Dreaming about a real Catholic Wedding in Italy?

First rule you should know: to celebrate a Catholic wedding, you must have celebrated the Civil Wedding beforehand. Or you shall celebrated the Catholic wedding together with the Civil wedding (Concordat wedding).

Now, let’s get back to paperworks topic.

Wedding Paperworks

On this regard, you shall request three main documents to your local Bishops office:

• Certificate of Baptism specifically drafted for wedding purposes
• Confirmation (if you have done it, otherwise no problem, it isn’t mandatory)

Don’t worry, if they are not able to provide you with the original documents, you just need 2 copies sealed by your local Bishop.

Moreover…the Italian Church requires a formal Declaration letter who authorizes your wedding in Italy from your Parish Priest or Pastoral Advisor. What does the declaration say? It says that  both bride and groom are active participants in the Catholic Church and that they have the intention to get married in Italy (specify the church name and the wedding date).

Nulla osta or Nihil Obstat

The Nihil Obstat is a letter specifies that you have no impediment to get married in the Italian Church. Your local priest will provide it for you.

Lastly, you need the original Prenuptial Enquiry Form issued by the Archdiocese of your city, which proofs that your wedding has been approved by the higher member of the Catholic Church in your country.

Special rules

• Divorce – if one of the parties has been previously divorced, he/she is not allowed to re-marry in a Church, unless the Rota has annulled your wedding.
• Mixed Religion – in that case, you are still allowed to get married but you should provide the Permission of mixed religion, sealed by the your Bishops Parish office.

Expiration Time

Please note that – except for the certificate of baptism, holy communion and confirmation – all the other documents have an Expiration time of three months! That means the Italian Church should receive them between 6 and 2 months before the wedding date.

Send all the documents to Italian Church via email through your Parish priest. Keep the original documents with you and send send them only via DHL or FEDEX!

I hope this article has been helpful, and do not hesitate to contact us for any doubt or question.