How To Plan Your Wedding Ceremony In Italy?

Have you just proposed? There is no more time to lose! The organization of your wedding starts right now. Where to start? Our wedding planners’ team explains to you step by step how to plan your wedding ceremony in Italy without forgetting anything!

1.Choosing a wedding date

The first thing to do is to know when you wish to get married. A wedding’s organization requires time and starts at least 8 to 12 months in advance. Especially if you marry abroad. The date is the starting point. It influences the whole planning of your wedding, in particular:

• The availability of the venues:

Summer is the busiest time for wedding planning. The availability of the venues is thus limited. In the same way, most weddings are celebrated during the weekend. You will find a place easier if you plan your ceremony during the week, even if it may disturb your guests. 

• The cost of the wedding:

The price of the venues and service providers increase during the high season (May-September). A winter wedding is a way to reduce your overall budget. 

The perfect date doesn’t exist. Superstitious people will avoid getting married on a Friday 13th in some countries whereas it is a lucky day in Italy and other places. Summer weddings are an opportunity to make your close ones enjoy a sunny vacation. Nonetheless, they have the inconvenience of happening during the tourist period. It can be an obstacle if you want to organize a wedding by the sea for instance.   

Holidays can also be an occasion to make the most of a long weekend to organize your wedding in Italy. 

Furthermore, you keep in mind that some seasonal venues close during the winter season or refuse to book weddings during the summer for commercial reasons. 

Finally, consider the school calendar to facilitate the planning for those who have children. It may influence the cost of your wedding though. 

2.Choose a wedding venue

Once you have chosen your wedding date, you can start thinking of a location for your event. You must book your wedding venue early on to ensure its availability. The reservation is sometimes more than a year in advance. You must consider several criteria to choose your wedding venue, the :

• Number of guests
• Theme
• Budget
• Season of your wedding
• Accessibility of the venue.

If you are looking for an atypical place to stand out from traditional wedding halls, Italy is the perfect destination. Our wedding planners’ team has selected the most beautiful venues for you to organize your dream ceremony. Discover now our exceptional locations for your wedding in Apulia or Tuscany! 

Noces Italiennes’ selection

To help you choose your wedding venue, our wedding planners will send you a selection of places adapted to your project. You can pre-select your favorite ones from our list. Once you have done it, we will send you customized quotations and eventually organize a visit on site to make you discover the unique atmosphere of these enchanting places. Our wedding planners will welcome you in Italy to guide you during all of the visits and answer your questions. 

One of the advantages of getting married in Italy is to enjoy Mediterranean weather. We inform you that it isn’t possible to organize a ceremony indoors in some places. However, we always prepare a plan B in case it rains. 

Finally, for a civil wedding abroad or in a distant destination, the housing of the guests is a critical point. Think in particular of the housing of your wedding witnesses who must be able to access the ceremony’s location easily and manage potential complications. Some places have on site housing. You can thus privatize the structure for your event. In other cases, some venues cannot host all of your guests. In that case, our wedding planners put at your disposal a list of hotels close to the wedding location to simplify the booking of their stay. 

3.Prepare your ceremony

Shall it be religious, symbolic, or civil, the wedding ceremony is a big element to organize. 

Religious weddings

For a religious wedding at the church, you will have to prepare with the priest or vicar of your home parish. This preparation starts around a year before the D-day. 

In the case of a Christian religious wedding ceremony in Italy, your preparation file will be sent to the church where the ceremony will take place. You must reserve a church a year before your wedding to fix the date and hour. 

In Italy, it is possible to celebrate a concordatory wedding. It allows to regroup civil and religious unions in one ceremony, without going to the city hall. To do this, you must contact the embassy or consulate of your home country in Italy and get the Nulla Osta. This is a mandatory certificate that authorizes foreigners to get married civilly in Italy. You must complete your application file for the Nulla Osta at least 6 months before the wedding. 

