Wedding Band Rome

felderkirk

Hi guys,

We're getting married in the Irish College in Rome in October. I'm firstly wondering if any of you got married here already and if so, where did you have the reception? We've been told that the ceremony has to take place at 11am and this would seem to make the day quite long.

We're thinking of having the reception in the Hotel Savoy and to remedy the potential problems from having the ceremony so early in the day, we kinda wanted to have the full 'at least 10 courses' Italian-style wedding but the manager tells me they don't cater for this.

So then we were then thinking of hiring a jazz combo or a string quartet to play for a couple of hours in the evening and then maybe hooking up an ipod. My main concern is that the guests might get bored from the long day.

Sorry about the long-windedness of this message! Have any of you been in a similar situation (an early wedding in Rome) and what did you do to entertain the guests?

Thanks for any responses with this,
Felderkirk...

karene

Hi Felderkirk,

I see that you got married in the Irish College. How did it go for you?
I'm getting married there next month and it's arranged for 11am as was yours..
Just wondering how was your reception at the Hotel Savoy and what did you do to fill the time as we are in the same situation. We are thinking that ceremony will be over very early and what to do with 17 guests for the day. It's just a very small wedding.

Any feedback or information would be fantastic!

Kind Regards,
Karen

felderkirk

Hi Karen,

Firstly, congratulations! I'd say you're getting very excited now! June will be lovely over there too, I'm sure you'll have an amazing day.

Your wedding sounds very similar to ours, which was small too - we had around 25 or 30 people. I remember at the time also thinking that we would have trouble filling the day and keeping the guests entertained until the meal.

We actually didn't go with the Savoy in the end - we stayed in a little town outside of Rome called Castel Gandolfo and we had the reception there. But the same situation applies - Castel Gandolfo is only around a 15-20 minute drive from Rome, so we were worried that the guests would be bored.

This sounds strange but I think it will work out similarly for you with a small wedding party. You kinda almost forget that Rome itself is an amazing setting, and the time flies by as the guests aren't just sitting around in some Irish country-house waiting for the reception to start - they're actually in the centre of Rome, right beside the Colosseum, for example. In our case, we all went back to Castel Gandolfo and sat out in the little piazza there, drinking coffee or having a slice of pizza. Because the ceremony was at 11am, it meant that everyone was up and out early. So the guests were just looking to chill out around lunch time and just catch their breath before it all kicked off again in the afternoon.

Our 'champagne reception' started at 5pm. So there were around 4 or 5 hours to kill between the ceremony and the reception. Like you, we were worried. But we found that people appreciated the time to relax and just soaked up the whole 'un-Irishness' of the situation - the Italian informality of it, or something! So the guests will find somewhere to either have a drink until your reception. You could even get the best man to find a pub near to the reception place and tell him to get everyone to stay there while you and your husband go off to get photos taken.

As an aside, re: the Irish College - it was a lovely setting but in our experience, I (the groom) turned up at around 10:30 and nothing had been prepared. My best man and I even had to go around switching all the lights on in the chapel, and we had to hunt down the priest, who had the flu and was also working the reception area of the college because the receptionist had "WORSE flu"! Basically what I'm saying to you is - don't be precious about it. Just go with the flow. "When in Rome..." and all that! You have to accept that the Italians (and Irish!) do things in a very laid-back, informal manner. Once you get into that mindset, you'll honestly have the most amazing time.


I really hope that this helps. Obviously, your wedding will probably run smoother than ours in terms of the Irish College experience but please feel free to ask me any more questions if I haven't covered anything here. Most of all though, I wish you both a great day and a very happy life together!


Keith

karene

Hi Keith,

Thanks very much for getting back to me so quickly! It sounds like you had a lovely, relaxing wedding and I enjoyed reading about it. I especially appreciate the heads up about the Irish College so at least myself and my fiance will be prepared to switch on the lights or whatever!! :-)
We've had a busy two days trawling through websites and sending emails but I think we are probably going to go with Ristorante Da Orazio for our meal and maybe Scholars pub later that evening for our post wedding party. Would you mind letting me know which photographer did you choose?

Thanks again for your help.
Kind Regards,
Karen

felderkirk

Hi again Karen,

Nice one! Ristorante Orazio looks beautiful, and we've had pints in Scholars before - it's great. I'm sure you'll have a great day and night!

The photographer guy that we chose was nice. I just checked the photographer's website and it's saying that the site is being developed, but I think you can still take a look at some of their work on the existing site. And I'm sure that the contact details for them are still functional.

Boards won't let me paste in a url here because I'm a 'new member' apparently (I've been a member for 4 years, lads?!), but here's an edited variation of the photographer's url - you might just need to delete the spaces to paste it in your browser, if ya get me?
www. fotogioberti. com

Anyway, it's a photography studio and they were very professional and quick. They've done lots of weddings for Italians and non-natives, so the guy who dealt with us (Patrizio) was well used to it. Our wedding was on a Friday and we went to pick up our prints on the Saturday afternoon - it was really convenient and quick. Their office is right in the centre of Rome - near Termini train station from what I recall.

I've also found a Word document with his price list on it. It might have changed in the 3.5 years since we got married but I'll just paste here what he quoted us:

' PRICELIST WEDDING IN ROME YEAR 2011

Wedding Photographer at ceremony (A minimum of 30 photographs is required) € 300,00
Extras
10 colour photographs (1 Roman location) plus CD € 100,00
20 colour photographs (2 Roman locations) plus CD € 200,00
30 colour photographs (3 Roman locations) plus CD € 250,00
Black & White photographs, minimum of 10 € 100,00
Each additional colour photograph € 6,00


DVD
DVD of wedding ceremony € 300,00
Extras
DVD (1 Roman location) € 100,00
DVD (2 Roman locations) € 150,00
DVD (3 Roman locations) € 200,00
Duplicate in DVD € 52,00

Additional charges when photographs are required for collection on the same day or on Sundays
Extra cost for printing of the photographs € 00,00
Extra cost for editing of the DVD € 00,00

ALL PRICES WILL BE AN ADDICTION OF 20% OF VAT.'


As I said above, the place was so handy and convenient for us, and Patrizio spoke perfect English. Really took any stress away for how we were going to organise getting the prints (I thought it'd take weeks), and the quality of the photographs were just as good as anything you'd get over here. Plus, their prices were so much better than what Irish photographers would charge.

Anyway, I'm waffling. Again, if there's anything else you need, just give me a shout.


Thanks,
Keith

chocfan

Hi Karene

I didn't get married in Rome but I love the city (have been there five times) and couldn't resist reading about your plans as I'd love to be invited to a wedding there sometime!

Just wanted to tell you I've been to Orazios three times and it's incredible. My sister's friend used to live in Rome and she brought us there the first time, then we went for my Dad's 60th and I went another time with my now husband. It's the most gorgeous restaurant with a beautiful terrace and gardens around it. The food is amazing and the waiters are all really old school Italian and so charming! I think they do a lot of Irish wedding celebrations and I can certainly see why-I can't imagine you'd be disappointed with going there

Good luck with it all!