barbarian2

We have a holiday home near Aulla which we use a few times a year. The daughter of the family wants to get married close to the house because it reminds her of her late father who was Italian. Unfortunately no-one remaining in the family speaks good enough Italian to arrange a wedding and the maintenance we need on the house to accommodate the wedding guests.

We need someone locally who speaks perfect Italian and can help with some of the practical points - maybe go to see the priest with us and help to hire glassware, that sort of thing.

Does anyone have a recommendation or suggestion? We are happy to pay!

Lorna at Vicenza

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I didn't get married here in Italy, but I have lived here a long time and as far as I know you can't just get married where you like. I don't think it works like in England where you pay the registrar to go to a location of your choice.
All the weddings I know of here have either been at the 'comune' (town hall) or in a church. The Mayor does the ceremony in the town hall.
When you say "close to the house" do you mean in the local church or town hall?

Hopefully somebody will be along with more recent info than mine and will be able to tell you all about the paperwork involved.

barbarian2

Thank you for the warm welcome and the fast reply.

The daughter wants to marry at the local church in Olivola, MS if possible - she's a good catholic girl and has already spoken with a local priest in England to discuss the process and marriage in general. (She is the daughter of an Italian man and an Irish woman.) She has not yet spoken with any Italian priests yet.

We are going to the house this weekend for a while (five of us are going for different periods of time, from a weekend to a fortnight) and the happy couple will be going to the church on Sunday to try to speak with the priest to see what he recommends.

What we need in the short term is someone in the area who can help us with translation in discussions with the priest, caterers, florists and people like that as well as some practical things with the house. We are happy to pay but this might suit someone with time on their hands rather than a professional translator.

Lorna at Vicenza

Although I'd love to help and do have some time, I'm flipping miles away.

There is something in Italy which couples wanting to marry in church have to do and it's a corso di fidanzamento. It's to make sure you know what you're getting into with holy matrimony and sacred vows and family blah blah etc. though I'd hate for a priest to give me lessons on living together and sex etc. There must be a way round it for couples getting married in Italy because lots of non-Italians do.
They might need some kind of stamped official letter from their priest at home stating that they can get married out of their parish.

The best thing of course is to speak to the priest so I hope you can find somebody to help you. If it's a young priest hopefully he might have studied some English as well as theology.

I can help with any emails, letters but unfortunately not in person.

Best of luck to the happy couple.

HADENOUGHPIZZA

When is the wedding expected to be ? I ask this because churches / caterers and the like do tend to be booked up , sometimes even years ahead !

MarkRD

Hi Barbarian2 and welcome ... and welcome to the complex world of Italian bureaucracy both in State and Church!

yes I think it's true you can't just get married just where you like, but maybe if you have family ties and the like - plus a very easy-going priest - then you might be able to get round that. The priest will also welcome a generous charitable 'contribution' to the church, no doubt.

I didn't catch if the groom is Catholic, but if he isn't then that's an added complication. I had to get a stamped and signed letter from my local UK vicar and take it to a bishop's representative or whatever in the curia for an interview just to get their approval of a non-catholic getting married to a catholic gal.

Luckily our local priest was super-relaxed about such things and didn't even make us do the pre-nuptial course . We even got him to say a few words in English during the service..the whole ceremony is basically the same anyway almost word for word.

Again, I'm nowhere near so local help no can do.

barbarian2

Thank you all for your comments and help. The happy couple have spoken with a catholic priest back home in England and have the pack which will be sent to the Italian priest. So hopefully they have crossed those bridges. The Italian priest probably does not yet know anything about the date of the wedding - hopefully he will by the end of Sunday when we get there.

The harder problem is getting help with catering, flowers, glasswear and that sort of thing.

starfred

Hi all, I'm new to this forum. I'm italian and I read your story barbarian2.
I live near Aulla (18km) so if you have any question I'll try to help you.
My first suggestion is to call the hotels in the area and ask for receipt, catering and flowers (generally they do it).
If you want I can suggest you some agriturismo, restaurant, nurseries, near Aulla.

What is "glasswear" ?

P.s. Sorry for my bad english
P.p.s I'm a university student and I have no time to organize it but I'm happy to help
P.p.p.s I don't want money.

37100

Hi Starfed and welcome.

Glassware. The poster hopes to find glasses to rent.

starfred

Ah ok

For a nice hotel in Aulla I suggest to phone to www.demyhotel.it they arranged marriages (unfortunately the site is in Italian but I hope they speak english ) . Anyway it's a nice hotel, 3 stars.
If you want an hotel with more 4 or 5 starts I can suggest other.

Lorna at Vicenza

Hello and welcome.

I don't think the poster is looking for a hotel or location for the wedding reception. They want to use their house.

The wedding will take place in the local church, then the bride and groom and their guests will return to the house ..... this is why the poster is looking for a builder and caterers and a florist and glasswear etc.

starfred

Ah sorry, I did not understand.

Anyway if you want to do the reception at your house try to contact http://www.mstaffcatering.it/ They could organize it at your home, try to send them an email. I do not know if they speak English, (I hope).

Lorna at Vicenza

No problem. At least I think the idea is to hold the reception at the house.