Just Us 2 Wedding and 2 Wks in Europe. We need help planning please!
 

Hello everyone. Me and my husband to would love to spend two weeks in Europe and are just beginning to think about travel. We are completely open to your ideas since it will just be the two of us.

We would love to visit these places.

At least 2 days in Ireland.
At least 2 days in Florence, Italy.
At least 2 days in Venice, Italy.
At least 1 day in Prague.
At least 1 day in Paris.
At least 1 day in London.
At least 2 days in Greece.

I would love to get married in Florence or Venice, maybe Greece too? But I'm not too picky.

We have no idea how to travel. We would be traveling via O'hare airport from Chicago, IL USA.

Please help!! Thanks so much.

Consolidate your wish list or add more time to your trip. I would plan for 3 nights at each stop you pick. You will lose at least a half day traveling between stops. One night stops will give you little to no time to actually see anything. Sounds like your priorities are Italy, Ireland, and Greece so maybe you keep your trip to those countries. You can and will go back to Europe! :)

Congratulations!

Your plan (even w/o having to arrange a wedding) is simply impossible.

To get 2 full days in Ireland you'd need 3 nights, 2 days in Florence = 3 nights, 2 days in Venice = 3 nights, 1 day in Prague = 2 nights, etc etc (and '2 days in Greece makes no sense unless you mean JUST Athens -- and that still would require 3 nights)

1 day in London -- 1 day in Paris -- why bother?

But at any rate -- to hit all those places for even as short stays as you plan would require 20+ days.

You have two weeks (and if that includes travel time -- it is really only 11.5 days) pick two or at most three places.

"Ireland" is a country -- so where <i>specifically</i> IN Ireland? Same w/ Greece.

Basically -- rethink the lot . . .

You need help. These are very far flung locations. Think of it this way

2 days in Miami
2 days in Boston
2 days in New York
1 day in Las Vegas
1 day in Seattle
1 day in Vancouver
2 days in Denver

You will never get off airplanes or out of airports.

As it stands you have six countries in two weeks. Perhaps you ought to consider one of those "If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium" type guided tours. Otherwise, what you have here is a logistical nightmare for an inexperienced European traveler.

How about Ireland and England and if you must, throw in Paris?

Or Florence, Venice and Greece could be made to work.

From Chicago, you can easily fly in to one European city and home from another, but your plan needs to be tamed.

Check for non stop flights in and out of Chicago to pick your destination and departure points.

I have no idea of what it's like to get married in Greece, but there are many threads here, and pages on the internet, about getting married in Italy. I'm afraid that there is more to it than you can accomplish with such short visits.

Seems that celebrities get married in Paris a lot. Maybe that is easier to arrange.

http://www.justgetmarried.com/italy/elope-to-italy.htm

I think you need to narrow it down a wee bit. Chicago to Dublin flights are usually reasonable, spend a couple of days there getting an open jaw ticket. Get a flight to London from there, spend a couple of nights, take the train to Paris and then another flight to Florence get married. Train to Venice for a couple of days. Maybe flight home from there. A lot of traveling but you are young.

In addition to completing paperwork in the US at the Italian consulate, you will need to accomplish a couple of business tasks in Florence in order to get legally married, and that will require your arriving in Florence for some days in advance of your ceremony date and -- if you want to take home a valid marriage certificate to Chicago -- staying a few days after the ceremony (unless someone else is willing to do the after-wedding paperwork for you).

I would focus Italy. Agree with the others that you run the risk of spending your trip in train stations . Would the Amalfi Coast be a reasonable substitute for Greece, the islands were of interest to you in Greece?

Out of your possible destinations, you could also do Ireland- London - Paris fairly easily. I love Paris and I would spend the whole time there and thrown in some day trips--lots of great day trips by train from Paris.

Thank you so much every one! Yes, I would love to do greece italy and ireland mostly so thats most important. Getting married in italy in venice is probably my most favorite. Getting married in paris is basvially out of tge question due to hiw hard it is. Can anyone describe the best route in and out of these cities? Van someone explain to me marriage procedures in italy more detailed? I know u need passports and such but not much else. If you have any hot spots I should know about or tips that would be amazing.

