How to plan an Italian Wedding during lock down
Trying to plan an Italian wedding over the last year has been extremely challenging and emotional for couples. Postponements, cancellations, keeping up with changing laws, travel restrictions, keeping guests informed, changing dress fittings – and the rest - has made it near on impossible. Couples have had to juggle a lot and trust their suppliers to support them at each step and in many cases, make good decisions on their behalf.
Sadly it looks like it won’t be getting easier in the very near future. We spoke to the experts and got their advice on how to navigate this time and ultimately make sure your wedding remains intact.
If your wedding is in 2021
Reducing your guest list to 30-50 could see it more likely to go ahead this summer. By making this change now, the plans and details you make are will go relatively untouched. If you plan for a large wedding you may end up making last minute changes to your plans and it won’t be as thought through. It may even be disappointing.
Read 'How to downsize your wedding'
Some suppliers, including your venue will need a payment 3 months before your wedding date. At this point where you’re starting to part with more cash beyond the initial deposits, it seems a sensible time to decide whether to go ahead with plans or consider another option. Read over your contracts, have the conversations and know when you’re aiming for.
Even if it’s not something you want to consider quite yet, having a backup date held with your key suppliers is wise. You can rest safe in the knowledge that you can move the wedding if you really have to. Suppliers should also be able to give you an idea of their postponement policy and any costs involved.
If you’ve managed to get wedding insurance, double check that it’s still valid. While you’re there, check what the terms of making a claim are. You’ll likely find for a claim to be valid it needs to be Italian law that the wedding cannot go ahead at your venue. Based on last year, we know that you’ll need a letter from your venue to confirm this and that this will likely be available after the date that your wedding was due to take place.
Send your planner to your food tasting – video call them through it. Ask for another virtual venue tour. Book a video consultation with your HMU artist, especially if they’re in Italy. Don’t be afraid to ask for whatever it takes to be involved in making your day unequivocally you and be comfortable in the lead up.
If your wedding is in 2022
Many venues are very busy for 2022. With increased demand from couples holding off since 2020 and the continued moving weddings, some popular venues have near to no dates left. Have no fear, there are plenty of venues out there and many are at about 50% capacity right now. We’d recommend getting on if you’re set on a 2022 wedding.
At this point consider some help. You can’t be there in person but a planner can. They’ll be able to get the information you need, take you on virtual tours and should interpret exactly what you’re looking for – saving much needed time.
Check out our article on 'How to find your wedding venue' and our free venue finding checklist and remember we have videos of venues in our venues section.
Contracts should have additional clauses to cover the possibly eventualities of changes to plans, postponement, cancellation etc. It’s important to understand alongside this the exact ‘what ifs’. For example it may be Italian law that a wedding can go ahead, but travel restrictions or quarantine mean your guests don’t make it. Or a key guest gets covid. Those sorts of things are important to understand when booking as we just don’t know how long this will affect how we live.
When it comes to deposits and payment plans, some suppliers are willing to create payment plans to spread the risk for couples. Please be fair when asking suppliers for flexibility in this, they’ve likely had almost a year of little/no income.
Join the La Lista facebook group for couples who are going through the same thing as you. We update the group with information on what’s happening it Italy as it’s happening and give as much advice as we can.
Written by Lucy White, Founder of La Lista & Wiskow & White, with over 5 years and 150 weddings worth of experience.
