Tell me about civil ceremonies!

[Gala Placidia]

Originally Posted by Nicola

... My brother and now wife had a civil ceremony on the terrace at Lerici castle in the summer and while very short it was really lovely. The backdrop of the coastline was stunning, we had arranged for an excellent flautist and pianist to play and their friend did a Rabbie Burns poem. Everyone that was there thought it was a very memorable and not in the slightest bit banal ceremony. (and I think to be honest everyone was quite pleased with the shortness of it!).

Well, the choice of the venue could not be better as the Lerici castle is a dream... you only need a few extra details to convert a simple ceremony into a fairy tale... It could never be the same if you get married at a Registrar's office...

[adriatica]

not really being a wedding planner or anything like that ...we did have friends that wanted to get married here and a civil ceremony... we talked to a mayor we knew for them ...arranged to have the ceremony at this sort of mountain refuge owned by the mayor...which they have a festa at each yer so it has sort of BBQ areas and seating... the mayor held the ceremony there ...arranged for the local brass band to come up too... plus various other things and presents of local produce were presented... plus all the band and half the village joined in the whole thing...

i think for the people it was far from banal and everyone seemed to enjoy the whole thing ... Italians and non...we did nothing to organise apart from help with a bit of translating.... the mayor and his friends handled the rest.. i think everyone that partook form the italian side were just happy that these foreigners thought it would be nice to get married in their comune....and that the whole village really took them to heart and wanted to make it a day to celebrate

[Dream Academy]

Adriatica, was the venue "owned by the mayor" or by the town hall?
A civil wedding in Italy must by law be held in a structure owned by the town hall and in a structure open to the public.
Many places now can have outdoor ceremonies but to be legal they must be in a structure which is owned by the government and open to any member of the public who wants to enter.
The castle at Malcesine or the castle at Gradara do such ceremonies but they are owned by the comune and open to anyone who wants to enter during the cermony.
This is actually stated in the ceremony and on the entry in the register.
"In a structure open to the public is actually quoted."

[adriatica]

my fault... i said owned by the mayor ...i should have said comune... your right

they could also have had the wedding done in the comune but then a second less formal wedding with their own words and all the people and the mayor etc... in another site we had looked at...

dont ask me too much on this subject... its not really something that holds much interest for me im afraid ...and have not got a lot of knowledge on it... i dont even like being invited to weddings or having to go even less..... i know grumpy...

[Bev Davies]

The Town Hall in Venice is a whole lot prettier than any of the Registry Offices over here!

[Dream Academy]

You are right Bev and I am sure you will have a lovely day to remember in amazing surroundings.
For anyone else interested in doing a symbolic wedding then of course this is another option.
Basically you do the "real thing" in the town hall and then you can arrange a symbolic ceremony in any location you wish----beach, mountains, villa etc.
It all depends on how much you see the real ceremony as being the most important part.
However, many fantastic locations exist where you can do the legal civil ceremony outdoors in stunning settings.

[cathnmike]

I'm with Nicola and others here - it doesn't have to be banal! We were married in Rome and even there (where there are a lot of weddings in one day!) we had what we wanted, despite it being a civil ceremony in one of the two registered venues. We both thought the civil bits were amazing as did our guests (so different!), and we had live music which was wonderful. The only thing we couldn't do was to write our own vows which was fine by us!


In many ways I think a wedding day is what you make of it. The ceremony is one part ... and oh that Italian wedding cake!!!

[Marinaw]

Bev I got married in the room you are marrying in in April 2004. The guy who married us was called Matteo Maida - there may be new registrars but he might still be there I think - he was lovely, as was the female translator. The only thing we actually had to say was 'Si' - to the question would we agree to be good to each other, live together and care for any progeny. Sounded good to me. We signed the register and were given a sweet Murano glass bowl as a wedding gift from the venice commune. Amazingly its still in one piece today. It didn't take long but we never felt rushed and there was plenty of time for photos on the balcony afterwards..
I hope you have as wonderful a day as we did.

M

[Bev Davies]

Thanks Marina, I have had an email from Matteo so hopefully he will be doing the ceremony! I am so excited and it is lovely to hear from someone who has been there before us.

[pigro]

Originally Posted by Bev Davies

The Town Hall in Venice is a whole lot prettier than any of the Registry Offices over here!

OK, weddings are not my thing, but I stumbled across this and couldn't let it lie without a plug for the Glasgow registry office. It's located in a fantastic Victorian town house (part of "park circus" - a full 360 degree terrace in the middle of a lovely part of the city's west end). The town house is known as the Casa d'Italia - a private club set up in the 1930's for italian ex-pat's (which also housed the Italian Consulate for a while), kitted out internally by them in grand Italian style. It was faithfully restored to its former glory in the late 80's when it was bought up & converted for use as a registry office by the council.

So, there's a tenuous italian connection here which makes it worth a post! OK, may not quite rival Venice, but not all UK registry offices are located within the standard grim 60's council building that is the stereotype!

ps. would have attached some of my own wedding pix (as they featured the building, not just the participants) but they are pre-digital, so had to pull some random (& pretty poor) images of the net