Get Paid Over $2,000 to Get Married in This Iconic Italian Region

You can spend the money on a cake, food, vendors, or anything else for your wedding.

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Getting married is expensive, no matter where you have your wedding. But, destination weddings can be incredibly pricey and are often considered out of reach for most couples. But the capital region of Italy, Lazio, has an incentive that might tempt even the most budget-minded pairs to think about going abroad for their wedding or civil union.

The region, home to the city of Rome, is offering couples who get married in Lazio €2,000 (about $2,214) that they can put toward wedding expenses. Time Out reports that in recent years, the number of weddings that happen in the region each year has dropped from 15,000 to 9,000. By offering this money for couples to put toward their big day, Lazio officials are hoping it will pay off in bringing more tourist dollars to a region in desperate need of it. After two years of a pandemic that hit Italy particularly hard, this program has a fund of €10 million to bring back businesses to industries most affected.

To take advantage of this offer, you'll have to fill out a form on Lazio's official website. The entire page is written in Italian, so this might be a bit tricky. If you don't have anyone in your life that could help you translate, Google offers a rough translation of the page. Italian couples and foreign couples are eligible to apply. You'll have until January 31, 2023, or when the funds run out to submit your application.

You can use the funds toward any expenses from businesses based in the Lazio region that are relevant to your wedding or civil union. This ranges from cakes and catering to wedding rings and ceremony spaces. The program will basically reimburse you for money spent up to €2,000 as long as you have receipts proving the transaction happened in person at a business in Lazio.

If you've been looking for a sign that you should get married in Italy, this is a giant one!

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Opheli Garcia Lawler is a staff writer at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @opheligarcia and Instagram @opheligarcia.