Anyone wed in ITALY??

[decodelighted]

I know, I know ... I''m the "barn wedding" gal ... but that hasn''t worked itself out yet.

Just curious if anyone else has done the Italian destination wedding thing ... rented a Villa? Etc. Etc...

Besides, you Rachael Ray, ... I know she must be a P-scope lurker!!

 

[firebirdgold]

Actually my big sister is getting married this summer in Cortona (Tuscany) Italy. Our family had already booked a villa for a two week family vacation, so when she got engaged last month it seemed perfect. (and yes, at 38 and 33 we are still having family vacations with our parents)

She''s having a few technical difficulties though. They have to do some sort of paperwork thing at the American Embassy in Florence during business hours.... Italian business hours.

Then they have to present the papers (including translated birth certs and all) to the official what-evers at Cortona to get the license. Which I think is not valid for another 3 days. The fourth day happens to be a feast day, which means anything official is shut down.

So the current plan is for them to exchange vows together on the patio of the villa that night, and we have the dinner and general celebration then. The next morning we all troop into town for a civil ceremony at the ... plaza?? something that sounds like that, and have a big wedding brunch.
Of course the immediately obvious flaw with this plan is that they have friends driving down from Paris with two cases of champagne for 20-25 people. Brunch may be rather optimistic!

Something that surprised me is the number of people who are coming to the wedding! She hasn''t even sent out an email announcement let alone invitations and they already have about 15-20 people coming not including friends already in Europe or family members our father is importing. I guess it''s the combination of an excuse for a tuscany vacation and the shock that miss I''m-never-getting-married is, in fact, actually getting married.


I have the feeling that Italy is like France, where the only legally binding ceremony is a civil service at their version of city hall. No roaming judges or anything.

 

[decodelighted]

Thanks Wren!!

It''s pretty funny ''cause I AM a 38 year old "never gonna marry" older sister with a bunch of already married sisters one of whom is 33!!

Hmmm though ... it sounds tricker than I thought! Thinkin ... thinkin ...

 

[decodelighted]

Hey WREN!

Do you happen to know which company your family is using for the rental Villa? I found a bunch & am trying to narrow down.

Still just researchin!

Thanks,
Deco

 

[selflove]

Well, it''s not exactly a villa in Tuscany, but have you thought of getting married on a Mediterranean cruise? If you get an American cruise company, maybe the paperwork would be less difficult and you could still see some great places along the coast...I''m thinking Portofino, the Cinqua Terra, Naples, Sicily....

I love your barn idea but I love the Tuscan Villa idea even more!!!! If you do this, I am SO going to be living vicariously through you!!

Here is our own little alpine villa (okay, bed and breakfast!) where we are having our reception in Slovenia:

 

[decodelighted]

Hey Selflove,

Had no idea Slovenia was so lovely!! I''d take an Alpine B&B!

Cruises are a little price prohibitive, ''cause our whole group has to pay airfare to Italy so we were gonna give ''em a place to stay once they got there. Personally I adore the Cinque Terre/Riviera but there weren''t Villas big enough... Villas in Tuscany that sleep 20-22 were suprisingly affordable. As low as 6K a week ($42/night per person?) ... also, it would double as the reception site, as to do Civil ceremonies in Italy, ya gotta hike it to the town square or something. (Guilottine anyone?)

Here are a couple pix of some I found ...

 

[decodelighted]

Different one

 

[decodelighted]

The part the Sweetie is super psyched about ...

 

[decodelighted]

Now THIS kitchen I''d like at home!!

 

[selflove]

SHUT UP!!!! THOSE ARE SO COOL!!! That KITCHEN! And the BILLIARD ROOM!!!! OMG, how fun!!!! Oh is it going to be fun to follow this wedding! $42pp is a great deal! Now are they quoting you dollars or euros?

Which villages are these closest to? In 2004 I went to Tuscany and we were in Sienna and San Gimiagnano(sp?) which were just incredible, and Florence of course. I will go look around my messy bedroom and see if I can find any info about places we stayed at or visited. Wouldn''t it be cool to stay at a villa with a vineyard? I know we stopped at some wineries, maybe I can find some of their details.

 

[selflove]

Sorry, Deco, I''ve become obsessed with your wedding!

I just did a google search and put in "tuscany wedding planners" and came up with a ton of sites.

 

[SoonIHope]

Wowwwwww those places look incredible!!!! I''ve always said that if we didn''t have a family house where everyone in my family has gotten married since 1848 (Adirondack mountains on Lake Champlain in upstate NY) then I would want to do it in Italy! Soooooooooo gorgeous!!!!!! Do it, do it!!!! (just so we get pics

) Only, dammit, I wanna see barn wedding pictures too!!!!

 

[GGLW]

Sorry to hijack...but Selflove, I''d love to hear which wineries you went to (if you remember) and if you took an organized tour to see them or if you just stopped by without an appointment. I''m having trouble trying to figure out how to do wine tasting in that region.
Thanks!
And, by the way, Deco, I can''t wait to see what you come up with if you do Italy! Those pics look gorgeous!

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 3/21/2006 2:21:21 PM
Author: selflove
Now are they quoting you dollars or euros?
Which villages are these closest to?
Wouldn''t it be cool to stay at a villa with a vineyard?

1) I''m doing my figuring in dollars, they ususally provide both #s
2) My top three are pretty spread out ... Siena, Ponte A Moriano, Bucene
3) One IS on a vinyard!!

It''s hilarious though because the topography of Tuscany is kinda like the Hudson Valley: WHERE I LIVE. The irony does not escape me! We have vineyards like two miles from our own house.

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 3/21/2006 2:43:33 PM
Author: albicocca
Do it, do it!!!! (just so we get pics

) Only, dammit, I wanna see barn wedding pictures too!!!!

