Programme & travel
Everything you need for the day.
One building, one evening, no transfers. Below: the hour-by-hour, how to reach Venice, where to stay, and what to wear.
Saturday, 19 September
The day, in order.
Arrival
From 16:15. The water gate is on the canal side; the street entrance is through the courtyard on Calle Contarini. Someone will be there to point you in.
The ceremony
17:00 in the courtyard. Twenty minutes, in English and Romanian. Please be seated by ten to — the doors do close.
Aperitivo
17:30 on the loggia, overlooking the canal. This is the part with the best light, if you were planning on photographs.
Dinner
19:30 in the piano nobile. One long table, seating plan on the door. Four courses, two speeches, both mercifully short.
Dancing
22:00 until late. The floor is stone and the evening is long — this is the argument for the flat shoes mentioned below.
Boats home
00:30 and 01:30 from the water gate, to San Marco and Piazzale Roma. Free, and the last one is genuinely the last one.
Practical
The things people will otherwise text us about.
Getting to Venice
Marco Polo is 40 minutes by water taxi, 25 by bus to Piazzale Roma. Treviso is cheaper and an hour further. Book the water taxi ahead — on a Saturday in September you will not find one on the day.
Getting to the palazzo
Vaporetto line 1 to San Tomà, then four minutes on foot. There are two bridges and forty-one steps, so tell us in your RSVP if that is a problem and we will arrange a boat.
Where to stay
We hold rooms at two hotels in San Polo, five minutes away, until 1 July. Details go out with your RSVP confirmation. Anywhere in San Polo or Dorsoduro is walkable.
What to wear
Black tie. Venice in September is warm until sunset and cool after — bring something for your shoulders. Flat or block heels; the whole city is stone and you will be walking on it.
Children
We would love to have yours there for the ceremony and aperitivo. Dinner is adults only, and there is a sitter at one of the hotels we have booked. Say so in your RSVP and we will connect you.
Photographs
Please keep phones away during the ceremony — we have paid someone rather good to do exactly that. Afterwards, take as many as you like.