firebirdgold
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2005
- Messages
- 2,216
Figured I should report on the wedding for those who might be considering getting married in Italy. Tuscany is increadibly beautiful and picturesque, and the wedding was unique and memorable. This was a multi-day event, which I think was the reason it was such a success. All the different people got a chance to know each other and become friends before the actual wedding.
Nancy and Alan had spent a lot of time back in DC talking to beaurocrats and getting all the papers translated and stamped.
Monday after they arrived they took the train back into Florence and got the papers stamped yet again by the US Consulate who really had been quite difficult to deal with. N and A had already been forced to get the state department to lean on them to get them to be more cooperative.
By Tuesday some of their closest friends had arrived including the French/Italian guy who was supposed to be translating. Apparently one of the things you have to do before getting married is have the relevant portions of the civil code read to you and you need a translater if your Italian isn''t flawless. But despite all the phone calls, no one had told them they needed an official appointment to get this stuff read. And they found out that the marriage paperwork needed a special international treaty stamp from the regional civil office 40 minutes away to be legal in the US. But the office closed at 1pm on friday and they were getting married at 11am on Friday and leaving Italy that Monday. Fortunately they were able to shift the ceremony to 10 am and their translator friend (who got a serious workout in all of this) volunteered to drive it up.
They had to go back to the Cortona town hall for their official appt on Wednesday. Apparently the civil code is really nice and says alot of great things about the rights and obligations of being married. Good thing, as it turned out since that''s what the civil wedding turned out to be. Despite how sweet the civil code is, it did convince me that I want a more spirtual wedding.
Anyway, instead of describing the whole thing I''ll just give you the link to the wedding site. It has some beautiful pictures of Tuscany and a good narrative of the wedding. Although the pics did convince me that I desperately need weight watchers.
In fact I''ve been reluctant to show the site on to my fi.
My sister''s Italian wedding album!
Nancy and Alan had spent a lot of time back in DC talking to beaurocrats and getting all the papers translated and stamped.
Monday after they arrived they took the train back into Florence and got the papers stamped yet again by the US Consulate who really had been quite difficult to deal with. N and A had already been forced to get the state department to lean on them to get them to be more cooperative.
By Tuesday some of their closest friends had arrived including the French/Italian guy who was supposed to be translating. Apparently one of the things you have to do before getting married is have the relevant portions of the civil code read to you and you need a translater if your Italian isn''t flawless. But despite all the phone calls, no one had told them they needed an official appointment to get this stuff read. And they found out that the marriage paperwork needed a special international treaty stamp from the regional civil office 40 minutes away to be legal in the US. But the office closed at 1pm on friday and they were getting married at 11am on Friday and leaving Italy that Monday. Fortunately they were able to shift the ceremony to 10 am and their translator friend (who got a serious workout in all of this) volunteered to drive it up.
They had to go back to the Cortona town hall for their official appt on Wednesday. Apparently the civil code is really nice and says alot of great things about the rights and obligations of being married. Good thing, as it turned out since that''s what the civil wedding turned out to be. Despite how sweet the civil code is, it did convince me that I want a more spirtual wedding.
Anyway, instead of describing the whole thing I''ll just give you the link to the wedding site. It has some beautiful pictures of Tuscany and a good narrative of the wedding. Although the pics did convince me that I desperately need weight watchers.

My sister''s Italian wedding album!