Elopement or Destination wedding, the legal side of things

As we state on our website, our ceremonies are purely symbolic, meaning that they have no legal value. The issue here is that due to the enormous paperwork, complex regulations and translation issues in a foreign country, we suggest couples have their marriage executed legally at home before travelling to their European city of choice to fully celebrate their love. Our specialty is the celebration of love, but not the paperwork. You can see Pierre explaining this in this video.

There are a few countries in Europe that are fortunate exceptions where foreigners can have a civil ceremony officially registered. A specialist, not included in our packages, will book the city hall and work out all the paperwork for you including all the admin and the translation issues. As an example of costs in Italy, for instance, a civil ceremony in downtown Rome, Florence or Venice would be 4,000 euros. In a beautiful village outside a major city the cost drops to an average of 2,500 euros, depending on the location. Those prices include translations of all paperwork, all interactions with you, all the interactions with your embassy, all the interaction with the city hall. They also include booking the city hall for the legal ceremony and booking the mayor and interpreter to attend the ceremony. Please bear in mind that this process takes around 3 months No short cuts here.

Should you wish to go that route we can put you in touch directly with the specialist in charge.

So please bear in mind that legal ceremonies are not what we do: our packages provide a completely different, more personalized experience. But of course, you can have both: a legal ceremony at home before you travel – and then a more personal and meaningful symbolic exchange of vows with Love Gracefully to fully celebrate your love in a way that’s unique to you in an inspirational and gorgeous setting.

Religious aspect

As we state on our website, our ceremonies are totally personalized. They can be spiritual or secular. They are designed to be a space within which we can find an expression of your own beliefs. Any believer in any God is welcome and so is any atheist.

In that sense, Love Gracefully is a secular company that embraces all beliefs and all non-beliefs. But our officiants are not priests, imams, or rabbis.

Should you want a religious ceremony we can, depending on the city, direct you to a local church. It’s worth bearing in mind though that many European priests do not speak English.

So if you’re looking for a ceremony in Europe that uniquely mirrors your beliefs, we recommend you let us know, and together with Love Gracefully, create a deeply spiritual ceremony celebrated in an exquisite location.

What other couples say about us

Anyone can tell you how good their services are but nothing speaks more powerfully than what former customers say about their experience. That’s why we strongly invite you to read all the comments from couples that trusted us on Facebook here or watch their video testimonies on youtube here.

Weather issues

We do understand that you may be concerned about the possibility of inclement weather and since we usually work outdoors, we have the expertise on what to do in case of rain; we spend a lot of time looking at weather forecasts. And after more than 1000 ceremonies, here is our approach:

1. It’s an issue to take seriously;
2. Weather forecasts are often not very accurate;
3. Best to wait 48 to 24 hours before the big day to make a final call on what to do;
4. We always have a plan B, protected from the weather, ready to go.
5. If it’s raining just a little we can wait for it to stop
6. If the weather is extremely bad we are flexible and we can try to move the ceremony to another time or day (providing vendors and officiant are available).

It’s also worth mentioning that private indoor venues are available as an extra to your package. Just ask us and we’ll send you details of these charming locations in your city of choice.

Payment installments explained

In order to confirm your booking with us and for us to book the different vendors for your ceremony, we ask for a deposit by credit card on our user-friendly payment system. Recommend link to payment here. The amount will vary depending on the package you book. It’s only once that deposit is received that the process officially starts with us. That deposit will, of course, be deducted from your final payment. For the rest of the payment, 50% will be due once we have written your ceremony. The second 50% (minus the deposit of course) will be required no later than 15 days before the ceremony. Contact us.

Wedding planner service

The term “wedding planner service” that you’ll see included in all our packages except the basic one means that there will be a human being working to make your ceremony perfect for you – a person with all the expertise and experience required. And that that person will be available to you 24/7 to answer your questions.

On top of answering all your questions & sharing their knowledge of all the local issues, the wedding planner’s job is also to coordinate with all the different vendors.

However, our free wedding planner service only delivers the package and extras you have chosen with us. For example, we don’t book your hotels or flights. That’s beyond our remit.

But of course, if you want your wedding planner to do more than what’s included in your package and extras, our job is to bring you the ceremony details you want and we will happily endeavour to provide that service for an additional fee.

Guests

All your guests are welcome to attend our ceremonies. We put a limit of 30 guests as our outdoors location have a limit on numbers. Above 30 guests is possible but our price and costs might change. Ask us for more details..

No hidden fees

The prices listed on our packages are all-inclusive and are the total that you pay. There are no hidden fees. Since we’re based in Europe, all our prices are in Euros and include VAT.

Visit our destinations pages for details of packages in : France, Paris, the French Riviera, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, Monaco, Greece and Portugal.

Should you want any extra services, that’s totally possible at an extra cost.
Should you wish our services in a city that is not in our listing, you’ll need to add an extra 300 euros for traveling fees. But bear in mind that we can’t travel everywhere. Contact us and we will tell you where we can go.

If you decide to stay in a hotel that is really far from the location of your ceremony and would like to have a hair and makeup artist come to your hotel, an extra traveling fee may be incurred.