Destination Wedding in Italy: Invitations and Timeline

For a destination wedding in Italy, send save the dates 9–12 months before the day and invitations 3–4 months before, with a reply-by date about six weeks out. Then tell your guests how an Italian wedding day runs: a late-afternoon ceremony, a long aperitivo, dinner after dark and dancing past midnight.

You won't be the only couple flying in. Italy hosted about 16,700 weddings of foreign couples in 2025, up 9.8% on 2024; the United States sent 31.7% of inquiries, ahead of the UK and Germany, and Tuscany was the most-requested region (Convention Bureau Italia, February 2026). If your guests read different languages, start with our guide to bilingual wedding invitations.

When to send save the dates and invitations for a destination wedding in Italy

Send the save the date 9–12 months before an Italian wedding, the invitation 3–4 months before, and a practical update the week of.

Our guide to seasonal wedding invitations matches designs to each season. For the window by wedding month, see when to send save the dates.

Write "All times are Italian time" once: a 5:30 p.m. ceremony in late June is 4:30 p.m. in London, 11:30 a.m. in New York and 1:30 a.m. the next day in Sydney.

What guests need to know about an Italian destination wedding

Before they book, guests need the nearest airport, the last stretch to the venue, where to sleep and how the day runs. Our guide to destination wedding invitations has the full traveling-guest checklist.

Getting there

Many historic centers, Florence's included, have a ZTL (zona a traffico limitato), where cameras fine unauthorized cars, rentals included. In Venice, day visitors aged 14 and up pay an access fee on peak days (in 2026, 60 days between April 3 and July 26: €5 booked at least four days ahead, €10 after that), while guests staying overnight in the city, Mestre or the islands are exempt (The Local Italy, December 2025). For a 2027 date, check the city's portal.

Non-EU guests: Italy follows Schengen rules, so a passport must be issued less than 10 years before arrival and valid 3 months after leaving; at the border, the EU's new Entry/Exit System may also take their fingerprints and photo (GOV.UK, checked October 19, 2026).

Where to stay

Country venues often sleep only the couple and close family. Everyone else stays in the nearest town, an agriturismo (a working farm with rooms) or a hotel on the water. Give the town, two or three places at different prices, the room-block code and the shuttle stop. Many towns add a nightly tourist tax, paid at the property.

The rhythm of an Italian wedding day

An evening wedding in Italy usually runs in five parts:

1. The ceremony, late afternoon in summer, to miss the heat.
2. The aperitivo: an hour or more of prosecco, spritz and small plates.
3. Dinner, after dark, in several courses: antipasti, pasta or risotto, a main, dessert.
4. The cake and the first dance, often after 10 p.m.
5. Dancing, until the last shuttle, often after midnight.

Our demo couple Amara and Kenji's evening above Florence: ceremony at 7, aperitivo at 8, dinner at 9:15, first dance at 10:30, shuttles at 1:30 a.m.

Dress for summer heat and for churches

Many Italian churches expect covered shoulders, so tell guests to bring a shawl. July and August are hot: suggest linen. Gravel, cobbles and lawns mean block heels or flats. Write it plainly: "Garden formal. A shawl for the church, flat shoes for the olive grove."

Getting married in Italy: legal or symbolic

Most foreign couples who marry in Italy hold a symbolic ceremony: 65.4% in 2025, ahead of civil and religious rites (Convention Bureau Italia, 2026). A symbolic ceremony has no legal effect, so those couples marry legally at home, before or after the trip.

For a legal civil wedding, US citizens need an Atto Notorio sworn at an Italian consulate (valid 90 days) and a sworn statement from a US consulate in Italy, then a declaration at the town hall with two witnesses and an interpreter (Italian Consulate in San Francisco). British citizens need a Nulla Osta; GOV.UK publishes the forms. On the invitation, "invite you to celebrate their marriage" fits either way.

Italian wedding invitation wording: 6 English and Italian examples

Write each language natively: Italian invitations announce a marriage (annunciano il matrimonio), English ones request your presence. Italian puts the day before the month (sabato 26 giugno 2027) and uses the 24-hour clock (alle 17:30). The couples are fictional.

1. Formal, the bride's parents hosting

Mr. and Mrs. Giorgio Ferri
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter Livia
to Matteo Bruni
Saturday, June 12, 2027, at nine in the morning
The Abbey Cloister, San Quirico d'Orcia

Giorgio Ferri e Anna Rossi
annunciano il matrimonio della figlia Livia
con Matteo Bruni
sabato 12 giugno 2027 alle ore 9
nel chiostro dell'abbazia, San Quirico d'Orcia

The Italian lists the mother under her own surname, which Italian women keep.

