One of the first questions I’ll ask you about your Lake Como or Garda wedding is whether you’d like a civil or symbolic wedding ceremony. You might ask yourselves ‘what’s the difference?’ Well hopefully this will help
What is a symbolic ceremony?
A symbolic sedding seremony is where you would legally get married back home and have a ceremony in the Italian Lakes with a wedding celebrant. This is your wedding day but it wouldn’t be legally binding so you’d do the legal part in your home country.
Why choose a symbolic ceremony?
There are many reasons why couples choose to have a symbolic ceremony in Italy instead of having a legal civil ceremony
- Less expensive – Generally symbolic ceremonies are cheaper than civil ones as there are no town hall fees
- Less paperwork- Not matter where you are from, you will need to get some documents done back home, the procedure depends on where you are from
- More venues- There are more venues that you can choose from because many venues can only have symbolic ceremonies
- Less time in Italy– OK, this isn’t a good reason! Let’s face it, who doesn’t want to spend time in Italy?! Depending on where you are from, you may need to be in Italy a couple of weeks before the wedding or a couple of days. Let us know where you are from and we’ll confirm the procedure
What is a civil ceremony?
A civil ceremony is where you legally get married in Italy. This wedding will be valid in your home country so you don’t need to have another ceremony back home
Why choose a civil ceremony?
- Real – Some couples think it’s more real to have a civil ceremony
- No need to do it again– If you have a civil ceremony, your wedding is valid back home so you don’t need to have another ceremony there
- Italian– It contains the Italian language which some couples love
What’s a civil ceremony like?
A civil ceremony in Italy is quite official. A representive from the town hall will perform the ceremony. The ceremony doesn’t have to be in the town hall, some venues have permission to have civil ceremonies. See the Venues page to see which.
The representive will read articles in Italian and we will organise an interpreter to repeat them in English ( or your native language). You can add readings and vows if you would like
What’s a symbolic ceremony like?
We have complete freedom to create a ceremony just as you’d like it. We can write a ceremony script about the two of you, adding in important moments or people (or animals like the dog you left at home). Some couples choose to have union rituals like candle lighting or religious readings
So now when you get in touch, hopefully you’ll get what I mean when I ask…’civil or symbolic ceremony?
