diff --git a/docs/INSTALL.md b/docs/INSTALL.md
index faca21e..ea4bed2 100644
--- a/docs/INSTALL.md
+++ b/docs/INSTALL.md
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ add email notifications for payments and fund receipt
 `AWS_SES_ID=..."` (settings table)  
 `AWS_SES_SECRET=..."` (settings table)  
 `AWS_SES_EMAIL_FROM=..."` (settings table)  
+`AWS_REGION=...` (settings table)
 `FUNCTION_EMAIL=ENABLE"` (settings table)  
 `cards.email_address='card.notifications@yourdomain.com'`  
 `cards.email_enable='Y'`  
diff --git a/docs/SETTINGS.md b/docs/SETTINGS.md
index e42df0b..d3909a9 100644
--- a/docs/SETTINGS.md
+++ b/docs/SETTINGS.md
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ Here are the descriptions of values available to use in the `settings` table:
 | AWS_SES_ID | | Amazon Web Services - Simple Email Service - access id |
 | AWS_SES_SECRET | | Amazon Web Services - Simple Email Service - access secret |
 | AWS_SES_EMAIL_FROM | | Amazon Web Services - Simple Email Service - email from field |
+| AWS_REGION | us-east-1 | Amazon Web Services - Account region |
 | EMAIL_MAX_TXS | | maximum number of transactions to include in the email body |
 | FUNCTION_LNDHUB | DISABLE | system level switch for using LNDHUB in place of LND |
 | LNDHUB_URL | | URL for the LNDHUB service |
diff --git a/email/email.go b/email/email.go
index 8f78ddd..7b56a88 100644
--- a/email/email.go
+++ b/email/email.go
@@ -92,9 +92,10 @@ func Send_email(recipient string, subject string, htmlBody string, textBody stri
 	aws_ses_id := db.Get_setting("AWS_SES_ID")
 	aws_ses_secret := db.Get_setting("AWS_SES_SECRET")
 	sender := db.Get_setting("AWS_SES_EMAIL_FROM")
+	region := db.Get_setting("AWS_REGION")
 
 	sess, err := session.NewSession(&aws.Config{
-		Region:      aws.String("us-east-1"),
+		Region:      aws.String(region),
 		Credentials: credentials.NewStaticCredentials(aws_ses_id, aws_ses_secret, ""),
 	})
 
diff --git a/sql/settings.sql b/sql/settings.sql
index 75b7dd1..730ac0e 100644
--- a/sql/settings.sql
+++ b/sql/settings.sql
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ INSERT INTO settings (name, value) VALUES ('FUNCTION_EMAIL', '');
 INSERT INTO settings (name, value) VALUES ('AWS_SES_ID', '');
 INSERT INTO settings (name, value) VALUES ('AWS_SES_SECRET', '');
 INSERT INTO settings (name, value) VALUES ('AWS_SES_EMAIL_FROM', '');
+INSERT INTO settings (name, value) VALUES ('AWS_REGION', 'us-east-1');
 INSERT INTO settings (name, value) VALUES ('EMAIL_MAX_TXS', '');
 INSERT INTO settings (name, value) VALUES ('FUNCTION_LNDHUB', '');
 INSERT INTO settings (name, value) VALUES ('LNDHUB_URL', '');