WEDDINGS IN ITALY BUREAUCRACY & PRE-WEDDING PROCEDURES
Italian Civil marriages and marriages are celebrated according to religious rites, which are subsequently transcribed into the Italian Civil register, and are recognised as valid by European law. This is providing no obstacles exist preventing the marriage from taking place under the relevant law of the country where the interested parties live.
CIVIL MARRIAGE
To get married in the local Town Hall (Comune), a short ceremony lasting approximately 15 minutes is carried out before the local Registrar/Mayor of the location selected. Cost of ceremony depends on the parish where the ceremony will take place and it can cost more in the afternoons or at the weekends.
For a Civil marriage you should approach your local Superintending Registrar at the Town Hall where you are resident no sooner than 3 months before the proposed date and apply to give ‘Notice of Marriage’ which is subsequently posted up for the required period of approximately 21 days. The Registrar will then issue a ‘No Impediment Certificate’. On the basis of this certificate together with copies of the following documentation the Consulate where you intend to marry will issue the relevant Consular
Certificate of No Impediment – ‘Nulla Osta’ Documents required for both parties concerned:
It is very important that all the names on these documents are the same ( eg birth certificate, passport and No Impediment certificate as the Town hall is very strict)
We would require photocopies of the above to be sent to us for checking and we will present them to the Consulate and then upon your arrival in Italy we need to take the original documents to the Consulate at which point they will issue us with the ‘ No Impediment Certificate’ – ‘Nulla Osta’.
This document is then presented to the Registrar at the Town Hall (Comune) where the marriage will take place, for his records.
RELIGIOUS CEREMONY
Catholic
If one or both parties are of the Catholic faith, but most important practising the Catholic faith, the marriage rites can be carried out in a Catholic church before a priest upon his consent. According to Italian law it is also necessary to carry out a civil ceremony in the town hall beforehand. Length of religious service is 30 minutes for the marriage rites and one hour including a full mass. Cost depends on the priest or in some cases only a donation is kindly appreciated. For a Catholic marriage, you should approach the vicar/priest of your local Parish, whereupon you will be asked to complete a ‘ Notice of Marriage Document’ together with the representation of relevant documentation as stated within. This certificate should be respectively confirmed and signed by the vicar/priest who in turn will send it to the priest of the local Parish where the marriage ceremony is to take place. Then the priest in Italy will make the necessary arrangements with the Town Hall (Comune) to susequently transcribe the notice of marriage in the Civil Register.
Other Religious Services (Church of England, Episcopal, Baptist etc) & Blessings
Similar procedure as above, consent is needed from the local parish, vicar and owner of chapel or church should they be privately owned and the cost can vary depending on the vicar and local community where marriage is to take place. Marriage ceremonies carried out in churches of other religions (e.g Church of England) are not recognised by the Italian State and cannot be transcribed into the Italian Civil register, therefore these services are symbolic and can be done in conjunction with a civil marriage in the Town Hall. In both cases of a Civil marriage in the Town Hall and/or a marriage celebrated according to religious rites, where both parties are not officially resident in Italy, the Town Hall (Comune) also need sworn declarations to the effect that they are free to marry together with personal details of the appointed witnesses. This can be arranged one or two days before the event, so it is advisable to be in Italy a few days before to sort out the local legal requirements. If neither party speak Italian you will need an interpreter to be present at the actual marriage ceremony as well as helping with the Italian documentation.
