Are you planning a wedding in Italy? Enjoy our 10 to tips to help make your special day the perfect day.
Is there a more romantic country in the world than Italy? Home to Romeo and Juliet, as well as being the birthplace of Casanova and of course, St Valentine, there is no better place for a destination wedding. Here at Bookings For You we love helping our guests plan their special days in Italy. So, to help you make sure your plans are on track, we have created this handy list of 10 tips to help you plan a wedding in Italy which will be everything you’ve dreamed of and more.
1. Choose a location
Italy is a stunning setting for a wedding. Choosing a location for your special day is perhaps the most important part of planning a wedding in Italy. Tuscany has been a favourite location for a wedding in Italy for many years. However, there are many other wonderful options. Umbria has much of what Tuscany can offer as do Emilia Romagna and Le Marche: All offer stunning landscapes and picturesque romantic hilltop towns. It’s also always worth considering the Italian Lakes too – I’m not sure is there is an greater backdrop for a wedding than the magnificent Italian Lakes and mountains. Another often unexplored option is Puglia: beautiful whitewashed masserias set amid miles of olive groves and surrounded by turquoise waters – truly delightful.
2. Find a wedding planner
Planning a wedding is Italy is great fun, however it can also be quite hard work. In fact, planning a wedding anywhere can involve some serious knowledge and expert organisation skills. This is why we recommend that our guests also enlist the help of a wedding planner who is based in Italy. This way, you have someone on the ground who has connections and relationships with florists, photographers, chefs and all the other services you will need. What’s more, and perhaps more importantly they will speak Italian! While many Italians do speak English, it’s always beneficial to have someone with the local language to help plan your special day.
3. Think carefully about the season
Summer is wedding season. However, remember that summer in Italy is hot! Increasingly, we are seeing record breaking heat waves hit southern Europe in the summer months so do think carefully about how this could affect your day. The Italian Lakes region is usually a few degrees cooler than Tuscany or Umbria in July and August but can be prone to thunder storms in these more humid months. It’s worth considering planning your wedding in Italy in the Spring or Autumn months. Very often these months are wonderfully warm without the oppressive heat of the summer.
4. Follow Italian traditions
We love Italy! We love the culture, the people, the food and pretty much everything else about our favourite country in Europe. So we always encourage our villa guests who are planning a wedding in Italy to embrace some of Italy’s wonderful traditions and make them part of their day. Click here to see a list of our favourite Italian wedding traditions to include in your day.
5. Create a realistic guest list
Creating a guest list for you wedding is always a challenge. Remember that it’s your special day so try not to be persuaded to invite guests who you don’t want to share the experience with. Planning a wedding in Italy will inevitably mean your guest list will be a little smaller than if you were to tie the knot at home. Do consider which of your friends and family will be able to make the journey and give them plenty of notice (we’d say at least 12 months) to get their travel arrangements in place too.
6. Plan some activities around the wedding
If you’re asking your guests to travel to Italy to share your special day, then it’s often a good idea to also plan some activities to do together before or after the big day. This is also a wonderful way for your guests from each of your families and different parts of your lives to meet and get to know each other. Cooking classes and food or wine tours and tastings can be particularly fun. We’ve put together some of our favourite tours and activities organised by region – click here to see what’s on offer.
7. Find accommodation for your guests
Once you’ve decided on the venue for your wedding in Italy, it’s a very good idea to put together a shortlist of accommodation nearby to host your guests. While some Italian wedding villas have room for some guest accommodation too, this will rarely be enough for the entire wedding party. Our team at Bookings For You are always on hand to help you organise options for your guests in villas an apartments within easy reach of your wedding location. We would recommend having a variety of places to match different budgets, tastes and requirements.
8. Make travel arrangements
Bookings flights is the most obvious part of putting travel arrangements in place when you’re planning a wedding in Italy. However, there can often be more details which you need to think about before you tick this one off your to-do list. Arranging transfers to and from the airport both in your home country and in Italy is also an essential part of the planning. Renting a car is the best way to move around rural Italy and if you’re in a city we would usually opt to travel by taxi, train or metro. Putting together some options for your guests too can be very helpful.
9. Check the Ts & Cs
While it is completely legal for foreign citizens to get married in Italy, many couples opt to do the legal part of their wedding at home and save their time in Italy for the celebrations. This way you can still enjoy a ceremony with vows but needn’t worry about any red tape getting in the way on your big day. If you do opt to have a legal marriage ceremony in Italy, you must check the regulations carefully. Click here to read about the Nulla Osta, an essential document to be completed for a legal marriage ceremony in Italy.
10. Learn some Italian
Finally, when you’re planning a wedding in Italy, it’ s a great idea to also take some time to learn some Italian. Not only will this be appreciated by the locals who are helping to make your day perfect but it’s also very useful to have a basic understanding if you need to read any documents or make some enquiries. Although there is no better way to learn a language than in a face to face class, we appreciate that planning a wedding can be quite time consuming so learning from an app or website can be more convenient. Click here to read our guide to the best apps to learn Italian.
Useful Links For Planning a Wedding in Italy
Our team at Bookings For You are always happy to help you get started with your plans by finding the perfect Italian wedding villa. We have many years of experience in working with couples to plan their perfect wedding in Italy. Contact us here for more information.
