Help in arranging a wedding in Rome for 2009

[snowhazey]

Hello,

My partner and I wish to be married in Rome in June/July next year and we are currently deciding whether to use a planner for this. Does anyone have any advice about choosing the right wedding planner and what to look for in a company. At the moment we just want someone to organise the legals and paperwork for a marriage at the Campidoglio Wedding Hall. Do they need to have any kind of insurance and would we be covered incase they didn't do their job properly in arranging the ceremony?

Any advice would be appreciated!
Thank you.

[English teacher]

I got married in Rome (not at the Campidoglio which I think is only available on a Saturday, but check) but at the other comune venue, which is just outside Circo Massimo. It was a quick 15-minute affair, but moving just the same.

We had to do a fair amount of running around, such as booking the ceremony with the comune, getting a nulla osta from the embassy and getting the banns read, as well as getting another piece of paper from our local municipality. I'm not sure if you would need to do all this if you were just going to pop over from the UK, or whether a wedding planner would be able to do things on your behalf. For example, we had to sign our nulla osta at the Embassy, but maybe someone could act as your proxy.

You'll need a couple of witnesses, and as they have to sign, they'll need to know at least some Italian. Make sure your planners have arranged for this. You might want to contact Dream Academy for more information (who I think plans weddings in Emilia Romagna, but who will have all the necessary info).

[snowhazey]

Thank you English Teacher, yes we do know that the Campidoglio only do weekend weddings and we have found a lot of information about what paperwork needs doing by browsing the internet. But we just don't know how easy this would be to do ourselves, did you manage to do this without a planner and did everything go ok with this in the end? I think we have almost come to the conclusion that it might just be easier and less stressfull to get this done for us but it's knowing who to do this through. I have emailed different wedding planners for a quote for a 'legal only package' but it's difficult to know who to trust with them being in another country and with it being done over the internet.

[English teacher]

We did it all ourselves, but as we were living in Rome at the time, the running around was quite do-able. As we got married on a tight budget, there was never any talk of wedding planners. We didn't have photographers / posh frocks etc, and I also managed to forget flowers... (The Rome comune actually gave me a bunch after the ceremony, which I thought very sweet!)

We organised a celebration dinner afterwards for friends and family who we'd booked into a hotel on the coast, so it was a lovely day for us. However, every couple likes to do things differently, and you might want a planner if you're going to do anything more substantial than what we did.

If you already know what the paperwork requirements are, you can probably get a lot of it done online. But if you need to book hotels, venues, photographers etc, then a planner is probably a good idea unless you come over first and organise it for yourselves. One other thing to probably bear in mind: even a low-key wedding like ours was not without its stress. If you can get a planner who understands your requirements, and has good communication skills, then a lot of the anxiety can be taken out of the whole "shebang".

Personally, I'd thoroughly recommend the hotel where we had our dinner. Lovely open-air restaurant, with private beach, great food at reasonable cost, good rooms, and kind, caring staff. We and our guests had a lovely time, and they all went home with happy memories of warm, Italian hospitality. I couldn't have asked for more...

[snowhazey]

Thats great information! I'm sure it certainly helped living in Rome and we've even thought about going there for a quick weekend to make sure the paperwork gets done (if we were doing it ourselves) We will be booking all travel arrangements, accomodation and the honeymoon ourselves as we are quite used to doing this over the internet. I also think me and my partner are steering away from the extra expense of all the added 'extras' like flowers and cars etc but we would definately like some good photos of the occasion.
It would be great if you could tell me where you had the reception as this is another thing I wanted to ask about and I was actually going to post another thread about this. There will only be 12 of us altogether and again we dont want to spend a fortune on the reception maybe just a nice cosy restaurant would do, but a recommendation is always nice. How far did you have to travel to your reception? A few of my favourite ideas seem to be about a 40 minute drive outside of Rome and I'm not sure that this would be too far?

