Hotel Union Geiranger

Union Geiranger, now named Union Geiranger Resort & Spa, stands in the centre of Geiranger village above the UNESCO-listed Geirangerfjord. It began as a wooden building in the Swiss chalet style, and four generations of the Mjelva family have run it since.

It is a large hotel, with 197 rooms and suites, several room types with fjord views, and it is open all year. Inside there is a spa of around 1,500 square metres with a Japanese hot pool, saunas and relaxation lounges, indoor and outdoor pools, a wine cellar of about 7,000 bottles and a vintage car museum.

Many couples marry at Geiranger Church, and the hotel can bring you back from the church in a vintage car. Other ceremony locations can be arranged too.

The celebration then stays in house. The hotel has venues for weddings of up to 200 guests, led by the Geiranger Hall, whose panoramic windows look out over the fjord. The kitchen works from its own set menus, which can be adapted, and couples taste the menu beforehand. The pastry team makes the wedding cake and a dessert table, and make-up, hair, photography and planning come through the hotel and its partners. Ask the team about seated numbers in each room, the legal steps for marrying in Norway and the music finish time.

With 197 rooms, everyone can sleep under one roof, and the hotel encourages guests to stay the whole weekend, often with an informal get-together the day before. Several rooms can be set aside for getting ready.

The fjord does the rest: cruises, RIB trips and kayaking, the hike to Skageflå, the zipline and via ferrata, and day trips to Trollstigen. Guests fly into Ålesund, about 123 km and around two and a half hours by road. A boat also runs from Ålesund town to Geiranger in about three hours.