JKing

Hello everyone, I am glad to have found a place where great advice seems to be so plentiful,

My fiance and I have decided to quit planing the wedding and get married over in Italy.

The only solid date we have is Oct 22, 2014 - Day of the wedding. Everything else is up for grabs. We will fly out Oct 15 afternoon and return Oct 31.

The wedding is at a church in San Gimignano.

We know we want to see The Vatican and other sites in Rome and Cinque Terra.

I'm thinking about something like this:

Milan (16,17)
Train to Cinque Terra (18,19)
Train? to Florence, rental car to San G(20,21,22,23,24)
Train Florence to Rome(25,26,27,28,29,30,31)
Fly out

I like this idea better:

Rome(16,17,18,19)
Train to Florence, rental to San G (20,21,22,23,24)
Train to Milan (25) or straight to Cinque Terra
Train to Cinque Terra (26,27, 28)
Milan to Paris (overnight train)
Paris (29,30,31)
Fly out

I'm the first to admit we just did this on a whim and we have a lot to learn. All thoughts are appreciated and if there are great places to see around Rome or elsewhere please let us know!

We love beautiful landscapes and enjoy art and history, but aren't in love with it such as others may be.

Thanks you!

limmy

I just want to say...
"
"My fiance and I have decided to quit planing the wedding and get married over in Italy."

Good move. My fiance and I considered this when we still had time to "pull out" so to speak, but we didn't for some unknown and foolish reason.

Good for you guys. Best wishes for your wedding & honeymoon.

I haven't been to any of the places in your list so my remarks are off topic, sorry! I saw your post while browsing material for our October trip and felt the need to give you a high five on your decision.

tuscanlifeedit

If you aren't crazy about art & history, why not cut down some of the city time in both itineraries?

If you see more of the Italian Riviera than just the CT, you might really enjoy it and there is a lot of spectacular natural beauty and some charming towns and villages that are fairly light on art and history.

nytraveler

Have you looked into the legal requirements to get married in Italy? There have been a number of posts here - if search - explaining the various procedures to go through and documents you need to qualify to get married in Italy as non-citizens.

vincenzo32951

Just a note: October is a nice time to visit Italy but maybe not the best time, for weather, to visit CT. Could be chilly and damp.

You'll probably, from what you say, get your fill of history and art in Rome. Have you considered Venice?

Alec

And also to get married in a Catholic Church in Italy for foreigners is even more complicated. Many priests simply refuse to do because of legal complications, and those that do have a long list of requirements that have to be met, which normally take several months to organise involving your home parish (Pre Cana, baptism certificate, freedom to marry form), your diocese, the Italian diocese, the parish you are having your marriage in, Italian consulate covering your state, US consulate covering your Italian location etc. Al documents to be translated and apostilled.
Or have I got your situation wrong?

kybourbon

There have been some negative reviews for the overnight train to Paris (dirty, etc.).

Unless you've done all the legwork to get married legally (translate docs, etc.) then you need to look into it.

Since Milan doesn't seem to be a must see, you could fly to Rome, spend a few days. Train to Orvieto or Chiusi, pick up a rental car, visit southern Tuscany a few days before heading over to San G. for the wedding (don't think I would stay there though unless you mean in the countryside). CT weather might be iffy end of Oct. Maybe drop the car and head to Florence and then Venice. Fly Easy Jet from Venice to Paris Orly.

tuscanlifeedit

Another thought: if you are flying from the US, some places with direct flights to Europe are easy places to get married, although I only know about civil ceremonies. We got our marriage license in NYC in the afternoon, and were married the next morning. You could get married on your way to Europe.

But as said above, if you've already gone through all the hoops to marry in Italy, this is moot.

Looking forward to hearing back from you.

IMDonehere

And be careful of the Schengen Agreement, you can only be married for less than 90 days.

sandralist

Unfortunately, the weather window for le Cinque Terre is really unfavorable. I suggest you give that time to Paris. I think you can fly out of Florence to Paris, or catch the overnight train from there.

JKing

Hello again everyone!

Thank you for all the replies, I will go one by one:

limmy: Thank you! We made the decision on a whim and started planning the best we could.

tuscanlifeedit: My finance and I are complete water babies, so this sounds like a good idea, can you drive along the whole thing? Also, we have hired a planner to take care of all the paperwork for us. I don't know if it's a real wedding or what. We're basically getting married at the city hall before we leave and then getting married in the Catholic Church when we get there. She's (fiance) dealing with that aspect. We're currently doing the PreCana etc to get everything situated.

nytraveler: You know, I really wanted to do the entire thing in Italy, but the planner we picked said it's so complicated that's it's much easier to do the civil here and the church there. My fiance basically made it sound just this side of impossible to do anything else. if that's not the case I certainly want to rethink it.

vincenzo32951: I looked at Venice when I first started planning, but moved away from it due to travel times and wanting to see CT. Flying into Milan was solely to train down to CT, really. From what people are saying here, maybe train from Florence to Venice and then train through Switzerland and on to Paris? What do you think?

