For couples who live abroad, a wedding in Lebanon can be planned almost entirely at a distance: a summer date, video tours on WhatsApp, and one visit in person. Qasr Noun, a restored 1895 estate in Ain Anub, is about 14 km by road from Rafic Hariri International Airport and opens for weddings in summer 2027.
This page is for two kinds of couple: Lebanese families abroad coming home to marry, and international couples choosing Lebanon. It covers planning from a distance, your guests' flights, the season and the one subject we leave to the authorities: the paperwork. A summary in French closes the page.
Why couples come home to marry in Lebanon in summer
Summer is when Lebanese families are together. Organisers told Al-Modon in September 2025 that demand for weddings peaks in July and August, as a large number of expatriates return. They put expatriates at more than 50 percent of the Lebanese marrying in that period.
A wedding at home can bring the grandparents who no longer travel, the aunts, the cousins and the childhood friends to the same table, in the language and the music they grew up with.
The 2026 season was harder. In June 2026 one planner told The Beiruter that around 80 percent of couples had either postponed their wedding or chosen to hold it outside Lebanon. If yours was one of those weddings, the 2027 calendar is open now.
Planning a wedding in Lebanon from abroad
Most of the planning can happen from where you live. This is how it works with us.
- Start on WhatsApp. Send your month, your date and your guest count to +961 3 697 772. We reply privately with the package for that date.
- Take a video tour. We can walk you through the estate on a WhatsApp video call, place by place: the arcade, the fountain courtyard, the balcony and the olive terraces.
- Know which pictures are real. On this site, “Real photo” marks the estate as it stands today, in its finishing stage. “Styled visualisation” marks the same architecture dressed for a wedding. Ask us for recent photos of any space you care about.
- Visit when you are in Lebanon. Private visits are by appointment, any day. Come at the hour your wedding would happen.
- Confirm the date. A 35% down payment confirms it.
The full package already covers sound and lighting, dry ice and cold-spark volcanoes, chairs and tables, a 150 kVA generator, parking at the gate and restrooms, with food and beverage by our own team as an option. That leaves fewer suppliers to brief from a distance. The detail is in wedding packages: what is included.
A planning timeline from abroad
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| 12 months or more before | Choose the month and the venue, and confirm the date. Tell guests abroad, so they can plan leave and flights. |
| 9 to 6 months before | Book the photographer, the zaffe troupe and, if you want one, a planner in Lebanon. |
| 6 to 3 months before | Guests book flights. Agree how guests reach the estate from Beirut. Confirm your civil or religious requirements. |
| 2 months to 1 month before | Settle the running order of the night, the zaffe and the music. Send every guest the location pin. |
| The final week | Arrive. Walk the estate once more at the hour of the wedding. |
A suggested timeline, not a rule. Popular dates go early: in 2025 one bride told Al-Modon that the halls she wanted were booked six months ahead, and that her earliest date was in the second half of September.
Working with a local wedding planner
From abroad, a planner in Lebanon is your eyes on the ground. A good one knows the suppliers, can visit on your behalf and runs the day. Ask what the fee covers and how many of the planner's staff work on the night. Lebanese planners rarely publish their fees, as our guide to what a wedding costs in Lebanon notes.
Planners can arrange a private preview of Qasr Noun for their clients, any day: book a planner preview on WhatsApp. Before any call, you can see the estate today, and the same frames dressed for a wedding, on our homepage.
Guests flying into Beirut
For family flying in, the useful number is the airport. Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut is 14.0 km from the estate by road, about 14 minutes on an empty road.
| From | Road distance | Free-flow drive |
|---|---|---|
| Rafic Hariri International Airport, Beirut | 14.0 km | about 14 min |
| Beirut, Martyrs' Square | 20.6 km | about 20 min |
| Hamra, Beirut | 22.3 km | about 21 min |
Road distances and free-flow drive times are estimates from OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap data, measured to the estate's Google Maps pin (33.7846104, 35.5419981). The airport and Martyrs' Square figures were measured on 13 October 2026 and appear in Where Is Ain Anub?. Hamra was geocoded with Nominatim and measured on 19 October 2026. Free-flow means an empty road. Real times on a Saturday evening are longer. Check a live traffic map before you set off.
