Beaurocracy and Ceremonies
Civil Ceremony
Civil weddings are legally recognised marriages and must take place in town halls (‘Comune') approved by the local authorities. Italian authorities do not recognize marriages in private villas or castles. The wedding halls are historical renaissance Palazzos with beautiful frescoed walls and not cold government halls! The Mayor or Vice-Mayor performs the ceremony. The closest wedding halls in the vicinity of the two properties we offer are: San Gimignano, Certaldo, Siena and Florence.
Regarding legal & paperwork assistance in organising your civil wedding, we work with a very professional and well-established legal agency in Florence that can easily guide you through the process. We can help you to:
- Book a wedding hall in Italy
- Obtain the Nulla Osta (a document required to be married in Italy) at your consulate.
- Register the Nulla Osta and other marriage documents with the Italian court of law.
- File all paperwork at the Town Hall/Comune
- Have an official interpreter/wedding coordinator at the marriage ceremony
- Register the wedding and insure that the wedding certificate is legalised after marriage ceremony
Religious Ceremony
Religious Blessings are not legally are not legally binding and can take place anywhere you like - there are no restrictions and no paperwork is required. The ceremony or blessing can also be performed by you own pastor/friend in the villa.
Catholic ceremonies have to be performed in a Catholic Church. At least one person in the couple has to be Catholic. You will have to show certificates of baptism, confirmation and first communion. Catholic weddings are performed by an English-speaking priest. The closest beautiful churches to the properties that we offer are in San Gimignano or in Monteriggioni. The Catholic wedding will be the most lengthy and difficult to organise since requirements change from parish to parish.
Protestant weddings : In Florence there are two churches of note (American Church and Church of England). The pastor (American or English) can also perform a wedding blessing in a private villa or garden. Church of England Father McLean from Florence can come to the villa for blessing.
Jewish weddings : As the Italian Jewish Community is 100% Orthodox, the synagogues in most cases only marry Orthodox couples who have fulfilled all the religious requirements. If you do wish to hold a Jewish ceremony in a villa or castle of your own choice, we recommend flying over with your own Rabbi.
For the religious ceremonies above by Italian law you must first be married civilly before the pastor/priest can perform the religious ceremony. However, the exception to the rule are Catholic weddings. Many Catholic churches/priests do perform a civil and catholic wedding together. In any case a civil and religious wedding in one will involve a rather large amount of paperwork. We usually recommend either one or the other.
Symbolic ceremony
Symbolic ceremonies are not legally binding and can take place anywhere you like - there are no restrictions and no paperwork is required. The ceremony or blessing can also be performed by you own pastor/friend.
For further information, take a look below and please do call our Tuscany office on +39 0577 817 803 or simply send us an email to info@tuscanybylubea.com specifying period and number of guests for advice.