Alec: Now you've got me worried! My fiance is really handling this portion of the trip (the wedding and paperwork associated) but we have had no mention of needing the Italian Consulate for anything, or the US consulate for that matter. I know our Priest is actually an Irish Priest who speaks English and I also know that our Diocese in Austin has never done this before, so we're having to work with them veeeery slowly to get them to send the docs to the diocese over in Italy. I think there is a letter from our Bishop involved somewhere.

kybourbon: These are all great ideas and just what I needed. I just need a push in the direction of where to go/what to do! Thanks! Also, we're thinking of staying at a working farm in the countryside for our time over in San G, are there any suggestions for something that may be a better fit for us? We're fine with the farm, no issues at all - just not sure what else is out there.

IMDonehere: 90 days? I looked up this agreement, it says if wee stay more than 90 days we need something other than just a passport. I'm confused?

sandralist: Thanks for the advice. We didn't think about the time of year, but we like to be places when there aren't many tourists around so hopefully we'll be lucky with weather.

CT was one of her main wants from the trip, but with the weather concerns expressed here, I guess it's time to take a look at Venice and the eastern part of Italy!


I originally had this grand plan of flying into Rome, training to Bolongna and/or Florence, renting a car and driving over to San G, then up to Venice that way seeing the sights, then taking the train up to Paris.

I thought the travel time was way too much to really enjoy ourselves in the time we had, so I cut it back quite a bit.

I'm at the office, so I need to get back to it, but I will check in later tonight with more details.

Thank you everyone!

sandralist

The problem with bad weather in Liguria at that time of year is that it can be really very, very bad. Closes all the trails and obscures all the views, and stops all the ferries. The Riviera is actually a very stormy coast, and unfortunately the latter part of October is typically a time of a great deal of weather instability, as warm marine air clashes with dropping temperatures moving down from the north or center. One can hedge one's bets a bit by staying in Pisa or Lucca and scooting up to le Cinque Terre if you know for sure the weather is brilliant -- or book someplace with a good cancellation policy and only keep the reservation if you have seen a very short term weather forecast (you probably don't need a reservation anyway) -- but just don't lock yourself in and have a plan B in case the weather is awful there.

IMDonehere

Sorry JKing, it was a joke. The Schengen agreement often comes up on these boards.

nytraveler

If you are actually getting married before you leave home then the rules for getting married in Italy are moot - since you are already married. However, not sure what the priest will do if you have already had a civil ceremony. Your fiance needs to be very specific with him about this.

(As far as I know only civil marriages are legal in Italy - the church wedding is an extra but not necessary - or binding legally).

Tabernash2

If you like the water, you could stay at Santa Margherita Ligure, a nice little harbor town, with easy train access to CT, if the weather permits. CT trails can be deadly when wet.

Then train to Nice for a few nights. Then on to Paris.

I would drop Milan from the plan entirely.

tuscanlifeedit

JKing: what if you were to fly from Venice to Paris?

And I'm not sure why your planner would insist on adding another country to your plans. Most people here recommend a one country trip, or at the most, more contiguous destinations.

nyse

IMDonehere, it was a very good joke.
IMSure I'm not the only one to think so!

suze

<maybe train from Florence to Venice and then train through Switzerland and on to Paris?>

I did a three week trips starting in Switzerland, then Venice, then Paris, all by train. It was fabulous.

I'm also worried about your legal wedding stuff, more than specifics of planning the trip. But I guess if you get married at a courtyard in the U.S. ahead of time, doesn't really matter.

Christina

It sounds like you may be getting a blessing or something, because you can't get married again in Italy if you are already married. But the pre-Cana stuff does sound like the real thing, but I thought you had to be a member of their parish and have bans posted, etc. But maybe they do that there, it won't be legal of course, but you don't need that. I see a lot of wedding planning websites claim you can have a Catholic wedding in that church, so assume the planner is taking care of things. Maybe the priest there is more liberal and it's a way to get revenue for that church, don't know. I would also make sure that planner knows you will already be married so there are no nasty surprised.

If you were told it is nearly impossible to get married in Italy, then you aren't having a wedding. Because Catholic weddings alone are legal in Italy, you don't need a civil marriage first. Assuming you are getting married in a church. The priest records it with the officials. Here is some info
http://www.brideswithoutborders.com/...dding-in-italy

IMDonehere

Thanks NYSE. You never know.