dutyfree

I wanted information on weddings-NOT buying stamps,tabac shops,etc.? Could those of you who were chatting about that start a new thread?

For those of you who offered help about marrying-thank you so much!

It is a major hassle and quite a bit of money to marry in the UK as a non citizen to a UK citizen. One must give up their passport for upwards of 6 months for the visa approval along with lots of support of pictures,emails,texts,boarding passes,etc. and lots of British pounds. When you finally get approved, you must book a " give notice appointment" at only one of the 76 registries throughout the UK which is sometimes a 3 month wait.

When you finally have that appointment, you are interviewed in separate rooms to see how well you know the other. Finally, if you are approved-you need to find either a civil ceremony venue or a church. (One can only get married by a registrar or a clergyman in the UK!)When you give notice you have to allow 29 days in case anyone wants to contest your wedding.

The irony of all this BS is that the visa people want you to have a place booked but no one will take any money to reserve a venue without the visa?

My daughter and fiance have realized that if they get married in either Cyprus which is the easiest or in Italy, they will save quite a few dollars. The spouse visa will be faster and less expensive than going through the fiance visa/wedding visa route.

They want to stay for at least a year or so in the UK before moving to the US so if they marry here, he either has to go back to work in the UK or be here with no work.

We tried to contact some Italian wedding planners but as of now most have said that the earliest that they could get married would be in July. As someone who flies to Rome frequently for work-having a wedding in Rome in July or August would be painful with the heat.Cyprus is looking good right now if the wedding could happen before July and their heat.

Seriously-any thoughts or tips are greatly appreciated!

hetismij2

I still don't see how marrying in Europe and then applying for a spouse visa is any different to marrying in the US and applying for a spouse visa. He can marry in the US without a visa afaik. Where would your daughter live while waiting for her visa if they marry in Europe?

bilboburgler

The time process described for the UK element sounds about right for true citizens too.

Certainly our queue time for our Lecce Civil wedding was about 5 months. 2 months to check the details given by UK town hall, 3 months to gt through the queue of others looking to get web.

Both countries would expect you to have authority to marry before you book a civil facility to wed.

Can't think of anything to help, except having someone on the ground who knows the people in charge (hence the need for a wedding planner) who might be able to jump the queue, hence the discussion of paperwork in Italy.

Jumping the queue in the UK is harder, for instance you can jump the queue if one of you is dying (not that I suggest that is a solution, just pointing out there are routes)

I'd talk to a few planners around Italy and see where the queue is shortest and the planner has most "influence".

asps

Barbara, you can theorically have a church-only wedding in Italy, but in 99,9% of church-only weddings, the couple will be already linked by a civil wedding and there should be sound reasons to separate the two ceremonies - usually because one of the parties is a foreign resident and in his/her state the church wedding would not be recognized as in Italy. As a general instruction, if a couple asks for a church-only wedding and they cannot prove a preceding civil wedding, the priest is required to refer the matter to his bishop before going on.

clausar

In Greece church wedding and civil wedding are equally recognized, you can decide for the one or the other.
Hiring a wedding planner in Santorini is easy, and my impression is that the whole procedure is less complicated and time consuming from what i read about Italy or the UK.

Why don't you simply contact a few wedding planners and see what they will say ?
May or June might look good, since it is relatively low season for the island. Someone i think mentioned Hotel Aressana in Fira, i have met the owner years ago, and i know that they organize weddings ( they were among the first ones to offer this service)

littlejane

Residence requirement and waiting times should be easier in Greece (or Cyprus) than Italy I think.

Paphos, Cyprus is a popular place for weddings also (particularly wedding parties from the UK) and well served by UK flight connections. It is another location where a number of hotels have wedding planners on site.

bvlenci

Asps, some bishops are much more "cooperative" in this matter than others, and there are lots of Italians, usually widowed from their first marriage, who are married the second time only religiously, but not civilly.

Odin

Cyprus is a very easy place to get married in. There are so many venues to choose from, from 5 star hotels such as the Anassa, more modest and traditional hotels like the Paradisos Hills in Lysos which is in the mountains and would be cooler temps than getting married in a town.

PetrosB3

Check this out:
http://www.greece-is.com/greece-made...tion-weddings/

janisj

apparently sandralist et al has actually left the building. Wonder what her next screen name will be.