Catholic wedding in Italy

photo by Marco Ficili

The final location test for your destination wedding is making sure that you can not only be legally married there but that the Church permits foreigners to get married there!

Italy is predominantly a Catholic country and as such you would expect that the Catholic Church would have one rule throughout the land, unfortunately you are forgetting this is Italy!

While the Catholic Church in Italy is granted the legal rights to marry couples not only in the eye of God but also in the eye of the law, not every Bishop or parish Priest agree to performing this service for foreigners and so you may have to perform the civil ceremony in the days before or at home before you leave for Italy and then have a blessing in the Church.

If is important to you to have a legal marriage at the wedding destination be sure you are choosing a destination that will allow foreigners to be married there. If a religious ceremony is important to you, you will want to be absolutely sure that you have checked with the powers-that-be before you settle on a destination. For example, the Catholic Church in the diocese of Vittorio Veneto and on the island of Capri has decided that they will no longer marry foreign Catholics in their churches. They will only marry members of their congregations or couples who have a personal connection to the church and parish, being the location of the proposal does not wash with them, so be aware of this pitfall before you set your heart on something that cannot be.

How do you know if it is possible to celebrate your marriage inside the Catholic Church? Your wedding planner should be able to guide you or you can ask your Priest to make contact with the Diocese in the destination you wish to host your wedding. Remember if the local Priest does not speak your mother tongue you will need a translator and that translator must be an ordained Priest, Nun or Brother.

Photo by Edoardo Agresti