Last month we had a beautiful wedding in Umbria, the bride
and groom are British and the paperwork could not be more simple, only they
live in the UAE! On their return they discovered that they would need to get an
apostle on their wedding certificate. This apostle has to be issued in the
capital city of the province in which they were married. Off I went, 5 hours
drive south and handed in the international wedding certificate. I was told
come back the next day to collect it.
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| Perugia |
I had a lovely relaxing afternoon, a walk around Perugia and
my hotel was lovely. The next morning after breakfasting on home made bread and
jams I calmly made my way to collect the documents.
When I arrived I met with the director of the office who
informed me that he cannot legalise the international wedding certificate, as
it is already legal! I would need to go back to the town hall and ask for the
wedding certificate in Italian and I will need to do this and get it back to
him before they close at 12 noon. It was 1045 am.
I phoned the town hall where the wedding took place, 70 km
away and asked them to prepare the document, drove like a banshee and made it
to the town hall and back to Perugia, parked the car and ran through the
streets in 38oc heat to find the doors of the legalisation office closed.
Thankfully after knocking on the door they let me in and took pity on me.
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| Town hall of Montone |
Inspecting the documents they then had to find the legal
signature on the marriage certificate in their files to confirm it is in fact
legal. Only they could not find it, after many fruity words from the director
he suddenly realised he was looking in the wrong file and found the signature.
I suddenly released the breath I had not realised I was holding and thought
that was it…
That’s when they told me this now needed to go to Rome as he
had legalised the signature of the mayor of the town, the UAE consulate now
needs to legalise his signature before the document could leave the country!
Ah it gets better! On top of that the couple require the
Italian marriage certificate translated in to English. This in itself is not difficult, but this
translation also needs to be legalised and then the person who legalises it
also needs his signature legalised!
Which brings me to today.
Today is my second day at the courthouse in Treviso, trying
to get the translation of the marriage certificate legalised. Yesterday I came
here to be told by the officer of the court, that he only works on a Friday and
to come back the following day. I was
tempted to go to Rome and try and do this in the court house in Rome and hope
that I would still make it in time before the consulate closes at 11am, but if
they only work on a Friday here, they might only work on a Tuesday in Rome! To
be sure I decided to stick with Treviso and in the end that was the best
decision I could have made.
I returned here this morning at 0800, I waited in line or as
we are in Italy the huddle by the office door. Finally it was my turn and the
officer of the courts face lit up when he saw me and remembered me from the day
before. He informed me I needed to go to the tobacconist and buy some ‘stamps’,
obviously he could not have told me this the day before… Off I went to the tobacconist
to wait in the line and buy the stamps. Then on my return 30 mins later he told
me I needed to fill out a form, which I did. Only then did he tell me that I
also required proof of residency! Which I did not have with me as I though my
Irish passport was sufficient! Proof of residency was at home 20 km away!
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| Marca da bollo 'stamps' |
I phoned lots of friends willing one to pick up and finally
the wonderful Fabio answered and came to my rescue, not sure I should dwell too long on why he asked me what I had done when I told him I was in the court
house and needed help…
Anyway, bless him, he dashed out of his office with his id
card and came to the courthouse of Treviso where he found me happily sitting on
the sofa in the office of the officer of the court, laughing and joking with my
new friend! He quickly swore that the translation was correct and less than 2
minuets later the officer of the court stamped the documents and we went to the
bar for a coffee to celebrate!
Now nearly 4 hours after I walked through the door I have
the legalised translation and I am now waiting in the office of the republic to
have the signature of the gentleman on the forth floor, legalised!
I am number 73 and the ticket counter has just shouted out
53. We are nearly there! The time is now
1147 am and this counter will close at 12noon….
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| Rome! |
I am making plans in my head to go to Rome on Sunday evening to be there in time to get the signatures
of the legalisation officer in Perugia and the officer here in Treviso
legalised. Only then can I send the documents to the bride and groom!
Finally it is my turn! I walked up to the window and was met
with ‘come back on Friday next week and collect the document!’ WHAT!! After
much begging they have agreed to legalise it by Tuesday next week at the
earliest. Then I will have to dash to Rome that night, hope the UAE consulate
can see me on the Wednesday, get everything done on the day and then dash back
to Treviso in time to have a meeting in Asolo regarding another wedding next year
on Thursday. Quickly pack for a weekend in Puglia where I will meet a couple and
show them venues for their wedding next year.
So just like the photographers, the actual day of the
wedding is a tiny fraction of the job of a destination-wedding planner in
Italy!
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