[KarenR]

We married in Rome in May 2006 and originally planned to do everything ourselves from the UK. However we found it very difficult and the amount of trips to Rome to sort it out were not practical. We used a wedding planner Gabriella (can't remember how to spell her surname - need to check) who spoke perfect English and arranged as much or as little as we wanted. As this was not the first marriage for either of us, we originally said we didn't want photographers and cars etc and Gabriella was happy to just sort out the legal side for us. In the end though we decided to use a photographer that she recommends having seen some of his work (he's a fashion photographer rather than a wedding snapper). She arranged cars for us and our guests, hairdresser for myself, translated the service for us (at that time we didn't speak any Italian), collected us from our hotel and generally made a special day absolutely fantastic. We had booked hotel and restaurant, but she could also have done this for us. I can highly recommend her as I am sure so would all our guests. (All 8 of them!) If you are interested I will get her contact details for you. I know you would not be disappointed. (She even spent the day blotting my shiny nose!!)...

[snowhazey]

If the lady is called Gabriella Lojacono, then this is one of the companies that we have had a reply from and that we are thinking of using, if not it would be good to know which planner you did use as we are worried about how many 'rip off' copmanies that may be out there. We certainly want a photographer, what was yours like? Were you happy with the photos?

[English teacher]

The hotel was in Santa Marinella (Hotel Cavalluccio Marino). It's just south of Civitavecchia and there are train connections from Rome, though not late at night. I can't get any links to work, but if you do a search for the hotel name, or Roses Hotel (the owners) you might find something.

[cathnmike]

Hi there

We also used Gabriella Lojocarno and she was absolutely brilliant. She takes care of all the paperwork (which can be a nightmare), did everything we asked her to do, including some things that were out of the ordinary, and even helped me keep calm on the day - she became a friend as much as a wedding planner. I can't recommend her highly enough. She organised absolutely everything for both us and our guests - down to a surprise horse and carriage at a time when the city of Rome town hall were banning horses from the roads at certain times of the day!

Her communications are excellent and her price is very, very reasonable. I can send photos if you like - her photographer is brilliant (mad, but brilliant) and we loved all the photos we got. Go for the option to have high resolution photos - a bit more expensive but worth it as you get them on a CD ROM and can then print off any number of copies yourself without the need to pay extortionate prices from the photographer as you do in the UK. Everything Gabriella gave us was way beyone our expectations. If you're getting married in Rome, use her! She's only little but she's the most efficient, organised person I've ever met which is exactly what you need.

Have you definitely decided on Rome? The only thing I would say is that although it was a magical day which I loved and will never forget, the ceremony itself was very quick (they allow 20 mins each which has to include photos) and you can't have your own vows or readings - the most we could have was live music but even that was limited. Whether it's at the Campidoglio or the lovely Vignola Mattei venue by the Caracalla baths (which is where we were married) Rome is incredibly popular as a venue and it can feel a bit like a sausage machine - one couple waiting to go in as the previous couple leaves.

If you wanted to look at a less rushed and more personalised wedding some friends of ours (whom we met on our honeymoon in Italy!) have a wedding business in Le Marche. It's a beautiful area and there are some stunning settings in old hilltop vilages for example. You can also have your own vows, readings, whatever you want and I can vouch absolutely for their service as well. They will organise as much or as little as you want and have got together a brilliant team of florists, hairdressers, venues, everything you could want. Again they provide a very personalised service and again, very reasonable prices.

If you want more information about either option, feel free to send me a PM and I'll send you the details. And wherever you decide to get married in Italy, you will have a wonderful day.

Best wishes

Cath.

[cathnmike]

PS - sorry - meant to say we only had ten guests but despite it not being a massive affair, Gabriella put in as much time and effort as though it was for 100. We had our reception at a beautiful villa called the Casina Valadier - they've got a website so you can have a look. We also had a lovely champagne reception at a small bar in a nearby park - the family were so pleased to do it for us and charged a tiny amount.

Anyway as I say, let me know if you need any more information about either venue.