Hi all,

My fiance and I are intending to hold our wedding in Italy next year! We will love to have it in a town hall..but we are clueless to which city in Italy we should hold our wedding (we are staying in U.S). I have selected a few places and hope that people who have been there can advise me.

1) Town hall in Venice
2) Town hall in Cortona
3) Town hall in siena
4) Any others which you think is romantic and perfect for a wedding ceremony.

thank you so much in advance!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,

Elynn, first welcome to Slowtrav/Slowtalk and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

There have been lots of discussions about weddings - if you use the "find" function and put in words like "wedding town hall" you'll find links to them as well as lots of other helpful information on planning a wedding in Italy.

Thanks, ellens! I just tried doing that and there are so many threads on weddings in Italy!

The wedding planner that I work with feels strongly that there is an advantage to holding a wedding in a small town rather than a larger city. She has arranged them in Fiesole, Grotte di Castro (on Lago di Bolsena in Lazio) and Massa Marittima recently. She feels that the town officials are more receptive and will give you more attention than in a big town where weddings are more frequent.

Just something to consider.....

In support of what Jim says, a couple of years ago a freind of Mine got married in ROme. her civil marriage was held in a lovely former chirch in the middle of a city park, so the setting was wonderful. Yet, each day the former church (which is only one of the two or three such halls in ROme) must host several marriages, so each marriage is very strictly limited to 15-20 minutes (10 minutes cerimony, a few more minutes to enter and leave, and a few minutes for the assistants to fix the room in case anything got misplaced).

In a small town there will be maybe one or two marriages a week, which means no more than one marriage per day. In turn this means that if you want to add anything to the usually very fast cerimony (the mayor or his delegate reads out some law articles, than the two parties agree that they want to be married according to the law and there it is), like music, readings or anything else, you can do it with ease.

Venice's town hall charges a huge amount for foreigners. Cortona's and Siena's prices are more reasonable. Both Cortona and Siena town halls are beautiful historic buildings, inside as well as out. Venice's town hall, on the other hand, is not particularly interesting inside.... more modern and boring. I think both Cortona and Siena are great choices as far as the "look" not only of the buildings inside and out, but as far as the piazzas that they stand in. Both are great places for photos. The ceremony at Cortona's is probably a bit more personalized than Siena's. If Cortona is still doing the personal touch that they did last time I had clients get married there... its great, my clients were very moved by it.

Do you have family or friends attending the wedding? or living in Italy to help you? I'd choose the place with this in mind and who you will be there to help with organizing, not just which is the most beautiful venue.

I don't know why, but I think that Cortona is the best, of all places....

Castellina in Chianti, Radda, Pélago- near Florence

Hi All, thanks for your responses.

The wedding ceremony will just be the two of us, which is why we do not have much considerations, other than it is the "perfect" place for us.

I fell in love with Cortona when i saw the pictures and like what Red Red Wine says, I feel venice's wedding hall is not as pretty as venice is. Whereas on the other hand, the Town hall of Cortona is exactly what I am looking for.

Has anyone hold their wedding in Cortona before? Can anyone advise the costs? Also, how is the scenery and setting like outside the Town hall?

Sorry for so many questions but I have never been there, and it is really hard to visualize it.

Thanks~

You will also need two other people to act as witnesses, though. There must be at least two people witnessing the marriage, beside the couple and the celebrant, to make it legal.

Here's a link to a recent thread on a wedding in Cortona.

For more specific information, you could send a private message to SandraW, whose daughter was married there.

If you want an outdoor setting overlooking hte sea, Positano has it. We were married there last year. Email me privately if you want more information or to see photos. mgfit1@hotmail.com.

quote:

You will also need two other people to act as witnesses, though. There must be at least two people witnessing the marriage, beside the couple and the celebrant, to make it legal.

I'll volunteer!!

wherever you decide, congratulations on your wedding! Keep us posted.

