When to get married?

There are 365 days in a year but it always seems complicated to find one.

Hi friends. 

With today’s newsletter, we’ll start getting into a wedding’s real planning process and we’ll do it in steps, so as not to overlap information and make it of little use to the reader.  

Let’s start by picking the day.

Some periods are highly advised against whilst others are highly recommended for celebrating weddings, at least that’s what happens in Italy.

Generally speaking, as the bride wishes to look her best on her wedding day (and she’s the one who gets to pick the day, let’s face it), and wishes to celebrate on a day when you can party outdoors, the most requested months are the ones from May to September. Excluding August, which is usually the month that you just pass out from vacation (and that’s precisely why I myself vanished for a couple of Sundays, sorry). 

Therefore, the range of available Saturdays shrinks down to a dozen, fifteen tops. Should you want to get married on a Saturday, that is.

Increasingly, though, people are starting to pick weekdays, going for a more intimate ritual, as most of those who work can’t really leave for a wedding destination (usually these are faraway places) midday on a Wednesday. 

Regardless of the day of the week (that you should surely pick after considering a series of factors), however, the season is what you should pick first.

The bride wants to look her best, as said above, so late Summer days would be preferable: in early September a light tan (careful, it should be light) will have been built already and a short vacation will have helped to get just enough rest to get to wedding day with a not-too-exhausted look on your face. A few days in a not too crowded seaside location will allow to dedicate some time to walks on the beach, brush away the signs of a sedentary life and fit the wedding dress with no problem whatsoever.

Also, early September days are preferable for their less aggressive temperatures vis-à-vis prior Summer months, as long as the place is located in a tempered climate zone. Getting married, for instance, in Central Italy (as is becoming increasingly popular among non-Italians) lends itself to these types of considerations.

Then you have exceptions: I got married in March, and I would have chosen a day in the Fall for my second wedding (if he hadn’t changed his mind without telling me, remember? Oh well, it happens). 

So, the bride chooses, and the groom accepts, a day and they hence start looking for an available church (or any other religious place, depending on faith and will), checking on a time slot at City Hall, and looking for a place where to hold the party. Once these two critical things have been gotten out of the way (religious place + party place), you can start planning the big day: in Italy, what has been described in a couple of lines, usually, takes place about one year prior to the scheduled wedding date (even though people are getting better at compressing time).Traditionally speaking, though, that’s what it takes.   

In the following newsletters I will describe the steps to the ideal ceremony, from proposing to sliding fingers through wedding rings.

Write to you soon.