Paperwork for UK citizens who are getting married in Italy.

Once you decide to get married in Italy, you will need to be informed about paperwork if you choose to have a legally-binding wedding.

Getting married in Italy a real dream!

For the couples who book my Full-Service Wedding Planning, I take care of the paperwork procedure together with my legal advisor who specialises in legal weddings for foreign couples in Italy.

This is the Procedure when both parties are British nationals and both are residents in the United Kingdom.

Please read about all the procedures on the UK government website.

Important note: Wedding couples cannot start the documentation process more than 6 months before the wedding date, or 3 months if they are residents of Scotland.

Important note: under Italian law, a woman who has been divorced or widowed and wishes to re-marry in Italy cannot do so until 300 days have passed from the date of her divorce/death of her husband.

There are 4 simple steps that each British national, resident in the UK, must follow to get the right paperwork for marrying in Italy.

Step 1 – Certificate of No Impediment

To getting married in Italy, the wedding couple needs to obtain what’s called a Certificate of No Impediment, which is issued in the UK. To do this the couple must give notice of marriage to your local registry office. After the notice has been posted for the required period a ‘Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage’ will be issued, signed and dated by the local Registrar.

Important note: It is essential that the names the couple give to the Registrar, which will appear on the Certificates of No Impediment, are the same as written in their passports, otherwise, the Italian authorities will reject their paperwork and refuse to allow the marriage to go ahead. The couple has to take the passport with them to the Registry Office, just to be certain.

Important note: Finally please note that your Certificate of No Impediment will be valid for six months from the date on your English, Welsh or Northern Irish CNI or three months if presenting a Scottish CNI.

Step 2 – The Statutory Declaration

Important note: While the couple is waiting for the Certificate of No Impediment they should make a Statutory Declaration before a solicitor or public notary in the UK.

The declaration is required by the Italian authorities and gives additional information that isn’t detailed on your Certificate of No Impediment.

Please do NOT sign and date the document until you are with the solicitor/notary and ensure that when you write your name it should be as it appears on your passport and if you have not previously been married it should be the same as on your birth certificate.

The solicitor or public notary will charge a fee for this service. Fees will vary so it might be worth shopping around and should be paid directly by the couple.

Step 3 – Legalising your documents for the Italian authorities

When the couple has the certificate of No Impediment and they have made their Statutory Declaration, they need to send them both to the FCO Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes (online) for each to be legalised with a Hague Apostille. The Legalisation Office will charge for this.

Step 4 – Translation of your Certificate of No Impediment (CNI)

Once both these documents have been legalised, the couple will then need to have the legalised Certificate of No Impediment translated. As it will become an Italian legal document it should be translated by a translator based in Italy and sworn before the Italian courts or an Italian Justice of the Peace. The Statutory Declaration does not need to be translated since it is already in both languages.

Other necessary documents:

Passports of the wedding couple.

Passports of witnesses and residence address.

Any further documents specifically requested by the Town Hall of the city or village in which you want to get married.

At the Town Hall:

Once all of these documents have been prepared, they should be delivered to the Town Hall where the couple is going to get married.

Please consider that in some parts of Italy, the Town Hall requests the wedding couple to sign the Declaration of Marriage and this can happen 2 or 3 days before the wedding.

The Italian Town Hall (Comune) will issue a multilingual marriage certificate for the couple after the ceremony.

If you decide to have a civil ceremony and rely on us for the organization of your destination wedding in Italy, We have a special package related to the paperwork assistance that includes help with the initial document proces, give information and documents checklist, make appointments with Town Hall, Interpreter service for the appointments at the Town Hall and the legal ceremony.

Feel free to contact us for additional details and information on planning your Destination wedding in Italy!

Foto Credit

<a href="https://it.freepik.com/foto-gratuito/sposo-tenendo-sposa-mano-standing-mare_1211911.htm#page=4&query=CERIMONIA%20DELLA%20SABBIA&position=9&from_view=search&track=ais#position=9&page=4&query=CERIMONIA%20DELLA%20SABBIA">Immagine di v.ivash</a> su Freepik

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