At Italian Weddings, we can attest to it: getting married in Italy is an art form! More than just celebrating a couple’s union for life, an Italian wedding is a unique experience, steeped in codes and traditions. To give you a taste of what a wedding ceremony organized by us could look like, we wanted to present some of the particularities that make Italian weddings so charming and famous. Are you ready? We’ll tell you everything!
An Italian wedding, a moment steeped in tradition!
In Italy, the wedding ceremony and its organization are true institutions! Whether civil or religious, Italian-style weddings have been steeped in codes and traditions for hundreds of years. From the bride and groom’s arrival at the church, through the evening’s entertainment, the reception of guests, and the ceremony itself, Italian-style weddings are highly codified and promise a complete change of scenery for you and your guests!
What are the traditions that make Italian weddings so charming?
Among the many traditions specific to Italian weddings, we wanted to focus on a few picturesque customs that add to the charm of weddings in Italy.
For example, in the Puglia region, where we organize all our Italian weddings, the bride and groom must walk to the church. Guests are then invited to place obstacles along their route, some more difficult than others, symbolizing the fraught journey that life together represents!
Other superstitions specific to Italian weddings include the custom of the groom carrying a piece of iron in his pocket throughout the ceremony, believed to bring him luck and ward off evil spirits. The bride must wear a veil covering her face before revealing her face once she enters the church. This is a custom that has been adopted by many other countries around the world!
The importance of the reception for an Italian wedding!
If Italian weddings are known worldwide, it is largely thanks to their ceremonies. Indeed, Italian wedding receptions and their musical universe have been popularized and glorified in numerous films since the 1960s, which has allowed Italian culture to demonstrate its prestige when it comes to wedding receptions. We can thus cite the French film Tous les soleils by Philippe Claudel, whose story is punctuated by the tarantellas of Lucilla Galeazzi and Marco Beasley!
These tarantellas are a must-have at Italian wedding receptions. Typical of southern Italian weddings, we all remember the famous opening scene from The Godfather with the Sicilian wedding of the Corleone family. A picturesque atmosphere that can also be found in the Puglia region! During this wild dance, young and old alike gather to sing and dance together to traditional music! There’s nothing better to feel the blood of Italy pumping through your veins!
Regarding typical Italian wedding dishes, we mainly feature local delicacies. At Noces italiennes, for example, we collaborate with producers from Puglia to organize the catering for our Italian-style weddings!
Finally, to conclude their wedding ceremony, the bride and groom traditionally break a vase in front of all their guests. The goal? To break the vase into as many pieces as possible, each piece being meant to symbolize the number of years of happiness the bride and groom have shared together!
