Elopement In Italy Guide
I’m Gemma, Italian wedding celebrant and former wedding planner in Italy.
I created offers for destination elopements in Italy
because I’m a romantic person and I love to create intimate moments.
Below you find all information about eloping in Italy. If you cannot find your answer,
feel free to contact me here: hello@sweetelopements.com
An elopement is a moment for two, really intimate. I doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot have any guests, but usually elopements are moments between the bride and groom only. You’re not doing this because you don’t want relatives around, you probably want them. But it’s a way to create unique memories, just you and your future husband or future wife.
This is a tough question….probably yes, but it they understand your willing to live a unique moment by yourselves and create the base for your future together, they should acknowledge the importance of keeping it intimate. A moment just for you that you can definitely celebrate together with relatives and friends once back at home.
I’m a former wedding planner, now a professional symbolic celebrant in Italy. The romance of the ceremony has always fascinated me. That’s why I decided to put my experiences together and create moments for two, not just the ceremony this time but a day-experience filled in with all that is beautiful in a wedding…the getting ready, some private shoots, a romantic ceremony with a toast, a private walk through a beautiful town or in the countryside in Italy and a fine intimate dinner at night.
In fact, I will assist you in creating the perfect elopement day for you starting with the choice of the venue, the selection of the vendors and creating the right romantic ceremony for you.
I’ll assist you as elopement planner and will celebrate your intimate ceremony too.
Yes definitely!! First of all, because I’m your celebrant 🙂 Then, because I want to make sure everything runs as planned. Normally, I stay with you 6/7 hours, from the getting ready until the start of the dinner. It means I’ll be there with you during the bride’s preparation with the hair stylist and make-up artist, during the photography services and as long as my presence is required to make sure all the services are as you wanted them to be.
First of all, I’m a symbolic celebrant hence, my ceremonies do not legally bind you.
However, this is how I wanted my ceremonies to be because they can be exactly as you had imagined them. No laws, no texts are imposed, you can choose the music that you like..
My ceremonies are informal, laid back, emotional but also fun.
Of course I can perform a wedding ceremony in case this is your first I do.
In case you’d like to review your vow, I’ll gladly draft the ceremony to let you reconfirm your promise with me in Italy. I’ve created a whole page about this, read here: GemmaBlessings.com
After you send me your preferences in terms of destination OR budget, I’ll send you my idea for the best elopement in Italy for you. Just write me here: hello@sweetelopements.com
After your enquiry, I’ll send you the ideal day schedule, vendors and a breakdown of costs.
The first step is to book my services (assistant + celebration) for your Elopement in Italy and the venue for your accommodation and/or ceremony area.
Based upon my experience, I’ll send you a list of my preferred vendors but this does not mean you’re obliged to choose one of them. You’ll be able to evaluate them by yourselves and select your preferred one. Of course, I can always be your intermediate if you need further info.
I’ll ask you to pay 50% of the total amount corresponding to my services (planning assistance + ceremony) at the booking. The deposit is non refundable. In fact, the cancellation fee is only applied to the balance.
The balance corresponding to the remainder 50% is due at 1 month before the Elopement day. In case you want to postpone due to an emergency, serious illness, mourning, please advise me as soon as possible. I’ll keep the deposit valid if you choose another date where I am available to offer my services.
Regarding the other vendors, they’ll ask a deposit upon booking of their service and the balance close to the date. For their cancellation policy instead, I’ll personally confirm them to you based on the policy of those you will select.
Of course, the memories of spending a day in one of the most beautiful towns, villages or areas of Italy. I’ll make my best to create a nice emotional ceremony. Emotions are what create memories and I’m really keen on creating a unique atmosphere for you. Also, you’ll bring back home the items of the ritual you’ll choose, a nice parchment that we’ll sign together at the end of your ceremony, a booklet with your vows and two small gifts from me. For more info, read about the ceremony here.
At this page, you’ll be able to see the different locations I’ve personally chosen for you. I’ve visited them all to make sure the logistic was perfect and we would have had no issues during the day. My presence also will make sure your day goes smoothly from morning to evening. However, if you have a special place or have already selected a venue for your elopement, I’ll gladly prepare a personalized offer for you.
Just please make sure you secure a place for the ceremony, as it’s really important to have the right privacy during this moment.
My offers include a fee for the rental of a space at the location to celebrate the ceremony.
This guarantees us the right privacy for this moment. Finding a place on the spot to celebrate your ceremony will be risky as, especially in the summer, many of the locations I proposed, are really crowded preventing you form enjoying in full your ceremony.
Yes sure! I advise to ask this while booking your accommodation already. So to make sure you have the room for you for all the nights you need.
Yes, it can! In this case, I need to adjust the proposals given many town halls have their own fees for the booking of the room while I’ll add my assistance with the civil documents to be collected. On the other side instead, you are able to choose a different accommodation if you want given you won’t need now the spaces for a symbolic ceremony.
I just advise that civil weddings require a strict process to follow like the collection of some documents in your hometown or closest embassy to you and some appointments in Italy that normally require you to arrive to Italy from 5 to 7 working days prior to the elopement day.
Both are possible but reaallly different!
A civil ceremony will legally bind you but the text is really formal and not at all emotional or personal. The process to collect the right documents is then very strict and requires you to attend some meetings in Italy (the number of these depends on your nationality). A symbolic ceremony is on the contrary, non-binding but very very personal and emotional with no laws to pronounce and can be held in any place like a garden or panoramic terrace. Of course, in this case, you don’t need to be here in advance to complete any formality.
Each destination has its own peculiarity. For example in some ceremony areas where there are no trees to protect you from the sun (like on the towers in Siena and Florence), it’s advisable to have the ceremony later in the evening. However, this does not mean you have to wait one day long. You can do your first look in the afternoon, have a romantic walk in town and then, head to the location selected for the ceremony and dinner after. Other places instead have live music starting at 7.30pm instead. It’ll be beautiful of course, but if you want a different music and just in particular moments of the ceremony, it’s better to do it before.
Yes, we can be flexible with the schedule. However, it’s always better to define if in detail from the beginning. Things to take into consideration are: the heat during the day of the Italian summer, the length of the services booked. For example, if the photographer is booked just for 4 hours, this makes the schedule less flexible. With a 6 hour service instead, we can decide on the moment whether we want to postpone the ceremony or anticipate the dinner, for example.
There’s no set time to start planning your elopement. Of course, the earlier the better so you are sure the dates you want are available at the location, and the same for the other vendors. Said that, we can organise an elopement in one month as well but you may asked to be flexible with the dates.
Of course not! In Italy we have pleasant days during the whole year. Summer is preferred as there is less risk of bad weather, but this does not mean that an Elopement in spring or fall is not advisable. On the contrary, these seasons offer a fresher weather that could permit you to enjoy in full every moment without being disturbed by too much heat or crowded places.
Yes definitely! I’d love to! Contact me here and we can discuss further in private: hello@sweetelopements.com
Yes, sure. You can read more about my ceremonies here.
I also have a website only for symbolic ceremonies where I offer my services just as symbolic celebrant in Italy: GemmaBlessings.com
All the process will be really easy! Get in touch with me, tell me your preferences in terms of destination OR budget. I’ll get back with a detailed proposal of my offers. This will include: a breakdown of costs, details about the services included and schedule of the day.
Then, you’ll be able to evaluate the proposals and I suggest we do a call to know each other first, and start planning your elopement based on your wedding vision and needs.
Get rid of all your doubts!
Email me for more info. I'd love to be your wedding consultant!
