dutyfree

I am interested if anyone from the USA or the UK has married in Italy or Greece?
My daughter/USA and fiancé/UK are looking into marrying in Europe this summer. The UK wedding visa is incredibly expensive and time consuming.
Did you use a wedding planner?
Venue and when?
Expensive-how many did you have?
Happy with the way it turned out?
Any recommendations?
Thank you for any tips or ideas!

nytraveler

If you do a search here you will find a lot of threads about weddings in Italy. There is significant paperwork required (which must be translated into Italian and notarized) as well as - I believe - a residency requirement. Most people felt it was not possible without a wedding planner on the ground who speaks Italian and knows how to deal with the government bureaucracy.

bilboburgler

I got married in Italy, no planner, use a notarizer, we had no residency requirement but we live in UK.

Yes you do need a notarizer, you have to have legal translations sworn in at the tribunal.

Certain town halls make a good business out of marriages. We selected Lecce and for ~E350 to the town hall and ~E500 to the notarizer we got the thing done. The only odd thing we had to do was write a "why do we want to get married in Lecce" letter to the mayor.

Yes you do have to pay for the "push", Italian society is driven by who you know and there really is a job title for someone who "stands in line", that service has to be paid for.

The other issue is that documents have to be checked perfectly. Both your sendings and their versions of their documents. Basically "clumsy" errors can be fixed, but once again you need a notarizer. Moving documents from one doc/language to another have too many opportunities for error.

Good luck

Oh if you want a party as well, that costs money, the further south the less.

bilboburgler

Expensive-how many did you have? One wedding
Happy with the way it turned out? Married
Any recommendations? If you want a party as well I can make a recommendation, the lass we used for the fun part would also do the civil bit.
Thank you for any tips or ideas! We compared prices in Tuscany and Puglia (big savings). Vegetarian saves a fortune.

sandralist

There is no residency requirement for getting married in Italy. The notion that there is "government bureaucracy" any more difficult than what you encounter getting married in the US is just a cliche. The bride and groom will need to sign declarations -- as they do in the US -- that they are not already married to other people. They will need to have IDs. These legal papers must be filed in Italian, so you may need notarized translations of the same documents you would need to present at your local town hall.

There is a ton of information online about this, including blogs of married couples who did all this themselves. Definitely read those before you begin contacting wedding planners. I organized a small wedding in Italy for an Italian couple, and would just generally say that Italian wedding customs are different -- meaning, how you party, what you eat, what you wear, what you do before and after, and what kind of flowers you get, etc. If you want an American style wedding in italy, you need to bring your own stuff and make exceptional arrangments for an American style wedding cake or other particular goodies. If the couple are happy with marrying Italian-style, it is easier and cheaper.

sandralist

sorry -- I meant to write that the wedding I organized was for a non-Italian couple (but they were more interested in having an Italian-style wedding).

traveller1959

Be aware that in most European countries you have two wedding ceremonies: One by the Church and one by the State. Church ceremonies are not legally binding.

I mention this because there was this lady from Texas named Jerry Hall who had thought for nine years and four children that she had been married to a certain Mick Jagger, but later the High Court declared the marriage as void and nil since it had been just a religious ceremony in Indonesia.

After the breakup (no divorce was needed), the poor lady had to marry Rupert Murdoch in order to feed herself and her hungry children.

bilboburgler

"The notion that there is "government bureaucracy" any more difficult than what you encounter getting married in the US is just a cliche"

Well, maybe, but my British sister got married to a British man in Maine and it was very easy (5 minutes for document, 5 minutes for wedding). I suspect the issues that might come up are the language (obviously) and the different concepts of the legal system between Anglo Saxons and the rest.

The "man in the line" and the "friend of a friend" is not a cliche but alive and well in Italy and I was discussing same with an Italian only today.

The real benefit of marrying in Italy is that you get to party the way Italians do, which is wonderful.

