Weddings in Italy: Money Saving Tips
Discover smart ways to save on your wedding in Italy. From venues to legal fees, use these tips to cut costs without sacrificing your dream celebration.
Wedding in Sorrento – Just Get Married In Italy
Top 20 Tips to Save Money on Your Wedding in Italy
Weddings Abroad Expert Deborah Taliani from Just Get Married In Italy shares her top “Weddings in Italy Money Saving” tips. With a few smart choices, you can reduce your wedding budget by over €8000 without compromising on experience or style.
A wedding in Italy can be more affordable than you think. With the right venue and a few savvy decisions, you can have a dream wedding abroad without the big price tag.
Take a couple of minutes to watch Deborah’s video below, then scroll down to read her top money-saving tips for planning a destination wedding in Italy.
1. Choose Wedding Locations Near Major Cities
The first weddings in Italy money saving tip is to choose ‘close by wedding halls and locations’ near to the big art cities. For example, getting married in Siena costs €800 (weekdays & Saturdays), €1,500 (holidays) for non-residents for the wedding hall. By choosing another wedding hall less than 10 minutes out of Siena, it will cost €500! You will still have your wedding in Siena, photos etc, but at almost 1/3 of the price! Same for Rome outskirts locations like Bracciano or Tivoli, Rome weddings hall are €1400 while Bracciano Lake wedding halls hiring fees are €350!
2. Select Less Touristic Areas
Avoid Northern Lakes hotspots like Lake Como and Garda. Instead, choose to get married at beautiful and less-touristic options like Bracciano or Castel Gandolfo, which are often more private and affordable.
3. Avoid High Season
Find out the busiest summer months in your chosen location and stay away from it! Getting married outside high season not only will guarantee privacy at your wedding, especially for crowded locations like Sorrento, but will also save you so much on travel fares, hotels, venues etc. Also avoid Bank holiday weekends for the same reasons.
4. Choose Accessible Airports
For Europeans; choose a venue close to ‘low cost’ airline airports, where guests can easily and cheaply arrive. For non-Europeans choose a location where the main airports are. It will save you time and travel costs to reach the venue.
5. Get Married on a Weekday
A practical weddings in Italy money saving tip – is to get married on weekdays and during town hall opening hours. Most Italian wedding halls are cheaper on weekdays and during their opening hours.
6. Embrace Local Traditions
Embrace the local Wedding culture! Find out the local wedding traditions and try to incorporate them into your wedding. Using local wedding items/food/customs will save you as they are already locally available in wide quantities for the Italian brides, making them cheaper. A classic example is the wedding cake. An Italian wedding cake is free, as it is included in any wedding menu! While, what Italians call ‘American cake’ (icing/decorated cake) cost an average of €600 for as little as 40 guests!
7. Hire a Local Wedding Planner
One of the biggest weddings in Italy money saving tips is to avoid booking venues and services directly! Use a local Professional Wedding Planner like Just Get Married! Did you know that a well established wedding planner has discounted rates that they pass on directly to their clients? The fee they charge is a very small token to pay for all the savings, not only economically but time wise and emotionally. A wedding planner does know and use only the best suppliers in your chosen area; he/she will take all the pressure and stress away from you, leaving you with the fun part of the wedding planning to take care of, like wedding dress shopping.
8. Skip Venue Research Trips
For the same reason, avoid travelling to Italy to find the perfect venue on your own. Hire instead an Italian wedding planner. They have done all the searching for you, making a trip to Italy unnecessary. It will easily save you and can put back in your wedding budget more than €2000 for better wedding use.
9. Save on Photography
Book a photographer service and ask for all images in professional high resolution on memory stick, instead of choosing a package with prints/albums. It will save you on photographer printing/album fees plus expensive postage fees! You can then print any photo you like and do whatever you want with them (cropping/editing/printing etc) using a photo software or at your local photographer.
10. DIY Wedding Video
A wedding video is all about good editing: Although prices for videographers can be quite reasonable in Italy, you can still save money, by borrowing from your guests the footage they enthusiastically filmed on the day. (if no guests are attending, Just Get Married’s onsite planners are happy to get some footage for you). At home, get all footage edited into a 20 minute highlight reel of your wedding day with music of your choice by your local photographer studio or a good editor.
11. Choose Seasonal Flowers
Choose seasonal flowers instead of fancy tropical or out of season flowers! Firstly it will be locally available and cheaper, the latter will still be available at double the price as it needs to be imported from abroad! Think green, and opt for seasonal flowers, instead!