To clarify, athens greece and dublin Ireland

Also the amalfi coast is definetly plausible instead of athens

I can't help with info on getting married and the procedures.

Maybe think about Flying into Venice and out of Naples. Visit Venice, the Florence, then the Amalfi Coast...Fly home from Naples.

Take a look at the man in seat 61 for help in understanding the train system and how to book tickets. We usually just buy our tickets at the station in the day we want to travel. http://www.seat61.com

https://www.italiarail.com/timetable

I would imagine there is a lot of information on the internet about what is all required to marry in Italy. If you can't find what you need, you may need to hire someone in Italy to help you with the process. Sandralist says there are several days involved with the wedding paperwork so you may not be able to travel to other places as you'd hoped...more research on your part is definitely required.

If you are able to travel to Ireland and Greece, where do you want to visit within those countries? They both have a lot to see.

I just saw that you are open to the Almalfi Coast...spending an entire two weeks in Italy is definitely easy and enjoyable to do! We honeymooned there and loved it. You could consider that, easily. It's your wedding and honeymoon combined and I don't think you'll regret having a more relaxed pace for this special time! We switched locations four times in 16 days and I definitely wouldn't recommend trying to fit anymore than that in.

two weeks really is not long enough to visit three countries (so far apart) and fit in a wedding and the formalities required.

Why not concentrate on Italy -- or Italy and one other city just for a taste.

You really need a minimum of 4 days in the city where you get married because of 'Declaration of Intention to Marry' has to be processed 2 or 3 days ahead of time.

w/ your 10 or 11 free days out of two weeks you don't have a lot of time to be jumping all over Europe. Assuming 4-ish day in the wedding city -- you only have about one week to 'play with'

There are numerous threads here on the complicated requirements necessary to get married in Italy and you should look at them to get an idea of the requirements.

Typically one needs a wedding planner on the ground since there are numerous forms to be filled out, translated into Italian by an official translator, filed with the correct officials and various approvals obtained. This is a process that easily take months.

And I can't imagine can be done in any place in Italy in 2 days.

Also agree that you are spreading yourself very thin - and will be in train stations more that sightseeing.

Based off the last feedback, you could fly into Venice, stay 3 nights. Train to Florence, stay 6 nights. Get married in Florence and you'll have extra time for all the wedding activities and any unforeseen delays (that you hopefully won't have but it's nice to have buffer-time). Florence is a great city to explore worth days on its own and it also has endless, fabulous day trips that you could take from there. End your trip with a few nights on the Almalfi Coast and fly out of Rome?

Translations of documents can (and should) take place in the US, months in advance of your wedding date. You only need some days inside Italy to complete the paperwork before your ceremony. An Italian consulate needs to vouch for your in the area of Italy where you are getting married, and the commune where you are getting married requires some time to complete the paperwork ahead of your ceremony. You both need to show up in person at several government offices (sometimes nowhere near each other) to present papers and pay fees through banks before a ceremony will be performed for you.

Wedding planners can often do some of the advance italian appointment-making for you. There are some localities in Italy that very much welcome weddings and therefore simplify the process (I'd be very surprised is Florence is one of them, but I could be wrong).

A google search will get you to an overload of information from consulates, wedding planners, bloggers describing how they get married Italy (no doubt some of them for Florence). Some people, looking at that information, opt to get legally married in the US, but have a symbolic ceremony in Italy (especially since getting legally married in Italy means doing the actual ceremony inside a government office or a Catholic church, not a picturesque private setting.)

Sorry -- I just realized my error: An AMERICAN consulate needs to vouch for you inside Italy. There is --- last time I checked - an American consulate in Florence, but you are very likely to need to make an appointment to see them (and you may be able to accomplish the same task at the American embassy in Milan, where you can book an appointment online).

Thank you so much everyone. It really helps to get all of your feedback.