New user - help please? Wedding in Italy?

[Daydreamer3]

Hi all,

I recently got engaged and my fiancé and I are thinking of eloping to get married in Italy. For a bit of background we are both late twenties, no children and love travelling. Neither of us want a big wedding and have always considered eloping. We are looking at taking around 2 weeks in total marrying in positano town hall and then spending the remainder hiring a car and travelling to a few different places within the country.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice as to whether they have eloped and what they made of it? Both families on board & thought of planning big wedding makes my head hurt but what did you do after ceremony? Was it a come down after?

Has anyone got married in positano or surrounding areas?

And had anyone used perfect weddings abroad to plan their wedding?

Thanks so much for any help! X

[tangerinesarenottheonlyfruit]

No helpful advice but it sounds very romantic! :)

[Daydreamer3]

Haha aw thank you! ☺️ just wait until we get the quotes through 🙈

[JapanNextYear]

I went to a wedding in Positano once, beautiful setting, really beautiful. It is quite touristy round there, as guests we found it difficult to find a reasonably priced place to stay, but maybe pick a quieter time of year. But it is gorgeous.

[Daydreamer3]

Thank you japannextyear, out of interest what time of year did you go? I realise I didn't put it in my text but we were thinking sept 2017- prob late and honeymooning into October

[JapanNextYear]

It was years ago but I think it was late spring/early summer. Truly lovely place and great food.

[Daydreamer3]

Sounds fantastic, thanks!

[TheGreatSnafu]

We eloped in Italy. We married in Northern Italy though.

We married in September. It was gorgeous. Just DH and I.

I never had any regrets until many many years later and my parents are elderly and I don't know, I guess I wish I'd included them. Years later, for various reasons, DH regretted not including his family. But mostly our regrets centred around life taking unexpected turns and us wishing we'd been more inclusive when we had a chance. I know I'm being cryptic- just being honest. I doubt you will feel the same!

I loved our wedding, we had to visit in advance in order to plan as there were no international wedding planners then and we actually had to write handwritten letters to the priest who married us to organise things. We aren't religious but loved the huge beautiful church.

The only snags we hit were that we were married in a large church that is a tourist attraction and is also financed by the local city - we couldn't turn up the lights as they were controlled by the council to save electricity so the photographers had a difficult time getting good photos indoors. Also we did have to have witnesses and it was odd having 2 unknown people stand for us.

Also, since the church was open to the public our wedding was the subject of many a Japanese tourists video as there was a huge group that descended on the city that day. That was unexpected. But just made for more of the fun really.

Yes, afterwards was a bit of a let down - afternoon and everything was shut so back to the hotel to scarf down all the mini bar stuff as we hadn't planned it well. But even that bit I look back on very fondly.

The lovely woman who steamed my dress from the hotel and carried on in Italian about it all, the tourists and locals who queued to bless us after, totally unexpected.

Threw my dress into a suitcase and travelled for the next few weeks which was great fun.

And it's great to go back, we've been back on our anniversary several times.

Not sure if it's helpful.

Hope you have a lovely wedding no matter what you decide.

[Daydreamer3]

Thank you Thegreatsnafu! That's certainly given us some food for thought!

It sounds gorgeous with the church and people queuing to bless you! Thank you for the honesty though, def helps to make the decision!

We would have some kind of party/gathering when we are back home to include family & friends although I do worry about regretting eloping in years time.

Even the after party would be a push for the OH, he's not a party person in the slightest and hates the attention on him. I think his ideal would be to the registry to sign the papers on our own and jet off on honeymoon.---- No party in sight!

I also don't like all the attention on me and don't feel like I would enjoy the run up to a wedding here due to trying to please people and very awkward family members but as mentioned above I am worried about regrets later.

[cingolimama]

OP, this sounds fabulous and very romantic! We got married in Italy, but in a fairly obscure province (le Marche). We had close family and friends with us. It was everything I wanted: a beautiful church wedding, a wonderful dinner outside in the balmy air at a long table, surrounded by the people who mean most to me.

Little things made it very special: some friends got up early on the day and picked wildflowers for my bouquet and for the table, a local man got his beloved and well polished Maserati out of the garage and insisted on driving us to the dinner - there was so much kindness and genuine excitement.

A couple of thoughts: If you want a summer wedding, plan it for the "shoulder season" - early June or September rather than July or August. Consider a "wedding research trip" to Positano and perhaps another area (Tuscany? The Italian Lakes? Puglia?).

Good luck!