Auberge Handfield

Auberge Handfield does not give couples one version of a country wedding.

It gives them a river, gardens, meadows, an old barn feeling, a summer pavilion and even an ancestral sugar shack, then lets the celebration find the setting that feels most like them.

The inn has been welcoming people to the banks of the Richelieu River since 1945, and there is a sense of history here that cannot be added with décor.

For a warm-weather wedding, Le Chapiteau brings the countryside right up to the tables. The windowed tent looks toward meadows and horses and opens onto its own terrace, with room for up to 90 guests.

La Marina also welcomes up to 90, but changes the view completely. Windows wrap three sides of the pavilion toward the Richelieu River, with an adjoining terrace giving guests another reason to wander outside.

La Grange is smaller and wonderfully intimate, with a cathedral ceiling, windows toward the gardens and space for around 48.

And then there is La Cabane.

The ancestral sugar shack can gather up to 160 guests between September and May, surrounding a wedding with the rustic character of a place that belongs unmistakably to Québec.

That variety makes the property particularly lovely across the seasons.

Summer can belong to the river and terrace.

Autumn can find the trees changing around the inn.

A cooler-weather wedding can gather everyone inside somewhere warm and full of character.

The setting changes.

The reason everyone came does not.

Eventually all those different spaces arrive at the same moment: chairs pushed back, glasses still on the tables and a room full of people who are nowhere near ready to call the night finished.

• Gardens and grounds
• A barn for the celebration
• A historic setting
• A patio or terrace
• Tented celebrations possible