Planning your Dream Italian Wedding: Top 7 Essential Tips
Italy's gorgeous landscapes from rolling hills to seaside sunsets, rich history, and romantic ambiance make it a very popular destination destination for couples looking to tie the knot. Planning a wedding is a difficult task at the best of times, but doing so in a foreign country can feel extremely daunting to start with, and comes with its unique challenges. To help you navigate this journey, we've compiled the top seven essential tips for curating the perfect Italian wedding - a celebration which will certainly be the conversation piece by all of your family for years to come.
Engage a Local Wedding Planner
As soon as you start connecting with the vendors, you may notice there are regional intricacies - from mannerisms to legal requirements, to even language barriers. A local wedding planner, or at least one who is experienced in weddings in your region, will be able to help you navigate these barriers, and will also reduce the workload on your behalf. A local wedding planner brings invaluable expertise and connections, thus creating a seamless experience for you before, and during your wedding.
We highly advise researching wedding planners carefully, and choosing one who has styled weddings similar to your vision. Seek out feedback from other couples, and ensure that you have at least a conversation with the planner via zoom so that you know whether their personality and working style aligns with yours. Some planners are more quiet as they get the ball rolling, whilst others feed back every detail to you - and your preferences to this may vary.
2. Choose the Perfect Venue
The choice of venue is one of the most important details, if not the most important for your wedding day. It all depends on what sort of experience you want to provide to your guests - some examples to name a few are whether you would rather everyone stayed at the venue and spent as much time together as possible (then you’re looking for a venue offering accommodation); whether you are particular about certain aesthetics (from elegant Italian historical landmarks, to rustic Italian Vineyards); whether the venue suits the season (An outdoor ceremony is probably unlikely in October..) - the list goes on.
Consider the season, guest accommodations, accessibility from airports when selecting your venues. if time is no issue, then visit the shortlisted venues and get a feel if they are your venue. Try and imagine yourself waking those grounds and dancing in the indoor spaces - is this how you imagined your perfect day? Our couples often say that just like the dress, the venue also always feels like the one as soon as you step foot in it, holding hands with your fiancée.
3. Understand Legal Requirements for Italian Weddings
If you are getting married legally in Italy, you must consider the requirements that are placed on your nationality - each individual may have different circumstances, and following through with a legal marriage requires adherence to specific protocols. We suggest starting the legal process in advance, with the help of your planner, or following the guides available online. Gathering necessary documents and having them translated may take some time, therefore ensure you do not leave it last minute.
Alternatively, you may choose to have a symbolic ceremony, which takes away the hard work in relation to getting married. Quite a few of our couples tie the knot at their home country before they come to Italy to celebrate their marriage with their friends and family.
4. Manage your guests expectations
A destination wedding is an experience for them, just as it is for you. Plan your celebrations thoughtfully, thus ensuring they feel valued, their needs are met, and they are enjoying the celebration comfortably. Ensure you invite your guests ahead of time, so that they can plan their travel accordingly, and provide them with as much information as possible, from timings, locations, accommodation requirements, to dress code for each day and event itineraries.
We highly recommend organizing group activities the day before and after your wedding to ensure everyone meets the other guests, and spend more time with yourselves - thus crafting a varied and entertaining experience for everyone.
5. Embrace Local Traditions and Culture
Let’s be honest, there must be more reason to why you have chosen Italy as your wedding celebration than just good weather. Whether it’s food, the atmosphere, or culture, you want to incorporate Italian customs and regional specialties into your celebration - this adds authenticity to the wedding experience, and enhances the quality of the celebration. You may consider working with local vendors to design menus which showcase regional dishes and wines, integrating traditional Italian wedding elements, such as the tarantella dance, or maybe hiring a violinist to play during cocktail hour - as Italy is renowned for classical music.
Whatever elements you choose to incorporate, you and your guests will have an amusing experience and will have something to talk about for years to come.
6. Consider the Climate and Season
A common misconception is that Italy is a medium sized country, with broadly similar weather across all regions. however, the country spans 1,000 km (620 miles), and the range in weather is truly remarkable. Italy has very diverse seasons, and therefore a wedding in June will look entirely different from a wedding in October. Consider your wedding date and location, as that will influence some of the comforts you may need to provide to your guests. For example, a Tuscan wedding in September may require warm layers in the evening, as the wind picks up, and a very hot July wedding in day in Puglia will need more refreshments and provided shaded areas for your guests.
With all that being said, the weather can be unpredictable, so if you are planning for any outdoor activities or celebrations, always have a contingency or a plan B in place to accommodate unexpected weather changes.
7. Invest in Comprehensive Videography
Capturing the entirety of your wedding celebrations, from Welcome Parties to Wine Tasting Tours, allows you to relive the emotions for years to come. We preserve the essence of your celebration and provide you longer films for each performance or activity, so that no small detail gets left out. We recognise the importance of capturing the in-between hugs, laughter, and moving speeches from family members.
It is recommended to hire a professional videographer who is experience in destination weddings to document all events. At Triple Fox, we carve each wedding film with great attention to detail, to create a luxury heirloom for your family to revisit each year. For more details on how we create timeless cinematography, please visit our investment page.
If you’d like more details on our Italy Videography offering, please do not hesitate to contact us.