Christina

I would hope no one is so stupid as to think something that isn't legal, is. That isn't exactly what happened with Hall and Jagger, the person who officiated didn't have the proper legal paperwork done and neither did the couple in terms of what they needed from the UK. It could have been legal, it wasn't that they had to go to two different places, it was just not done properly. They didn't even try to register the marriage.

traveller1959

It was probably a trick of Mr. Jagger to avoid hefty payments after an eventual divorce.

But OP probably does not want to read here things about legal consequences of divorced marriages in foreign countries.

hetismij2

How does marrying in Italy make it easier for them to be together? Doesn't your daughter still need to apply for a spouse visa in that case? In which case they could get married in the US just as easily.

sandralist

You are not required to have 2 ceremonies in Italy. You are only required to have a ceremony approved by town hall, either in the town hall, or in a church recognized by the town hall.

I cannot recollect knowing anyone who has gotten married in Maine, but by and large, the world over, most communities that issue legal marriage documents take a great deal of interest in making sure that foreigners coming into their community to get married are not already married elsewhere.

flanneruk

" by and large, the world over, most communities that issue legal marriage documents take a great deal of interest in making sure that foreigners coming into their community to get married are not already married elsewhere."


Here's how this foreigner got married in the US:

1. Go for a drive, and spot a "Weddings here" sign.
2. Say to longstanding girlfriend "should we check?"
3. Ask at reception desk. Receptionist says "we can slot you in in 30 mins. It'll be $60"
4. Walk to Wells Fargo ATM machine and withdraw $100 (assuming you're supposed to tip the judge)
5. Return. Fill in simple form. No ID is requested (though cash insisted on): we assert we're unmarried. If we've lied, the wedding's invalid: if we're telling the truth, why waste time checking?
6. 30 mins after Step 1, go into courtroom
7. After brief discussion of judge's chances in upcoming local election, and slightly longer discussion of political pressures in our own microtown, get married. Forget to tip the judge.
8. Adjourn to local Walmart for bottle of NY State champagne and packet of smoked salmon.

Total cost (incl Walmart champagne): $86.75. Total time invested, including all planning and time to get to ATM and back: 43 minutes.

You can't buy a stamp in an Italian post office in 43 minutes.

ilsabing

I got married in Switzerland (both of us US citizens). We stayed in a small medieval town called Stein am Rhine in a gorgeous hotel and the concierge was essentially my wedding planner. Our ceremony was tiny, just a few folks, in the Canton office in Schauffhausen (which was lovely). The ceremony was in english. We considered a few other spots in Europe but this seemed by far to be the path of least resistance. Good luck!

traveller1959

Flanner, you are a liar.

For $86.75, you don't get champagne. You do get sparkling wine.

flpab

Hire sandralist to be your planner/organizer.

traveller1959

After TTIP, the Americans will be forbidden to call their lemonade "champagne" any more.

Isn't it good to stay in the European Union?

nytraveler

Sandralist - as often you are quite confused.

To get married in New York City the couple have to go to the County Clerk's office, present their ID and fill out a form (on the spot) including a statement that they are not already married to someone else.

The next day (24 hours later) they come back and the clerk marries them. (Or they can choose some other officient to marry them elsewhere - their choice. In that case they or the officient has to turn in the signed certificate.)

Full stop.

No one has to prove anything - your statement is accepted as truth. And there are no translations, birth certificates, notaries or anything else.

I have not been married in Italy but have read enough posts here from people who did to know that the process is much more complicated for americans marrying in Italy.

29FEB

<b>Traveller1959</b>
<i>"After the breakup (no divorce was needed), the poor lady had to marry Rupert Murdoch in order to feed herself and her hungry children."</i>

I'm glad the story has a happy ending.
Or at least a satisfactory one.

kybourbon

This is from a few years back, but lists the companies she used. I think her pic link has expired (a shame since her pics/wedding were fantastic). If you click on her name, you can find some of her threads that had to do with the wedding planning (such as taking her wedding dress in the plane).

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ence-italy.cfm

Ellenem is still posting and she got married in Venice. You might try adding to one of her threads and asking a few questions.

http://www.fodors.com/community/profile/ellenem/