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Hi folks, I just got back from my honeymoon, and my husband and I are still reeling from the trip.   The highlight of the honeymoon to Italy was our ability to receive a papal blessing, in person, from the Pope!

There is a little known thing as Sposi Novelli tickets to the weekly Papal Audience the Pope holds in Vatican City.  The rules are that if you are having a Catholic Wedding Ceremony in a Roman Catholic Church and you are visiting Rome within two months of the ceremony you can ask your Diocese to send a request for newleywed tickets to the Papal Audience.  You get to sit up in the dais and if you are in the front row, the pope will greet you and grant you a blessing.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me about the details.  I figured you guys would want to know about it.

Oh wow...how amazing is that?

It was both amazing and awesome.  What's funny is I've never considered myself a die-hard Catholic, although I have always practiced my faith.  However meeting the Pope in person, you just feel so calm and he's so sweet and seems like a genuinely good person.  It's surreal.

Congrats-that's so exciting!!

Tanya, they have professional photogs that work for the Vatican special events.  We were allowed to take pictures during the papal audience but were asked to put away our cameras as the Pope approached.

Tulipday, if you are getting married in a Roman Catholic Church there are only a few steps involved.

1. Find out which Tuesday and Wednesday you can be Rome/Vatican City.
2. Go to your church or their Arch Diocese and ask them to put in a request for sposi novelli (newlywed) tickets to the papal audience for that date.
3. You should receive a letter confirming that tickets will be held for you at the US Bishop's office, the Tuesday prior for pick-up.
4. Make arrangements to travel with your wedding clothes, or something else suitable.  I bought a 2nd wedding dress from Target's clearance center for $50, and a blazer for my hubby at Kohls.  You should note that appropriate dress is required i.e. no bare shoulders, arms, legs, etc.
5. After the wedding, ask the pastor/priest to write a small note, declaring that he did marry you, the date and church.  Take it with you on your trip.
6. Be sure to pick up your tickets the day before the Papal Audience.
7. Arrive at the South Gate the day of at around 6:30 am and bring provisions.  They open the gates at 8am but there is no orderly process.  People push and crowd cause everyone wants the best seats.
8. When the gates open get through security as quickly as possible and run like crazy to the left (which should leave you on the south side of the Dais), with your tickets and documentation.  Don't worry if you get separated your spouse can hold a place for you. Only the people seated in the front row can meet the Pope.

We arrived at 6:35 and there were already 3 other couples ahead of us.  More showed up afterwards.  My husband is luckily much faster than I am (I even wore sneakers and changed into shoes once up on the Dais), and was able to save the last set of seats in the front row for us.

Good luck it is an amazing experience.

He is totally cute.  I wanted to give him a big hug, especially since it was his birthday the following day (4/17).  However I'm pretty sure security would have come down on me real quick if I tried to get any closer.

Wow that is amazing!!  Now I wish we were going on a honeymoon!! I love it!!   This would be the highlight of my life!!

It was very special.  THere were many people there of all denominations, backgrounds.  The pope has a large German following, since he's German and there were lots of them there, although some of them must have been Lutheran.

 Arobb - we were so nervous.  You don't know what to say or what to call him.   He spoke to us first since we were so awestruck!  We kissed his hand, and thanked him a lot. 

Slicey, yes it's the same thing.  My husband's tuxedo was rented so we got him a blazer, and I was afraid to travel with my wedding dress so I got a second one from target.  We were up on the dais with him and there were about 12-15 other couples.  If you can go to Vatican City within two months of your wedding I recommend it.

I'm really late to this board, but that's awesome!  What a great experience!

@KLP2010:  We had decent sized budget to work with, and we worked with a travel agent that had personally travelled to all those cities and was able to find us hotels that were nice, convient and walkable.  We spent 15 full days in Italy and visited 5 cities Milan (2 days), Venice (3 days), Florence (3 days), Amalfi (3 days), and Rome (5 days).  If I could do it again I would have done fewer cities, and spent more time in Florence and Rome.

With regards to the Papal blessing, yes if you are in the front row you are guaranteed a personal blessing from the pope.  To get in the front row of the special newlywed seating you must be up bright and early and make it to the Vatican gates by 5:30 am.  Then you have to run as fast as you can after making it past security.  The pope did greet some (if not all) of the other couples that didn't make first row.  It was hard to tell since security wouldn't let us dawdle.

Good luck with your up coming wedding, and all the wedding and honeymoon planning.  If you have any further questions please message me.