HA!!! I know! I liked that plan too. Stay tuned! Site of pictures still yet to be determined!! (Though if I had a family Adirondack cabin my search would def. be OVER before it started!!!

)

 

[firebirdgold]

I''ll email my sis and get her to send me the info for the guy we''re renting through. The villa we have booked isn''t all that large, about four bedrooms. So the guests are pretty much on their own.
I''m thinking I''ll break the news to her later that if you get people all the way out to a DW, you need to organize a couple of optional group outings.

 

[selflove]

LOL--going 3000 miles to have the wedding in a place that looks just like where you live! But it''s so romantic and exotic to go to Tuscany for your wedding. We wouldn''t hold it against you.

GGLW--when I went wine tasting in Tuscany, it was more like us driving around the countryside, seeing a sign for wine sales and tasting, and stopping at the vineyard which was usually like a small farm. We tasted and bought olive oil too. It was the same way in Provence and in Corsica...just see a sign on the side of the road and stop. They are everywhere! I found that Tuscany was a little more commercialized than Provence. But in none of the places did we have to pay for tasting like you do in Napa. Maybe at a wine shop in one of the Tuscan villages we had to pay for tasting, I can''t quite remember for sure, but definitely at the vineyards we didn''t pay.

 

[AGBF]

I did not get married in Italy because of the enormous amount of paperwork that would have been involved. This was a problem for me because I was living in France and my papers were in the United States. I am sure it would be less of a problem for someone in the same country with his papers and the time to fool around with them. Having dealt with the Italian consulate in the US and the Italian bureaucracy, I will tell you that one needs patience!

I was married before there was such a thing as a "destination wedding", however. Now there are probably specialists with whom one can consult...for a fee!

 

[firebirdgold]

Ok, still haven''t gotten ''our'' guys website, but I do have his friend''s whom we are recommending to wedding guests.
http://terretrusche.com/eng/

 

[E B]

http://terretrusche.com/eng/ua_view_eng.asp?uid=219#

 

[firebirdgold]

It''s going to be bl@@dy weird for me to be at my sister''s wedding in Cortona. The last (and only) time I was there I either had a pickaxe or a pot sherd in my hands.
They seem to have all the paper work in hand. Which really is the only difficult part of getting married in Italy. The last major hurdle is getting something signed at the cousulate in Florence. And who could object to an excuse to go to Florence for the day? 20 minutes at the consulate, and the rest of day shopping! Although no one''s going to let me about Florence unattended. The last time I was there I got confused on the currency rate and bough 2 pairs of pink Ferragamos! Hey, lira had so many zeros it was easy to lose one!

The thing about a wedding in Italy is that it is soooo romantic and special that you don''t need any of the usual trimmings! So in a way, it could be considered cheaper!

 

[icekid]

I would loooove to get married in Italy... but couldn''t dream of making my poor med student friends fly there. All of the places you are thinking of are absolutely gorgeous

And I think you should do it too, since I''d love to see pictures

 

[decodelighted]

You guys are funny! Thanks for more scoop, Wren!

OOOooof. It''s a hard decision - we''ve been really back & forth on it. We''d almost decided to "go for it" and I woke up the next morning with a terrible feeling of dread - like, being responsible for 20 people in a foreign country type of stress. I''m the oldest of 6 & have some issues about "care-taking" to put it mildly. So then we were like - okay, so NO. But them my sweet brother found out some more info and we were seduced again! The few people in our families we''ve run it by have been shocked, then kinda excited. Still on the fence but we have to pull the trigger soon if we''re doin'' it.

Re: the traveling/$ etc -- we live pretty far from most of our family & friends - so most of ''em will have to travel anyway. We''re hoping to offset the giant jump in expense by renting a Villa large enough to house everyone who makes the trip (for a WEEK if they wish) & stocking it with breakfast/lunch foods & beverages. That''s honestly where most of our budget would go. Then legal stuff, transport to/from town ceremony for 20, dinner for 20 night of wedding at the Villa itself, photographer, dress. Tick Tock.!

 

[selflove]

My friend has a saying, "You can''t put a pricetag on a memory." Sounds like the fabulous memory might be worth the price...!!!!

BTW, he also says "You don''t make memories staying in the hotel room."

 

[firebirdgold]

Update on the papers and Italian working hours!

So my sister and fi need to get their documents translated into italian and have an italian document saying that it''s legal for them to get married in Italy. (I don''t know if this is for everyone or just someone w/ a divorce). They were told they need to get these papers at the Consulate in Florence. HOWEVER, it turns out that the consulate is on Italy time. They only do wedding papers on Tuesday and Thursday mornings... for like an hour or some other idiotically short period of time.

But they need to get the finished paperwork to the city of Cortona by tuesday to get the marriage license, because the license will not become valid for a few days!

And their plane tickets have them arriving Friday and leaving the following sunday(?)!

So they are going to see if the state department can do the paperwork for them before they leave. But my mother is already planning on changing their flights so they get in on wednesday to Florence.

 

[flopkins]

oooh deco that sounds soooo exciting!!! I don''t have any help though...

FI and I seriously talked about a destination wedding but like icekid we just couldn''t see all our grad student friends being able to fly out... and FI''s grandparents are too old to fly safely... and in the end the deciding factor was that we wanted most of our friends and family to be there to celebrate with us...

but man, I LOVE italy... it''s too bad there''s nothing big enough in cinque terre - I thought it was one of the most beautiful spots in Italy!!

 

[pip]

I love Italy too. and I would like suggest you some web site where you can find best places for weddings in Italy.

http://www.weddingsitaly.com/ville/accommodations.htm


here you can find a lot of venues : castles and so on but the most important thing is that they give the unique opportunity to have your legal wedding at the venue !!!!!!!