Wedding Bells in the Distance. The Far Distance.

So the million dollar question right now from friends and family is "Have you set the date?" The answer is no.

We're thinking of waiting to have the actual ceremony for two years for a few reasons.

1.) We are both still in school right now and want to focus on finishing up and starting our careers before we start a marriage.
2.) Money. We don't have much of it, and I hear you need some to finance a wedding. Especially when...
3.) We want to get married in Venice. Travel is a huge passion for us both, and we can't think of a better way to share that passion with our closest family and friends. Or a prettier backdrop for an intimate wedding.

So yeah. The plan is to get married in Venice in two years. Neither of us have ever been interested in having a big production wedding, so we'd really like to limit our guest list to 24 or less close friends and family members for the actual ceremony in Italy. The guest list will honestly be the hardest part for us. I wish that we could invite everyone, but since we can't, we do plan on having a larger reception in the States when we get back.

So we're giving ourselves two years. Two years to plan, two years to save, two years to get through all the paperwork and two years to learn Italian on a semi-proficient level. (PS- if anyone has a copy of Rosetta Stone Italian lying around, let me know. I'm desperate for a copy.)

I've been to Italy, but neither of us have ever been to Venice, so we're thinking about going with a Wedding Planning Service. We've been looking at a few and reading reviews from other Americans that married abroad, and so far the company we like the best is Regency, http://www.weddingsitaly.com/venice-wedding/. There are things like photographers, hair/make-up, flowers that we want to just get on our own, but it would be really helpful for a company like this to help plan things with ceremony and lodging accommodations, as well as all the paperwork to make the marriage legal. I wrote to them yesterday to find out what they can offer and for what price, so I'm anxious to hear back.