FCI 003 – Getting Engaged In Italy With Georgette Jupe

Ahhh, Firenze! What could be more romantic than getting engaged in Italy, right? The perfect place to propose to the love of your life. What a great memory!

Well, yes, but it might take a little planning. After all, you wouldn’t necessarily want a gaggle of Japanese tourists staring at you and taking photos of your special moment. Could be awkward if you suddenly became more picture-worthy than the statue of David in the Piazza della Signoria.

Never fear, my friend Georgette Jupe (aka “The Girl in Florence”) has all you Romeos covered. She has positioned herself as the online version of a crash-test dummy, making all the little missteps and battling with the Italian bureaucracy so that you don’t have to.

You see, Georgette recently got engaged to her boyfriend and fellow expat Nico. But Nico is from France, not the US, so her world is truly international, making the entire wedding process that much trickier. So yes, while Nico’s family is in France and Georgette’s in Texas, they’ve decided to get married later this year in their adoptive hometown of Florence. I’m sure it’s going to be a great wedding, and I couldn’t be happier for them both.

Georgette and I have been friends and co-conspirators in an Italy blogger group called COSÌ for over a year now. We also both had the privilege to attend TBDI (Travel Blogger Destination Italy) in Rimini last October where we met with travel industry influencers, and shared social media tips over shellfish and white wine in the seaside town of Cesenatico.

But enough about us. More importantly, what can YOU learn in this episode?

Getting Engaged in Italy

In the podcast, Georgette gives lots of great suggestions regarding the perfect romantic location to pop the big “domanda.” In fact, on her blog she’s narrating the entire process in an ongoing series, with the title and hashtag #MyTuscanWedding, so that you can follow along step by step on Twitter. The first of these posts, Where to Propose in Florence, coincidentally (or not) aligns perfectly with this podcast.

A Reader’s Question

Coincidentally (and this time I mean it), a reader of my blog sent me a wedding related question about a day or two after my interview with Georgette. Since it’s probably something that others have wondered about, I thought I’d share it here:

“A distant relative in Italy daughter is getting married in June.  What is the common practice for acknowledging it if you cannot be there?”

Georgette’s answer:

We actually covered this in ITALY Magazine here:

https://www.italymagazine.com/news/how-reply-wedding-invitation

The general protocol is that when you receive a formal invitation with an RSVP indication, you are required to let the sender of the invitation know, as soon as possible, if you will be attending the ceremony and send a written reply.

A reader (Margaret) offered this simple and concise alternative:

Gentilissimi (name of the bride + name of the groom),

Siamo davvero dispiaciuti di non poter partecipare al vostro matrimonio.

(signature)

Georgette Jupe

I would like to give a big “GRAZIE” once again to Georgette for generously sharing all her suggestions with me. (*NOTE* <a href="https://itunes.