1. Our Community is Orthodox and so is our Rabbi and we follow the Sephardic minhag. There is no problem, however, about people of any minhag wishing to get married in our Community.
We have five Synagogues. Schola Spagnola, Schola Levantina, Schola Italiana, Schola Tedesca, Schola Canton. These Synagogues are all in the Ghetto. The wedding ceremony can be celebrated:
During the summer: in the Schola Spagnola which is a Sephardic Synagogue;
During the winter: in the Schola Levantina which is a Sephardic Synagogue.
Both are Sephardic Synagogues and date late 1600s.

2. There are no specific rules regarding the use of any of our Synagogues, apart from those deriving from their being Orthodox. During the wedding however, women are dispensed from the use of the women’s gallery: men and women are allowed to stand sit, in the Synagogue hall, on opposite sides.

3. Guests are permitted to attend the service according to the bride and bridegroom’s choice.

4. The ceremony is performed in Hebrew, like the local use. Any change of the ceremony has to be concordate and approved by the Chief Rabbi.

5. We provide the Chuppah (an ancient and precious one) a silver Kiddush cup, from our ancient collection, too, and the glass to be broken at the end of the ceremony.

6. We provide a printed Ketubbah.

7. The date of the wedding should be fixed in agreement with our Rabbi, also to avoid those periods of the year when, by Jewish Law, the ceremony cannot take place and any other possible impediment.

8. It is customary to arrange a Kiddush for the wedding-guests in our Community Center, which is just a few steps from any of the five Synagogues.
The hall, there, can hold 100 people and as many the adjoining garden. It is possible to arrange for a Kosher Kiddush. Fees would vary depending on number of people invited and on the kind of food etc.

9.   fee is € 5.000,00 (5.000,00 Euros) which include:

• the service
• in the Synagogue of the Rabbi and Hazan
• halachic control and verification of documents (see N. 10)
• use the Mikvé
• printed ketubah
• preparation of the Chuppah
• preparation of the Chuppah
• cleaning of the Synagogue before and after the service
• security service at the entrance of the Synagogue throughout the service
• use of the Community Center Hall, mail and telephone or fax expenses, etc.

10. As to halachic matters, which are within the sole province of our Rabbi, Rav Elia Richetti, the following are the documents to be produced:

11. The marriage celebrated in our Synagogue is religious. We are not authorized to celebrate civil marriages other than with Italian citizens. The couple should then provide for that by themselves, either in Venice or in their own country.

12. Our own Rav and the Hazan act as witnesses. Witnesses, in any case, must be shomerei mitzvoth.

13. As to the miqwe, the bride-to-be can perform the mitzvah here or in her own Community; in this latter case, she should produce a certificate, dated not more than four days before the wedding-ceremony, attesting that the mitzvah was performed.