2. Formal, the couple hosting

Sofia Moretti and Nico Ferrand
request the pleasure of your company at their marriage
Saturday, June 26, 2027, at half past five
Villa dei Limoni, Camogli
and afterwards for dinner by the sea

Sofia Moretti e Nico Ferrand
annunciano il loro matrimonio
sabato 26 giugno 2027, alle ore 17:30
Villa dei Limoni, Camogli
Dopo la cerimonia, gli sposi saranno felici di festeggiare con voi a cena sul mare

3. Together with their families

Together with their families
Serena Greco and Elio Marchetti
invite you to celebrate their marriage
Saturday, June 19, 2027, at six o'clock
Salina, Aeolian Islands
Kindly reply by April 1

Insieme alle loro famiglie
Serena Greco ed Elio Marchetti
vi invitano a festeggiare il loro matrimonio
sabato 19 giugno 2027, alle ore 18
Salina, Isole Eolie
Vi preghiamo di confermare la presenza entro il 1° aprile

4. Relaxed

We're getting married on Lake Garda, and it won't feel right without you. Saturday, August 21, 2027, at 6 p.m., by the water in Torri del Benaco. Dinner under the willows, then dancing until late.

Ci sposiamo sul Lago di Garda e senza di voi non sarebbe la stessa cosa. Sabato 21 agosto 2027, alle 18, in riva al lago a Torri del Benaco. Cena sotto i salici e poi si balla fino a tardi.

5. A weekend in Venice

Ginevra Conti and Idris Haddad invite you to a weekend in Venice
Friday, February 5: welcome drinks at seven
Saturday, February 6: the ceremony at half past four, then dinner and a masked ball
Kindly reply for each event by December 15

Ginevra Conti e Idris Haddad vi invitano a un fine settimana a Venezia
venerdì 5 febbraio: aperitivo di benvenuto alle 19
sabato 6 febbraio: la cerimonia alle 16:30, a seguire cena e ballo in maschera
Vi preghiamo di confermare per ciascun evento entro il 15 dicembre

6. A travel note

All times are Italian time. Shuttles leave San Quirico d'Orcia's main square at 4:15 p.m. and return from 11:30 p.m.

Tutti gli orari sono in ora italiana. Le navette partono dalla piazza principale di San Quirico d'Orcia alle 16:15 e rientrano dalle 23:30.

On a digital invitation, each guest reads all of it in their own language, with a switch for the others. Our demo couple Livia and Matteo wrote the Cathédrale invitation in English, Italian and Spanish: open it and switch to Italian.

For more pairs, see our bilingual wedding invitation wording examples.

Italian wedding customs worth sharing with guests

Explain the customs that change what guests do: when to eat, and what to take home.

Confetti: sugared almonds

In Italy, confetti are sugar-coated almonds, white for a wedding, traditionally given in an odd number, often five. Some couples set out a confettata, a table of them, late in the evening.

Late dinners

At an evening wedding, dinner rarely starts before 8 p.m. and can run three hours. Suggest a proper lunch.

Bomboniere

Bomboniere are the wedding favors: a small keepsake with a bag of confetti, handed out as guests leave. Mention them, or guests from abroad leave them behind.

Nine invitations set in Italy

Nine designs in the Veiloria collection have demo weddings set in Italian places, each with a live demo and a matching Save the Date.

Tuscany: Cathédrale, Herbier, Orangerie

For Tuscany wedding invitations, three moods. Cathédrale lifts a veil of silk tulle over a cloister at dawn. Herbier has guests slip the straps off a flower press to find a wreath of pressed flowers. Orangerie has guests wipe the fogged glass of a citrus glasshouse, like a Lucca limonaia.

Florence: Céleste

Céleste opens with a brass astrolabe that shows the real sky over your venue on your wedding night.

Bologna: Velours

Velours is an opera house: the lights dim and the crimson curtain rises on your names.

CélesteA brass astrolabe, and the real sky over your venueSee Céleste

VeloursAn opera house, the curtain rising on your namesSee Velours

Carte PostaleA Riviera postcard, turned over and stampedSee Carte Postale

SerenissimaLower the mask on Venice at Carnival duskSee Serenissima

Liguria: Carte Postale

Carte Postale is a Riviera postcard, turned over and stamped.

Venice: Serenissima

For a Venice wedding invitation, Serenissima holds a gilded Carnival mask before your guests' eyes; they lower it, the Grand Canal comes into focus and your names appear in gold leaf.

Lake Garda: Lanternes

For a Lake Garda wedding, Lanternes lets guests release a paper lantern over the water at dusk.

The Aeolian Islands: Nacre

Nacre sinks guests through the blue to an oyster whose pearl becomes the "&" between your names.

HerbierPressed flowers, a flower press and typed labelsSee Herbier

OrangerieA Victorian glasshouse, citrus in bloomSee Orangerie

LanternesPaper lanterns rising over a lake at duskSee Lanternes

NacreLiving mother-of-pearl, a pearl that risesSee Nacre

Start with the Save the Date: each digital save the date plays its invitation's opening, then ends on your names, the date, the place and an add-to-calendar button.

Sources

• Convention Bureau Italia and Italy for Weddings, 2025 report by Centro Studi Turistici di Firenze: press release, February 18, 2026, Italian Ministry of Tourism; checked October 19, 2026.
• Italian Consulate General in San Francisco, "Foreign (non-EU) citizens marrying in Italy"; checked October 19, 2026.
• GOV.UK, "Nulla Osta application pack" and "Italy entry requirements"; checked October 19, 2026.
• The Local Italy, "When will you need to pay a fee to visit Venice in 2026?", December 9, 2025; the City of Venice's access fee portal has each year's dates.

Frequently asked questions