Hello, my name is Alexandra and I am the head of FESTA DI LUCI wedding agency. My team and I have been organizing weddings around the world since 2012. So when the question of organizing my wedding came up, I did not even doubt that it was necessary to get married abroad.
First of all, I really like traveling. Secondly, in the role of organizer I have been there many times and now I wanted to try the role of a bride abroad. Therefore, everything that is written in this article I tell not as an organizer, but as an ordinary bride, who carefully studied the issue of organizing a wedding in Europe independently.
The service «wedding abroad for two» has become especially popular. This is due to the fact that now refuse the standard wedding banquets with countless guests and want to make a holiday for themselves and perhaps the closest people. Many simply do not want to go to the registry office and feel its atmosphere, but want to make a holiday for themselves and somehow celebrate this day. This and good wedding abroad for two people, because not having a cosmic budget, you can officially register while on vacation, and also combine it with a honeymoon.
I found myself in the same situation in the spring of 2015. I organized a wedding for myself in Italy, in the city of Ravello near Naples. I would like to share this experience with you and tell you step by step how to do it. The first thing is to decide what you want. For example, for me it was very important that the official wedding was held with symbolic ceremony.
Secondly, it was important for me that the registration was held outside the registry office / city hall, in an open area with a beautiful view of the sea. In this regard, the choice fell on Italy.
You need to understand, it is much easier and cheaper to get married in your country, and then make a symbolic ceremony, which will not have legal force, but will leave pleasant impressions and beautiful photos for memory. Plus such a ceremony can be arranged anywhere in the world.
The standard wedding ceremony in such cases consists of:
-Renting the venue for the ceremony
-Wedding registrar
-Standard decoration of the ceremony venue (it can be an arch, table, chairs, composition on the table, track)
-Photographer for 1-2 hours
-Bride’s bouquet of seasonal local flowers
-Makeup artist and hairdresser
-Delivery from the hotel to the place of the ceremony
And starts from 8000 euros. All other services come at an additional cost.
Once again, the main advantage of such a ceremony is that it can be held absolutely anywhere: in the mountains, on the beach, on a yacht, on the roof, near a waterfall, near a cliff, etc. When looking at photos on the Internet about weddings abroad, know that 99% of these photos are from symbolic ceremonies.
If you still do not want to go to the your local registry office, you can sign abroad.
All countries have roughly the same list of documents that are provided in advance to obtain a marriage registration permit:
Passport
Internal passport
Birth certificates
Statement of marital capacity
Depending on the country, different forms of submitting these documents may be required:
Notarized copies of passports or just copies.
Original birth certificate, its copy or with an Apostille (Apostille is a special stamp affixed to original documents that allows legalization of these documents in countries that are members of the Hague Convention).
It took me 2 days to collect and certify the documents for Italy, and the documents took 8 days to get to my lawyer in Rome (by EMS mail, DHL has a 1-day delivery). All these documents are needed in order to obtain a certificate that allows you to marry in Italy (Nulla Osta). This certificate is issued in my consulate, and it takes on average a week and then it is certified in the prefecture usually for 1 day. And then a scan of the certified application is sent to the city hall where the ceremony will take place.
On your own you can get this certificate at the consulate on the day of application, but before that you must make an appointment at the consulate through their website and you need to do it at least 3 months in advance.
In parallel, we applied to the Ravello City Hall to book the date, time and place of the ceremony. It is necessary to take into account that if you do not speak Italian, an interpreter is needed at all stages of preparation. Because in Italian state bodies, as well as in ours, all speak only in the local language. And all applications and documents are also filled out in the local language. After they must send details so that you can pay taxes and registration fee. Also on most sites the application must be submitted at least a week before the date of registration, because under the old laws they are obliged on their website, as well as in the local newspaper to write an announcement that such and such will sign then. And that way, if someone was against the marriage before, the registration was postponed. Now it’s just a convention. And in Ravello, for example, it’s not required.
The day before the ceremony, we had to go to the Commune of Ravello to sign a declaration. And the next day we went to the ceremony in the park and signed the certificate, the mayor certified it. And after that this certificate must be apostilled in the prefecture to which the city belongs, in our case it was Salerno. In order for this certificate to become legally valid in my country, it is necessary to make a translation from Italian into another languages.
One more nuance — in Italy you need 2 witnesses, who should also come with you to sign the declaration and then to the ceremony. This is the rule in Italy, in other countries the rules may be different. For example, in Portugal, witnesses are not needed.
If you also want to get married like me outside of registries and city halls, consider the following countries:
Italy
Montenegro
Cyprus
Portugal
Total ceremony cost us:
preparation of documents in my country — 150 eur
Forwarding to Italy — 100 eur
Receiving Nulla Osta without us and municipal taxes 2800 euros
Rent a place for the ceremony 1000 euros
Translator for 2 days 700 euros
Certification of the certificate in the prefecture 200 euros
Translation of the certificate 80 euros
In addition to preparing the paperwork, there are also mandatory expenses if you want everything to be beautiful.
1. Photographer.
I asked my good friends, who I have worked with for many years, to shoot our wedding. They also acted as our witnesses. We paid for their flights, 5 days accommodation and transfers. If you have the same opportunity and you are confident in the outcome, take it. Pay people for a vacation and they will take your picture for one day.
It cost me about 2000 euros considering it was 2 people.
If you do not have such acquaintances, then take one photographer, for which you will have to pay for the flight, accommodation, per diem and honorarium. The fee of good photographers starts from 3000 eur.
2. Makeup artist and hairdresser.
You can hire locals. For hair + makeup, be prepared to pay around 600 euros.
If you have the opportunity to invite your master with you, you can save nerves explaining what you want and where and how to adjust.
3. Decor and floristry.
Expensive, especially if it’s a secluded place and the local florist is a monopolist. Two flowers, a bridal bouquet cost me 800 euros. To bring it from Naples or Salerno would have cost even more, taking into account transportation and the work of the staff
4. Rings — 2×800 euros.
5. Clothing — 1200 euros.
Then there are the standard tourist expenses: tickets, insurance, accommodation, car rental, food.
These rates are approximately the same for all European countries. But, of course, will differ in each case separately — depending on the wishes for decor, photos, venue, etc.
You can, of course, do all the preparation yourself. But get ready to spend a lot of money and time on it. Because, for example, Europeans like to answer once a week to all the e-mails that they receive. Or you have to talk to them on the phone all the time — that’s what a wedding agency like ours does.
We are not limited to 1-2 countries, any destination is at your service — want a ceremony in Iceland? No problem! Want to get married and have a vacation in Las Vegas? We will prepare you several options for the ceremony in 2 days! Want to make an exotic wedding dinner in Kenya in the middle of the savannah and giraffes? Giraffes are our most favorite animals!
And the best thing is that we can offer you all these options at the same time. Your task is only to choose. If you still have any questions, please contact us by phone or on the application form below.
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