Planning a Wedding in Italy

Wedding planner Lucy White, planned her own wedding in Italy before creating Wiskow & White and La Lista with the sole intention of planning exceptional weddings in Italy. Lucy’s created a clear process for planning Italian weddings that takes in to account every single factor she’s learnt along the way. In this article expert Lucy shares the key steps you’ll need for Planning a Wedding in Italy and ensure your wedding is planned to perfection.

18 months – 14 months

Congratulations, you’re engaged! You know you want to get married in Italy but you’ve got no idea where to start. Here’s the start to plan an Italian Wedding of your dreams.

Chat to someone who’s done it before. Perhaps you know a friend or family member or a friend of a friend that’s got married in Italy. Ask them what it was like and see if that matches your expectations

Set an ideal time for the wedding, considering the weather, seasonality in pricing and your guests likely availability

Draft a rough guest list.

Set a top-line budget. Calculate how much you have to spend overall. You could start to consider your priorities and which elements of the wedding are more important to you which could dictate how your budget is split.

Research planners and speak to some planners. Introductory chats are a great way to get some free insight and advice that can help shape your wedding and your upcoming decisions when you Plan an Italian Wedding.

Choose your bridal party.

16 months – 18 months

Book a wedding planner. They will save you countless energy, time and money and of course ensure that your dream wedding comes to life in every way.

Book your venue. Your planner will help you to find your venue, shortlist and arrange an itinerary for your trip to pick your venue. Once chosen, you’ll sign a contract and seal the deal.

Send save the sates! Make sure your guests have the wedding of the year firmly in their diaries and can plan annual leave and travel in advance.

Hold or book accommodation for guests. If your venue doesn’t have accommodation for all guests you may need to hold other locations as contingency. You can recommend these to guests through your invite or wedding website.

Choose your ceremony type: civil/legal ceremony, symbolic or religious?

Book your photographer and videographer. Often the next priority, most sought after photographers and videographers get booked up 18-24 months in advance.

12- 16 months

Confirm all major suppliers: catering, music, hair and make up, florist, transport

Decide who’s staying where. It’s likely your venue will have accommodation and you’ll need to know who you’re inviting to stay ready to…

Start a Pinterest / moodboard.

Send your invites or an update to guests. At this point around 12 months out flights are often released and you may want guests to get ahead on their bookings. When sending your invites you’ll need to consider an a and a b option for those invited to stay at the venue and those elsewhere

8-12 months

Re-visit Italy: see your venue again and plan décor, have your food tasting, a final hair and make-up trial. We suggest getting your hair and make-up right in the UK before heading for your trial, to make sure you nail the exact look at that trial.

Clothes shopping begins. Start with your dress. This also informs the styling of the day…

Plan your wedding day styling, colours, flowers, every detail of the day.

6-8 months

Buy your rings

Book in your stationer. Because the lead times will be a little different and you may need to get your stationery in your suitcase, it’s best to book in and get clear on timings well in advance. There are some great stationers that work and print in Italy which can mean you can print a lot closer to your wedding date and allow for any changes close to the wedding date.

Civil or church ceremony? Get started on the paperwork and understand the exact process ahead.

Buy your dress box for the plane or consider how it’s getting to your destination.

3-6 months

Finalise the ceremony order of service

Table plan

Create a packing list

Final briefing with your planner who will brief your suppliers

Finalise your music choices for important moments in the day, and any playlists for larger sections like dinner if you are responsible for these aspects

Final steps

Fitting, make sure you consider the date you’ll fly!

Collecting your stationery and any final décor items and gifts

Get out any cash you might need for supplier payments

Let go! Trust whomever you’ve delegated to whether it’s a planner, trusted friend or supplier. This is your ONE wedding day and you need to enjoy it and be in it, soaking up all the magic.

Throughout planning our key advice is:

To make sure all contracts have some sort of covid clause to protect your investment and your wedding. Whether that’s being clear on the date by which there is ‘no turning back’ when it comes to your spend commitment, or that the supplier would move the wedding in the case of postponement, ask for what you need to see.

Let your suppliers guide you. They’ve been there and done it all and you’re paying them for the expertise and knowledge. They will apply this to your wedding and give you all the guidance and expertise they can if you ask for it and trust them.

For more advice on planning Italian weddings follow @wiskowandwhite and @_lalista, a new directory full of expert Italian wedding advice, where you can access a free Italian wedding budget tracker and more.