Hints and tips on how to book a Wedding in Italy

When you come to the decision to celebrate your wedding in Italy, you feel thrilled, and you cannot wait to tell this to all your friends. Today, we want to give you some insights to focus on priorities a destination wedding planning could involve. Italy has different regions, and each region is different from the other, so it will be an excellent choice to entrust your event to a local wedding planner. That being said, for those who are more reckless, we prepared a synthetic guide to help you focus on the most critical aspects.

Let us examine them!

Legal aspects

If you’re planning to book your wedding in Italy, you need to know essential information to get started.

First of all, examine the legal perspective. If you want a civil wedding to be performed and obtain the legal effect of the marriage in the territory of your country of origin, there are some bureaucratic steps to follow. 

Our team’s experienced destination wedding planner can undoubtedly help you get married in Italy, evaluate your specific case, and start the correct procedure related to your country of origin. 

On the other hand, if you would hold a symbolic ceremony, there is nothing to worry about; you can exchange your vows wherever and whenever you want.

Wedding Venue in Italy

In Italy people, 95% of the time, book their wedding one year before.

This happens because attending guests are always many, and couples want to get the best venue on the market. The advice is to book very early (1 year and a half, at least) to gain the time to evaluate more venues without losing the chance to book the venue you like.

Vendors

In Italy, there is a big business for weddings. For this reason, many beginners want to start their business to gain money even though they are not experienced.

The advice is to evaluate the website and social media channel of the vendor you’re contacting and send them a written request to ask every aspect that concerns their job.

Remember to ask the vendors to send you a formal quote, a draft of their agreement, VAT number, and to issue a regular invoice. This will consent you to understand if the vendor you’re contacting respects fiscal regulations.

Destination Wedding planner in Italy

There are very trained destination wedding planners in Italy, mainly in the main cities (Milan, Bolzano, Verona, Venice, Rome, Florence, Naples).

However, the best way to meet them would be in person when possible.

You will have to entrust them with the most crucial moment of your life, so the advice is to make a trip to Italy, or a video call to meet them, and eventually plan together an inspection in some venues you like and taste food and wine hosted by a catering company.

Consider also whether they have experience with destination weddings and proper knowledge of the English language.

Tourism VISA in Italy

Preliminary consider that according to Italian law, you don’t need to be legally in Italy to perform your civil wedding. This is not an invitation to come illegally in the Italian territory. Still, you have to be aware of your rights in case you would be in this situation.

The tourist visa allows entry, for a short duration, in Italy and the other countries of the Schengen area, to the foreign citizen who intends to travel for tourist reasons and a maximum of 90 days. With the circular 23.6.2017, n. 20060 of the Ministry of the Interior (Department of Public Security – Central Directorate of Immigration and Border Police), a new tourism visa subcategory was established, called a “Tourism – Visit Family / Friends” visa.

Where to make the request for the VISA to travel to Italy?

The visa application must be submitted: To the application form, the foreigner must attach a valid travel document on which it is physically possible to affix the visa and, if requested, the supporting documentation. In the event of an invitation from an Italian citizen or a foreigner legally residing in Italy, the compilation of the data relating to the inviting person has been made compulsory, as the presence of a letter of invitation from relatives or friends has become a characterizing element of the new type of visa «Tourism – Visit family/friends.» The indication of the new kind of visa will be printed on the label to be applied to the applicant’s travel document.

Requirements and conditions

The records required for issuing a tourist visa are:

– application form completed online and then printed with an entry visa;

– recent passport photo;

– valid travel document expiring at least three months longer than the required visa (passport or other equivalent titles);

– round-trip booking or ticket or demonstration of the availability of personal transport;

– documented availability of accommodation (hotel reservation, declaration of hospitality, tourist vouchers, etc.);

– demonstration of possession of adequate financial resources to support credit documents (bank guarantee, surety policy, etc.);

– supporting documentation of one’s socio-professional status;

– health insurance with a minimum coverage of € 30,000 for emergency hospitalization expenses and repatriation costs.

– any declaration of invitation signed by an Italian citizen or foreign resident, with which the declarant certifies his willingness to offer hospitality in Italy to the applicant. To demonstrate the possession of adequate financial means of sustenance, where the foreign citizen does not have his standards, the inviting person can make a bank guarantee or surety policy in favor of the guest. With a tourist visa, it is not possible to carry out any work activity. Removed the requirement to apply for a residence permit. From June 2007, foreigners staying in Italy for less than three months for visits, study, tourism, or business do not need to apply for a residence permit. For a short stay and even with an entry visa, a foreigner who has just entered Italy must still submit a declaration or self-report of his presence (at the border crossing point or the police station) within eight days of entry. This residence declaration must be presented with a specific form.

Duration of visa

The visa specifies the duration of the authorized stay in the Schengen area typically. In any case, the PDS for tourism is not released for a period exceeding three months, so it is discretionary and scarce the possibility of extension and renewal for another three months. The police can very discretion authorize the extension only in the presence of unusual and documented circumstances (for example, due to health reasons).

PLEASE NOTE: those who present themselves at the police station with the tourism visa expired to request a renewal may risk getting an expulsion.

Those in possession of tourist visa permits could request conversion to self-employment within the annual flow decree quotas. The issuing of the entry visa for tourism is highly discretionary; in fact, the “Bossi Fini” law even provides that the competent consulate’s refusal to issue a residence permit for tourism must not even be motivated. In conclusion, booking a wedding in a foreign country is always a challenging task. Today we tried to give you as much information as possible. Let us know if you need the full legal assistance of our wedding planners in Italy.