Wedding Ceremonies

For your wedding in Tuscany you can chose between a civil or religious (catholic or protestant) ceremony or you may decide to have a symbolic wedding ceremony.

Civil Wedding Ceremony

A civil wedding in Italy must take place in the Town Hall or in a hall assigned for weddings by the respective municipality. There are also municipalities where a civil wedding can take place outdoors. Mostly it is in a public place like the Loggia of the Town hall, a public garden or a culturally significant estate that is part of the municipal property.

Only very few Town halls make it possible to have a legal civil wedding also in a private property as for example the wedding venue.

The fee for a civil wedding varies between 200.00 up to more than 2000.00 Euro in some communities.

Often the requested fee is higher if you want to marry outside the normal office hours or during the weekend. It may also change within the same municipality if there are different places offered for the civil wedding.

Whether you want to get married in one of the major art cities, in the Chianti area, the Crete Senesi or at the Tuscan seaside, everywhere there are beautiful wedding rooms of various sizes.
Often the wedding halls have magnificent frescoes and works of art and/or they are located in historically important buildings for example a former fortress or castle.

A civil wedding in Tuscany is normally celebrated in a rather solemnly way and it is possible to make it become even more romantic and personalized. It is normal that the bride appears in the white wedding dress, to choose a musical accompaniment, to read out the vows of the spouses or to light a wedding candle. Two witnesses are required. If you desire a marriage just for the Two of You, the witnesses can be provided.

I will certainly inform you about the necessary paper work. This depends from the citizenship and the residence of the spouses. I will take care to arrange the appointments with the selected registry office, to submit the documents and to carry out the necessary communications. I will also act as your interpreter for the formal appointments before the wedding and during the wedding ceremony.

The procedure of the civil marriage is prescribed by Law. However, normally the major or registrar adds some personal words or reads out something with a poetic touch.

The wedding is valid also in your home country and you will receive an international wedding certification.

Religious Wedding

In Tuscany Catholic as well as Protestant Weddings are possible and can be celebrated also if one of the spouses (groom or bride) has formally renounced her/his membership in the Church.

Possibly a religious wedding ceremony is performed without interpreter, so it is important to communicate if you will bring the Parish Priest from your country or if we need to engage an English Speaking priest here in Tuscany. Since there are only a few English speaking priest of both denominations it is important to know this early, at least if you want to get married during the most requested wedding months (May, June or September) or during a week-end.

You will get detailed information regarding the needed paperwork and Toscana Mania will take care to contact the authorities, to supply the documents, make proposals for the Church and arrange the appointments with the responsible parish priest as well as with the Curia.

Protestant Wedding

A civil ceremony must precede a protestant Marriage. The civil wedding may take place beforehand in your Country or in Tuscany some days before or even on the same day of the protestant ceremony. If the priest performing the protestant ceremony agrees, this may take place also at the venue, for example as a garden ceremony. However, mostly the priest prefers to perform the protestant wedding in a Church. There are only very few protestant Churches in Tuscany. However, most Catholic Churches are available to host a Protestant Wedding as well as private Churches, often belonging to a venue, are available for a Protestant Ceremony.

The choice of churches in Tuscany is almost unlimited: whether in Gothic style with rich frescoes, churches from the Renaissance era or Romanesque churches with their special fascination lying in their simplicity.

Roman-Catholic Wedding Ceremony

The spouses may decide with the priest whether it should be a prayer service or a nuptial mass, which means whether they want a wedding ceremony with the Holy Communion or not.

Roman Catholic ceremonies can be either religious only or religious with civil legal validity, which means that the civil wedding must not take place beforehand at the Town hall but is hold together with the religious wedding in the Church. 

The priest will officiate both, the civil and religious ceremony and your wedding will be legally valid in your home country. You will receive the international wedding certification after the Religious Wedding.

This combination of civil and catholic ceremony is possible only if both spouses, the bride and the groom, are catholic and have never been married beforehand (are not divorced).
However, the last word if to permit a Catholic Wedding with legal civil effects is up to the priest and the Curia in Tuscany as well as in your Home country.

For the Church Wedding with legal civil effects both types of documents must be submitted, those for the Town hall as well as those for the Curia. Toscana Mania will inform you about all required documents. However, please make sure that for the Catholic wedding you must been baptized and you will need the assistance of your home Parish priest to collect all needed documentation for the Curia.

For a purely Catholic wedding ceremony without civil effects, the marriage certificate of the registry office is necessary. 


For a Church Wedding, you have to schedule around 1.200 Euros in your budget: a donation of about 500,00 Euro for the use of the Church, the needed delegations by the responsible priest, the cleaning, plus a donation of about 500,00 to 700,00 Euro for the English speaking Priest. Additionally there are the same costs as with any other type of wedding celebration like the flower decoration or the music.

Symbolic Wedding Ceremonies

Symbolic weddings are just that – symbolic. This means that they do not have any legal significance and no marriage license is issued. Since there is no legal validity, there are no legal requirements for paperwork. Symbolic weddings are not presided by a religious or public official, but simply by a person who conducts the ceremony according to your requests. Mostly they are hold by a pastor, a professional speaker or orator, a family member or friend of the spouses.

Why a symbolic wedding ceremony?

A symbolic wedding can be the right choice if you are of different denomination or religions or if there are any other reasons that prevent you from a Church wedding or civil wedding ceremony. The symbolic wedding will enable you to enjoy a tailor-made wedding ceremony, reflecting your individual values and beliefs.

A symbolic wedding ceremony may be perfect also for couples who have already get married in a registry office and want to have a blessing on the day they want to celebrate the wedding with their family and friends.

A symbolic wedding may be a good solution in case that you will not be in time to get the needed documentation for a religious or civil wedding or if you are simply not interested in the traditional wedding ceremonies.

A symbolic ceremony may be a perfect way for a renewal of marriage vows and an opportunity for every married couple wishing to celebrate their marriage anniversary in a unique and personal way.

Last, but not least, one of the most important reasons to choose a symbolic wedding ceremony is the fact that the spouses are completely free to personalize the ceremony according to their preferences. Indeed, as there is no religious or public official, there are no rules or orders for the ceremony and there is nobody to tell you how the ceremony can or cannot be laid out.

It is up to you to decide how the ceremony itself is going to be like. It may be as structured and formal or casual and relaxed as you wish and it can be performed indoors or outdoors, at any time, with any sort of readings, music and vows you may prefer.

It can be hold in a medieval courtyard, a beautiful vineyard, a romantic Italian garden, at the sunset on the beach, or at any place that may be of significance and meaningfulness for the couple.

Symbolic ceremonies are a perfect choice to celebrate your union in Tuscany and I will certainly be glad to assist you in planning the wedding ceremony of your dreams.

I will assist you with my experience and my ideas regarding the setup, I will suggest you the most spectacular locations, help you to find the right person in Tuscany to conduct the ceremony and to prepare it together with you; I can propose readings, poetry, symbolic elements and music.

Shortly, I will assist you to create the atmosphere you wish, depending on whether you wish the ceremony to be an intimate mood or if you prefer to pass in a party atmosphere.

I will create a unique and unforgettable event for you and your guests!