The green heart of Italy, a landlocked country of wooded hills, medieval stone towns, and a deep quiet that Tuscany, just next door, has largely traded away. An Umbrian wedding offers much of what draws people to Tuscany, the hill towns, the long tables, the light, at a gentler pace and a gentler price, with Assisi and Orvieto standing in for the crowds.
Italy recognises civil unions, not same-sex marriage, so a same-sex wedding in Umbria is a symbolic ceremony, and couples make the legal marriage at home or in a marriage-equality country (nearby Spain or Portugal are common). Opposite-sex couples can hold a legally binding civil marriage here. Either way, the celebration is yours; only the paperwork has a postcode.
It is a quieter cousin of the Tuscan wedding, and the resemblance is not an accident, since the two regions share a border and a look. Couples take a hilltop villa or a small castle, often for several days, and the weekend fills with welcome dinners, slow lunches, and a ceremony as the light softens over the valleys. The difference is in the volume: fewer crowds, lower prices, and a landscape that stays green through the summer while Tuscany turns gold.
Three corners of the region pull in slightly different directions. None is more correct than another; they are simply moods. The three below are the ones worth knowing first.
We are mapping Umbria sub-area by sub-area, from Assisi to Perugia to Orvieto. Be first as each one opens, with the honest legal notes that come with it.
The quiz reads your taste and points you to the regions, and the kind of ceremony, that fit you.