12. Find a Venue With Free Use
Another great weddings in Italy money saving tip is to choose a villa/venue that offer ‘free use’ on the wedding day. Stay away from the most popular ones, easily found on the web! Ask your Italian wedding planner to source one with no additional hiring fees on the day! It will save you as much as €3000+ in not more!
13. Go for an All-Inclusive Menu
Choose an all inclusive menu, rather than a la carte menu. A la carte menu can go easily out of control, as a single main course in Italy can cost as much as €50!
14. Use In-House Catering
Choose a venue with an inside kitchen rather than one where you need to hire an external catering service. Catering companies can help you to personalise the table decorations, styles etc better, although it comes with a higher price.
15. Book Apartments Instead of Hotels
Leave the exclusive hotel for the wedding night! For your stay, opt instead for luxury private apartments. Not only will they give you plenty of privacy and more money in your pocket, but will let you enjoy living as a Roman, a Florentine or a Venetian for a little while!
16. Offer Payable Transfers for Guests
Logistically, guests transfers are very important for a wedding abroad, especially in Italy and non-english speaking countries. Instead of paying for it, offer a ‘payable transfer option’ to your guests! Each guest will pay very little per head, while you will save a great deal of money. By experience, guests don’t mind to pay for stress free transfers, and they appreciate that you have taken the time to organise it for them.
17. Simplify Your Ceremony Setup
If you want an outdoor ceremony, pick a location that offers outdoor weddings (Just Get Married In Italy can offer a wide list to choice from in most Italian wedding locations) rather than having a separate ‘indoor wedding’ and ‘outdoor blessing ceremony’ at the villa. Have either one or the other, it will save you more than €1000.
18. Get Church Recommendations From Planners
For religious weddings in major art cities, choose a church recommended by your wedding planner. They are usually the best in beauty, value and accessibility (some churches in Italy can only be accessed by foot, not very convenient for guests, as they easily get lost).
19. Look for Villas With Private Chapels
For religious weddings in villas, ask your wedding planner to source a villa with a chapel. Most villas around Umbria, Lazio, Tuscany have little churches or chapels within their premises, as in the past centuries noble Italian families had their private ones. The chapel use for religious weddings in Italy is usually free or cost very little.
20. Leave Legal Requirements to the Experts
The final weddings in Italy money saving tip is to leave all legal and religious aspects to the experts. It may not save you money, but it WILL save you in jeopardising your wedding with the wrong paperwork!
Top Tips: The Legal requirements for UK Citizens Getting Married in Italy
Just Get Married In Italy is among the listed translators recommended by the UK embassy in Italy to carryout CNI translations and legalisations at the Italian Tribunal. Their translation services are also available to ANY UK citizen wishing to get married in Italy (whether they have booked our planning services or opt for another planner), which includes: CNI translation English-Italian stamp duties require by law tribunal validation in Rome agency/tax/travel/delivery fees all include. If you wish to proceed with the service, contact Just Get Married In Italy using the form below, quoting “CNI enquiry”. Please bear in mind that this service can be provided to UK citizens that reside in the UK. If you do reside outside, the standard process still apply. – Find out More
Meet Just Get Married In Italy – Experts in Italy Wedding Planning
Just Get Married In Italy put these weddings in Italy money saving tips together to help you to save money and time in the long run, with a guaranteed saving of €8000+ from your wedding budget to either keep or put into better use for your future together! If you would like any further information, please use the form below to contact Deborah who would be more than happy to answer your questions.
Why Work with a Planner?
Getting married in Italy comes with specific considerations, such as language barriers, local vendor coordination, and navigating Italian legal requirements. A professional wedding planner can:
- Handle all legal documentation and deadlines
- Suggest and secure the best ceremony locations
- Provide backup plans in case of weather changes
- Arrange transport, accommodation and extras for your group
- Handle communication with local vendors
- Be your on-the-ground point of contact to keep everything running smoothly
- Assist with activities before and after the big day
Whether you’re eloping or bringing 100 guests for a destination celebration, a local expert can tailor every element to your vision and relieve you of the stress that comes with planning a wedding abroad.
Start Planning Your Dream Wedding
Whether you’re just beginning to research how to get married in Italy or you’re ready to start booking suppliers, Just Get Married In Italy would love to hear more about your ideas. Use the form below as a quick and easy way to contact them.
