Getting Married in Italy

Recently a friend asked for advice on getting married in Italy, particularly Rome. He did this because he remembers coming to our amazing wedding in Viterbo in 2004. Yes it was amazing when I look back, not only because of the romance and fun we had but, amazing that we were able to get it all organized without paying for the help of a wedding planner.
So, after removing my rose-tinted glasses, my advice to him, and anyone else not already living in Italy, is to find such an agency to arrange things. If you don't speak Italian then most likely having someone local to your chosen wedding destination means you are less likely to miss any crucial and perhaps legal detail.
Having all the paperwork applied and paid for in the correct order can be a minefield for those not already entrenched in the bureaucratic Italian mindset.

We managed because we already lived in Viterbo, my wife is Italian, and her mother is a professional legal translator - your own official documents and the ceremony itself may need to be translated from/to your own langauge. Leave me a comment if you'd like to be put in touch with her. We did not have a church wedding, choosing instead to have a civil wedding using the ornate rooms of the town hall. This in itself was not so straight forward as we wanted to use the entrance in the courtyard with the fountain and symbol of the town, a lion. At first this wasn't possible due to it being a Saturday (huh?) but after my wife (to be) spoke directly with the mayor on several occasions plus we had a mutual friend, a banker, who put in a 'good word'. This always helps in Italy. The only stipulation was that no rice (confetti) was to be thrown inside the courtyard.

Things you should know:

From 1st March 2013, the procedures for British nationals, resident in the UK, planning to marry in Italy are as follows (US citizens see this post: toliveinitaly.blogspot.it/2017/03/italian-wedding);

You cannot start the documentation process more than 6 months before your wedding date, or 3 months if you are resident in Scotland.
There are 4 steps that each British national, must follow to get the right paperwork for marrying in Italy.

1. Certificate of No Impediment
   
   You need to obtain what’s called a Certificate of No Impediment, which is issued in the UK. To do this you must give notice of marriage to your local registry office.
   This is then posted at the registry office, in our case on the wall on the town hall, for a period of six weeks. After your notice has been posted for the required period you will be issued with a ‘Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage’,signed and dated by your local Registrar. It is essential that the names you give to the Registrar, which will appear on your Certificates of No Impediment, are exactly the same as written in your passports. Having a middle initial on your passort but not on the certificate might mean that the Italian authorities will reject your paperwork and refuse to allow the marriage to go ahead. Take your passport with you to the Registry Office, just to be absolutely certain. In fact keep your passport on you at al times as you are required to carry ID in Italy.
   Note that your Certificate of No Impediment will be valid for six months from the date on your English, Welsh or Northern Irish CNI or three months if presenting a Scottish CNI.
    
2. The Statutory Declaration
   
   While you are waiting for your Certificate of No Impediment you should make a statutory declaration before a solicitor or public notary in the UK. If you are already in Italy you may get this, as I did, from the British embassy even though I was not at that point officially resident in Italy.
   The declaration is required by the Italian authorities and gives additional information that isn’t detailed on your Certificate of No Impediment. The solicitor or public notary will charge a fee for this which vary so it might be worth shopping around.
    
3. Legalising your documents for the Italian authorities
   
   When you have your Certificate of No Impediment and you have made your Statutory Declaration, you need to send them both to the FCO Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes for each to be legalised with a Hague Apostille.
   The Legalisation Office will charge for this – please check the current charges and procedure on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Website.
    
4. Translation of your Certificate of No Impediment (CNI)
   
   Once both these documents have been legalised, you will then need to have the legalised Certificate of No Impediment translated. As it will become an Italian legal document it should be translated by a translator based in Italy and sworn before the Italian courts or an Italian Justice of the Peace. A fee will be charged – fees vary depending on the translator. They will also charge a delivery fee to have the translation couriered back to you or to our local office (your representative in Italy if you have one).
   
   The Statutory Declaration does not need to be translated since it is already in both languages.
   Each British national resident in the UK should have eventually have;

• A Certificate of No Impediment – issued in the UK, legalised in the UK and then translated officially in Italy. 
• A bilingual Statutory Declaration legalised in the UK. 
• A UK Passport.

Once all of these documents have been prepared, they should be sent directly to the town hall where you will get married.
There is no longer any requirement for wedding documentation for British Nationals resident in the UK to be sent to any British Consular Section in Italy for further processing.
Please note, under Italian law, a woman who has been divorced or widowed and wishes to re-marry in Italy cannot do so until after 300 days have passed since the date of her divorce/death of husband. It is possible, however, to apply for a dispensation to this through the Civil Law Courts (Tribunale Civile) although it may be easier to wait until this time has passed.

Need to make a wedding speech or think someone at your wedding may need help?