Wedding in Italy – How to Start Planning Your Destination Wedding
You got engaged and now you are happy and excited thinking about your dream destination wedding! How to start planning it? How are you supposed to organize an event in a different country, miles away, with a different language and traditions? Here is a list of things to help you make your mind and organize a unique wedding in Italy.
You might start from Instagram or Pinterest, but many wedding professionals use Photoshop or photo shootings instead of actual weddings, so it is quite difficult to choose the right vendors for you. Here is an insider plan for your wedding in Italy to follow if you want to keep things smooth and easy.
1. How much does a wedding in Italy cost?
This is the first question I get asked. It’s hard to tell because there are so many aspects to consider, but to give you a rough idea, consider a starting price of 1200-1300 euro per guest, excluding wedding planner’s fees, flights, rings, gowns, and accommodation. Some people think small weddings cost less but there are some fixed fees, for example for catering, so this might not be exactly the case.
I don’t advise comparing prices in Italy and your home country, they might be different. Italy counts 55 UNESCO World Heritage Sites within its borders, the most of any country on the World Heritage List, plus the top cuisine, premium wine, and the scenarios are unique and breathtaking; it all deserves the amount. When you will see your wedding photos, even in decades, you will remember you got married in this angle of paradise.
Of course, the prices in Florence, Lake Como, or on the Amalfi coast will be higher than in less known regions, like Abruzzo or Molise. It all depends on your vision and the experience you want to live.
Transportation may cost a lot in some difficult-to-reach places, like Capri or Venice, this needs to be taken into consideration as well.
2. Find a wedding planner or designer
It might seem an unnecessary expense, but trust me, when it comes to a destination wedding, you need someone you can trust. When you choose a wedding planner, make sure she is an empathetic person who can truly connect with you.
It is a good idea to have some Meet or Zoom meetings, see the questions she asks and how she makes you feel. You will have lots of contact with this person for the first year or so, it would better to be someone you can connect with.
Organizing a wedding requires at least 350 hours of work, so, if you find a low-cost wedding planner in Italy, ask yourself why. A ruined birthday can become a funny story, a wedding on the other hand is a once in a lifetime event, it has to be perfect. This is why you want to check references and choose someone with a lot of experience, who won’t learn the job at your expense.
Having a wedding planner for a destination wedding is very important because not everybody speaks English in Italy and the way of working is very different. Having someone who has the bigger picture and knows the vendors is very important.
3. Choose a venue
After you choose a wedding planner, choose a venue. It depends on the number of guests, your taste and your idea of the wedding ceremony. Some couples choose the venue first, then look for the wedding planner, but I don’t recommend doing so.
An expert wedding planner can advise some places that are perfect for you, but you didn’t find by yourself, she knows the pros and cons of the location, like do they have a plan “B” in case of rain, or what are the music, fireworks, or other restrictions on the place. She will visit it and tell you if the photos were enhanced in Photoshop, or if the logistics will be difficult.
4. Choose the vendors
A very important part of the wedding is the vendors. I have a portfolio of trusted vendors I have known since 2009 who can guarantee the highest quality. During a wedding, even the smallest details count, be sure to choose the vendors who are actually professional.
Saving money on lightning, for example, may result in dark wedding photos after sunset or cables that are visible all the way through, ruining the atmosphere.
5. Choose a date
You don’t need to choose an exact day, but consider you will need a year or so to organize everything without stress. Here I posted a wedding timeline to help you organize, so you won’t miss anything.
The wedding-season in Italy starts from May to early October (because is when we have good weather). Here’s a tip: consider that weekends are often booked by Italians. Since you are traveling and probably taking at least a week, choosing weekdays can be a good idea to get better locations and have some savings.
August is a holiday month when everything is closed and it can be very hot all throughout Italy. Organizing a wedding in this period will probably be more expensive and feel less authentic since many Italians are on the seaside or countryside and the cities become empty.
6. Choose the kind of ceremony you want
Symbolic, religious, or civil ceremony? If you want to keep it stress and bureaucracy-free and be able to choose from more locations, go with the symbolic ceremony.
If you want to have a civil or religious wedding, it might require more preparation and paperwork, but you will have many great venues to choose from as well. Italy is famous for its villas, many of which are suitable for civil weddings, and churches.
7. Choose the wedding gown
Don’t forget about the wedding dress! If you want to choose an Italian one, here I gave some advice about the best Italian wedding designers and their collections.
Now you know where to start. If you need a wedding planner and designer you can trust, contact me, I will be happy to help organize the wedding you and your guests will always remember!