“The media around you, they say it is forbidden to be in the same place, that they are the enemy,” the Lebanese bride said. “But they are people, too.”

Officials in Larnaka are aware of the tension between Israel and Lebanon, the result of numerous wars over the decades, but say it has never caused problems at the marriage bureau.

“It is a neutral city here,” said Georgios Lakkotrypis, a member of the Larnaka municipal council who is also a volunteer marriage officer. “Is it the weather? Is it the sun? Maybe, but it makes everybody happy.”

Cyprus owes its rise as an international marriage destination to geography, economics and law. Its airports receive direct flights from cities across Europe and the Middle East; its prices are good; and its laws permit foreigners to contract marriages with no clerics involved.

And its palm-studded beaches, historic sites and abundant hotels are inducements for couples to start honeymooning as soon as the ink on their marriage contract is dry.

About 7,000 marriages are conducted in Cyprus per year, adding 1 million euros, or over $1.1 million, to the economy annually, according to the Cyprus Tourist Organization. While European lovers prefer more picturesque towns elsewhere on the island, Israelis and Lebanese tend toward Larnaka, which can be reached by air from both Tel Aviv and Beirut in less than an hour.