CATHOLIC WEDDING CEREMONIES IN ITALY

As one of the most Catholic countries in Europe and one with the richest history, Italy offers a wide selection of beautiful Churches for couples to celebrate their Catholic wedding in Italy.


Each region in Italy follows the rules of its own Diocese and as such some Churches do not accept weddings unless one of the persons in the couple is from the local parish. This is a minority and couples would easily find a choice of Churches available to get married however we will confirm this with you before selecting a wedding venue to avoid having you to travel long distances between the ceremony and your reception.

Catholic weddings in Italy can be legally binding or simply religious. The difference is that in the latter case the couple has already got civilly married in their country of origin prior the wedding in Italy. In this case the Catholic wedding would be a religious ceremony only and would not carry any legal validity.

Most Italian Churches specifically request that foreign couples are already civilly married before coming to Italy. If this is not your preference and you want your Catholic wedding to combine the religious and legal ceremony, let your Italian wedding planner know in advance in order to be recommended the best Churches which allow this.

When deciding to have a Catholic ceremony in Italy the first step is to contact your local Parish to obtain permission to marry abroad. The confirmation will be provided once you have presented all the requested documents to your Parish as well as followed the pre-Cana classes. Once your Parish has collected all your certificates, it will send them to the local Diocese in your country. Upon approving your request, your Diocese will send the documents to the Italian Diocese of reference.

All the documents for a Catholic wedding have a validity of 6 months and need to be sent to the Italian Curia no later than one month prior your wedding date.

Most Churches do not officially request a price to celebrate your wedding however a donation is also required for the Church and the priest. Catholic weddings in Italy can be celebrated in Italian with a translator or directly in English.