The Wedding Program for your Marriage in Italy

Wedding program or wedding booklet?

It is likely that Italians do not know what a wedding program is. You have surely heard about the booklet for the religious ceremony and for the civil one, without having ever seen a wedding program.
It is a very common instrument for foreign newlyweds who choose to get married abroad. It can become an element to add to your wedding stationery and it is going to help your guests to be guided and to have all the information to participate to the wedding without going mad.
We already created some of them and now, we want to explain you what it is and how to realize it in detail.

What is the wedding program?

The main difference with the booklet for the ceremony, either civil or religious, is in the content.
The wedding program includes logistical information as a wedding day schedule. It is used to help guests, friends and relatives to understand the organization of the day, or days, dedicated to your wedding. It is basically an informative instrument, but it can become one of the emotional elements of your wedding stationery, with invitations, announcements, seating chart and escort card.
Maybe it is less touching than a booklet for the ceremony, but it could be a souvenir to keep and a perfect way to remember your wedding day, as well.

It is useful to help your guests to understand how the day will develop and to give indications on customs and habits, if your wedding would be celebrated in a foreign country.

You need it if:

• you have chosen a foreign country for your wedding;
• your guests arrive from far away;
• you are the kind of newlyweds who “everything has to be perfect, nothing left up to chance”.

How to realize you wedding program

The structure is very similar to that of the booklet for ceremonies. It can be an A4 paper folded in two parts or it can have a particular structure and an unusual graphic. For example, it can be square, bind with a ribbon, round, long and narrow or whatever your fantasy would suggest!

The contents of the wedding program

First of all, we have to talk about the style. Each element of the wedding stationery has to be coordinated, follow the same theme to be recognized by your guests and give a sense of continuity and coherence to the great event. Therefore, also the program will follow the style of the wedding suite to create a “unique” style which will identify the couple.

Also the wedding program has a cover, a back cover and a series of inner pages divided according to the theme. Sometimes, there are other elements to complete the information, so a single paper with the essential details and schedules will be sufficient (a simple timetable).
Let’s see the complete contents in detail. You have to know what you could insert and what is not relevant.

The cover
It will contain the names of the newlyweds, the date (or dates, since many people who decide to get married in Italy, want to take advantage of their journey of several days and organize trips and visits) and the place of the wedding.

The inside
Inside the wedding program, you will insert all the information you think could be useful for your guests:

• Facts on the ceremony. The same facts you are going to insert on announcements: names of the newlyweds, date, place of the ceremony and schedules. Your names and wedding date could be written on the cover.
• Details on the ceremony. A sort of outline of the day. Which ritual you have chosen? Who will celebrate? Will songs and readings take place? Who are going to read or interpret them? Then, you could add the entire celebration and vows.
• Details on the wedding procession (if applicable). In order to avoid confusion, it is better to inform the invites of it and its order.
• In a separate part, you can insert:
  • schedules, gathering places (if applicable) and places of ceremony and reception,
  • who will organize the trips,
  • the directions to reach the place of the ceremony and that of the reception,
  • telephone numbers of the wedding planner or of who organizes the trips.
• You could also add practical information on the town, with its customs and traditions, places to visit and all that your guests could need (for example, if you will be in Tuscany, you could provide them a list of wineries to visit).

Use the last page or the back cover to leave a message to thank everyone, an inscription, a phrase or a quote that you love.

When deliver the wedding program to your guests?

It could be different in relation to the organization of your wedding. If all your guests stay in the same hotel, you could deliver the program in their rooms, maybe in a wedding bag to welcome them, so you can’t forget anyone and all of them will have the program in time, especially if you have considered transfers.
Otherwise, you could deliver it at the place of the ceremony, but only if everyone will find it easily.

All the elements of the wedding stationery, that includes invitations, place card, cards, offers endless possibilities.
In our experience, we have always seen different things, even if many themes and styles were similar. Everything depends on the amount of personality you are going to put in each detail of your wedding.