Pokey

MY VOTE IS FOR CORTONA!.. My daughter's professional wedding photos just came in, if you would like to see them I'll send you a link on ofoto.com. What makes Cortona is not just the town hall, which is stunning, but the way the people in Cortona join in. In the pictures you will see that only 11 of us, including the bride and groom, are in the wedding party - but the townspeople are all around, cheering, congratulating! Cortona is just a very special place. We also have a darling picture of the bride being hugged by Alex's shop assistant at Il Girasole - that I will send to you, Alessandra, when I find time to put these photos on ST.

My email is sljwilli@aol.com, if you would like to send me a personal email.

Sandra Williams
Harlingen, Texas

hi everyone...thanks for all your suggestions.

I have just emailed Sandra to ask for more information on Cortona, as i really love that place!

By the way, i may have 2 friends who will attend my wedding ceremony, however they are not Italians. I presume witnesses have to be italians as well?

Strangely enough, someone else was considering getting married at Cortona's town hall just before we left to visit Cortona. I volunteered to take a couple of pictures inside Cortona's town hall, which I did. But by the time I got back from Italy, the person had decided to marry somewhere else.

I still have a couple of the pictures if you would like to see them. I think getting married in Cortona and spending some days there would be heaven! It is a very romantic place in my opinion. We can't wait to return and see Cortona again, and give Alessandra a big hug!

Hi lkmaloney,

Yes, i will love to see the pictures! Could you please email them to me at elynn_teo@yahoo.com.sg? Thanks so much!

And, i hope anyone who has more information on Cortona will please forward them to me! thanks!

elynn, did you get my return emai? For some reason, when I try to send the pictures from the internet photo site, it gets returned. Makes me wonder if you received any of my answers at all. Let me know.

Sandra

Hi Sandra,

Your daughter, Jill has replied! And she has sent me the photo album. My gosh! I must only say that the entire wedding, setting and backdrop are so amazing and fabulous! And, needless to say that the photos turn out so well because your daughter is simply so beautiful and dazzling, and your son-in-law is so smart looking! Congrats! I am sure you must be very happy on that magical day!

I have requested more information from Jill.. i must say a big Thank YoU!

(P.S: Are you the lady in glasses with short hair?)

Hi Elynn

My wife & I saw a couple posing for wedding photographs on the steps of Cortona's town hall in May 2004 ..... My vote would be for Cortona.

Doug

quote:

Originally posted by Elynn:
By the way, i may have 2 friends who will attend my wedding ceremony, however they are not Italians. I presume witnesses have to be italians as well?

As fas as I understand, your witnesses don't need to be Italians but you will need to have an interpreter. We're planning a wedding in Italy as well & I'm going there in November on a family vacation so if I see/find something interesting, I'll share them here.

Yep, that's me..Humbled....Her dad and I served as the witnesses. So, certainly, your witnesses do not have to be Italian. Maybe Texan, however. If you need us just call!

Sandra
Texas

Hi there from New Zealand. I just thought that i would say that i am getting married in Cortona on October 4 (in 4 weeks) I could let you know what it was like. I have been told that my wedding will be the only one on the day and that it is not rushed like a lot of other larger municipio's. Like yourself we are the only ones going to be there. We paid a package and it included witnesses and interpreters.
I have been to Cortona 2 years ago and fell in love with the area but we also wanted somewhere special but small.

Hi Kiwicaro,
First of all, congratulations for your coming wedding!

I am so happy to hear that you will be having your wedding in Cortona. I have not personally been there, but just seeing the pictures of that area, I just fell in love with it! It is such a beautiful place and I am sure your wedding will be a fabulous one!

I wonder who your wedding planner is? I am now looking at a few planners and am in the midst of selecting one. Hope you can provide some advise.

Also, I will really appreciate if you can post your wedding photos after that! I look forward to seeing your beautiful wedding!

Hi Ellen, I am sure that you will love Cortona, I do despite my short visit and it is everything that it appears. It is small and personal and yet alive and lots of character.
I would be please to post some photos when we return. We are not ones for flamboyance or lavishness so the photos will be a true representation of our special day in Cortona and the surrounding countryside. Un-posed and just us being us. We feel that a Cortona weding is one way of achieving a special day with just the two of us.

Our wedding planner was found by accident through looking for our accommodation. Actually the enture wedding thing grew out of looking for holiday ideas. It just seemed so right in the end.