as a couple, who didn’t want to shout about our wedding.
If you want flashbulbs, skyscraper wedding cakes and yacht receptions – well, Ibiza is somewhere west of here.
But if you just want to wake up under quiet, cloudless skies with the one you love, then Gozo is an island that has mastered the art of hosting the biggest day, with the smallest fuss.
