How to Plan a Traditional Italian Wedding

By eHow Weddings Editor

Rate: (8 Ratings)

In the past, many marriages were arranged by the families of the bride and groom. In the spirit of such a union, traditional Italian weddings are lengthy and elaborate feasts that celebrate the coming together of the bride's and groom's families.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Satin Bags
Wedding Gowns
Antipasto
Liquor
Wines

Step1

Include in the bride's wedding ensemble a white dress for purity, a veil to guard against the bad luck that could result should the groom see her face before the ceremony, and a satin purse that the bride can carry during the reception (as the bride comes by, guests can fill the purse with money gifts).

Step2

Plan a mass before the reception if you are having a Catholic wedding. See "How to Plan a Catholic Wedding."

Step3

Arrange to release a pair of white doves into the air following the ceremony to represent your love and happiness.

Step4

Welcome your guests to the reception with alcoholic beverages with which they can toast the newlywed couple.

Step5

Arrange a band that can play traditional Italian songs for dancing, since this is an important part of the day - be sure to include the customary dance for the bride and her father.

Step6

Astound your guests with a traditional multi-course meal, accompanied by wine. The feast begins with the antipasto, which can consist of olives, stuffed mushrooms, cheeses, salami, mortadella, calamari and prosciutto. Follow with a dinner of pasta, chicken, veal, soup, and vegetables.

Step7

Serve other light foods that will bring you good luck. These include twists of fried dough with powdered sugar and Italian wedding candy.

Step8

Provide your guests with mesh bags, each filled with an odd number of sugar-coated almonds. The guests toss the bags at the newlyweds, a practice said to represent the bitter-sweetness of life.

Step9

At the end of the day, shatter a vase or glass into many pieces - each piece is said to signify a happy year of marriage.

Comments

mammamia said

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on 6/19/2008 Well, we are Italian Americans and we just celebrated our daughter's Italian wedding. The comments from some of the rewiers were justified. Almonds are not "thrown" but are actually packaged in a little bag to give to guests. They are known as "confetti" in Italian. They symbolize the wish for fertility for the couple.

The dove launch is really American to be sure, and definitely NOT politically correct these days, as the poor doves usually lose their way after release (they are actually homing pigeons) and die from starvation. I was born in Italy and never remembered this custom in my days.

If you want a wonderful guide and music to the Italian wedding, take the advice of other reviewers and buy the Italian Wedding Music CD by the Roman Holiday Ensemble. Their booklet takes you step-by-step through Italian wedding tradition. The booklet alone is worth the price of the CD!

The m

zuszus said

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on 11/17/2007 Steps 1, 3, 7, 8 and nine are simply ridiculous. I am Italian and I've never heard about throwing the newlyweds sugared almonds. Are you crazy? That could hurt! We usually throw rice.

And what about the purse where the guests put the money in? Where did you get that from? The Godfather???

gigi27 said

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on 2/15/2007 Hi! We had an Italian American Band play at our wedding and they were absolutely fabulous! They are called We Three. You can visit their website at www.mifflinhillsmusic.com. They are from Pittsburgh, but did mention that they play throughout the tri-state area and beyond. If the band is a little out of your budget, they have 14 or 15 CD's. Their CD's offer traditional Italian music to more modern Italian music. They even have an American CD that is AWESOME! We Three was SUCH a crowd pleaser... from all of our older guests to all of our younger ones! The band even offered to play CD's, as a DJ would, when they were done performing so we didn't have to get a seperate DJ for the rest of the night.

CatarinaBella said

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on 1/16/2007 Hi, I've got to agree about the two suggestions for an Italian Wedding music CD. Unfortately, we couldn't afford an Italian band, which we would have LOVED, the the Italian Wedding CD by Roman Holiday was the next best thing. Our DJ loved it and our guests danced like crazy for the Italian portion of our wedding.

Canton Ohio Bride and Groom

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Italian syrups for soda can be an elegant and inexpensive alternative for those who don't drink alcohol. The are mixed 2 oz. with 7 oz. sparkling water and come in dozens of flavors like pear, almond, vanilla and blueberry.

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