For Jewish weddings in Italy, you can celebrate your union under a houppa on the beach or at the heart of a centenarian olive tree field for example. The planning of the ceremony must be done with the rabbi of your local community. If you wish, we can put you in relation with a local rabbi for the celebration, the writing of the ketubah, the buying of the tallit or the office of the shabbat. For a wedding ceremony in Italy, you can ask for a rabbi of your home country to preside over the event. It is important to communicate these details to your wedding planner as soon as possible to book the services of a local rabbi and his team if necessary. 

Symbolic ceremonies

Finally, if you want to organize a secular ceremony in Italy, the preparation is less pressuring as it is a symbolic union. Mind nonetheless to write wedding vows or plan an animation a few weeks before your special day. 

4.Announce your wedding abroad!

Your date has been chosen, your location is validated, and you have the program for your wedding ceremony. You can now announce the news to your loved ones! Send your “save the date” around a year in advance to inform your guests of the wedding date. In the case of a wedding abroad, it is essential so they can organize their trip. 

Send your announcement cards 3 to 5 months before the wedding. Remember to give all the information that will ease the stay of your guests. Among them, the closest airport, names of hotels of the wedding location’s area, …

The announcements are also often a way to reveal the theme of your wedding. It can be humorous, traditional, or original. Announcement cards are an excellent memo for your future anniversaries! Many couples give in to DIY techniques to create the design of their invitation. Our wedding planner team can make you benefit from a partnership with Cotton Bird or Rosemood to create an original set of wedding printing with negotiated prices. 

5.Finding your wedding outfit

As it is often the center of attention, the wedding dress is always hard to choose. Between deciding about the type of model, trials, and tailoring, it is advised to start the preparation 8 to 10 month in advance. Blogs, saloons, and social media are excellent means to discover new wedding trends. The season of your ceremony, its theme, and also your wedding venue can influence your choice.  

Less stressful most of the time, the choice of the wedding suit comes around 4 to 6 months before the special day. If you opt for an Italian wedding suit, you must consider the confection schedule to have a tailored costume!

The trend of the wedding dress code, born in the USA, is appealing for more and more couples throughout the world. In particular for the outfits of the best men and bridesmaids. To ensure the availability and suitability of the outfits and to anticipate the delivery time, you should order at least a month before the wedding. 

6.Book the service providers

The advantage of calling upon a wedding planner is that you delegate the research of service providers, the negotiation of the prices and the booking. This phase can become time-consuming and difficult. Even more if the spouses are not on site to manage the organization of their wedding! The language barrier and cultural difference are other obstacles that our wedding planners’ agency offer you to avoid. With Noces Italiennes, your wedding planner is your only spokesperson during the whole preparation of your wedding, D-day included. You will not need to call upon or sign contracts with Italian service providers. Our wedding planner services allow you to save time and ensure the quality of your wedding with a strict selection of the people who we work with. 

DJ, photographs (wedding pictures), catering, flowers, music bands, car renting: we take care of everything! Our team offers you a selection of the greatest services in Italy to give you the best quality-price ratio! 

7.Choosing your wedding menu

The wedding meal is one of the highest cost items in a wedding budget. You must think it through in advance. Some places have their own kitchen while others call upon external caterers. Whatever the organization, in Italy, the reception meal is the most important moment of the evening. It is the occasion to surprise your guests with a typical menu! In the country of dolce vita, make them taste the finest Italian products with an antipasti buffet. We have selected the greatest caterers in Apulia and Tuscany to make you discover the excellence of the local gastronomy. 

A couple of months before your reception, come for a tasting sequence with us to validate your final wedding menu. For a Jewish wedding, we can provide you with a kosher menu with due respect to the religion. 

8.Prepare your wedding decoration

If the raw beauty of the venues our wedding planners offer is enough to surprise your guests, your wedding decoration needs an anticipated preparation. Our experience, creativity and knowledge guide you in the choice of your theme. Thus, you can share your inspirations and wishes thanks to your dedicated Pinterest board. We can take delivery of your own decoration equipment and stock it in our office if you wish. 

In Italy, we however have our decoration equipment, and it is available for your wedding decoration. We will make it unique and enhance your wedding venue. 

To follow the organization of your event and exchange with your wedding planner during the whole process, we use a collaboration tool dedicated to your event. 

Wait no more and contact us now to start the organization of your wedding!