Timing the flights
- Land the day before, at least. Flights land at all hours, and a guest who lands on the wedding day has no room for a delay.
- Book early for July and August. They are the peak wedding months, when many families abroad come home. Ask guests to book as soon as the date is confirmed.
- Check entry rules early. Guests travelling on a foreign passport should check Lebanon's entry rules for their nationality before they buy a ticket.
- Send the pin before they board. One Google Maps pin to the gate, forwarded to every guest, is the most reliable map there is.
- Plan the drive home. The mountain roads wind. A shuttle from one meeting point in Beirut, with an agreed last departure, takes most of the late-night driving off the road. Never drive after drinking.
When to marry: the summer season
For a dry evening outdoors, choose June to September. From 2015 to 2024, Ain Anub averaged under three days of rain a month in that window, according to the ten years of data in our guide to the best time to get married in Lebanon. July and August are the driest months, and the busiest.
The hills keep the evening cool. In July the average night-time low in Ain Anub was 20.2 °C, against 24.4 °C in central Beirut. Sunset falls close to 19:50 in June and July, at about 19:23 in mid-August and 18:43 in mid-September.
Late May and early October bring milder days and quieter calendars, with a real chance of rain. If your family's summer leave is fixed, plan around it. If it is not, September is worth a look.
Civil and religious requirements
We are a wedding venue, not legal advisers, so we keep this short. The Dutch government's official guidance for its own citizens states: “In Lebanon you can only enter into a religious marriage, not a civil marriage.” It adds that a religious marriage “is only valid after it has been registered in the Lebanese civil registry”, and that the documents needed depend on the church or Islamic court that performs it (NetherlandsWorldwide).
Rules differ by community and by nationality, and they can change. Confirm the civil or religious requirements that apply to you with the religious authority that will marry you and with your own country's authorities, before you set the date. If your marriage contract will be signed at a Katb Kteb, read about holding a Katb Kteb at Qasr Noun, and for the customs around the day, our guide to Lebanese wedding traditions.
Why Ain Anub, for a wedding from abroad
Qasr Noun stands in Ain Anub, in the Aley District of Mount Lebanon, high above Beirut, with views over the city and the Mediterranean. From the balcony, the sun sets into the sea. A lintel over one doorway is carved 1895, and in 1907 Canon Joseph T. Parfit restored the neglected estate into a school, as he recorded in his 1917 book (Parfit, 1917). It has now been restored again, and the whole day is yours until 1:30 AM.
In Parfit's day the climb was slow: he wrote of “the nine miles of winding roads that mount the Lebanon slopes, from Beyrout to Ain Anub”. Today it is about 20 minutes from central Beirut on an empty road. To see where the estate sits among other options, read a wedding venue near Beirut and wedding venues in Aley, or start from weddings at Qasr Noun.
Mariage au Liban
Vous cherchez un lieu de mariage au Liban depuis l'étranger ? Qasr Noun est un domaine historique restauré à Ain Anub, dans le caza d'Aley, au Mont-Liban, au-dessus de Beyrouth, à environ 14 km par la route de l'aéroport international Rafic Hariri. Un linteau y porte la date de 1895. Les premiers mariages auront lieu à l'été 2027, et les réservations pour 2027 sont ouvertes. La journée vous appartient jusqu'à 1 h 30 du matin. Le forfait comprend le son et la lumière, la fumée lourde et les fontaines d'étincelles froides, les tables et les chaises, un groupe électrogène de 150 kVA, le stationnement organisé à l'entrée et des toilettes pour les invités. Le service traiteur, assuré par notre propre équipe, est en option. Les tarifs sont communiqués en privé. Visite vidéo sur WhatsApp, ou visite privée sur rendez-vous, tous les jours : +961 3 697 772.