Real Weddings Archive

Marry Me in Tuscany was delighted to be asked to be the wedding planner for a 25th anniversary wedding vow renewal ceremony in beautiful Siena on the 11th of April.

Jon first contacted me a few weeks before their arrival as he’d had no luck locating a little chapel that would be perfect for the wedding vow renewal ceremony he was trying to organize as a surprise for his wife Nancy, such a thoughtful and romantic gesture that after 25 years together he wanted to celebrate their marriage and their family.

The great thing about my job is that I know where the little gems are and so the wheels were set in motion for their ceremony, pulling together my fabulous team to make sure they had a wonderful day, a wedding celebrant, photographer, flowers and transport.

Jon & Nancy with their daughter Amanda were travelling to Siena to visit their daughter Julia who had fallen in love with Siena on a previous trip and is now studying in this beautiful city so it was easy for Jon to arrange little surprises for Nancy along the way, their first stop was in France where Julia went up to meet them as a surprise for Nancy and Amanda and then they headed down to Siena to stay at the Grand Continental Hotel.

The morning of the ceremony the weather was just awful, thunder storms and heavy rain, so plan B was looking like it was going to be needed, but with the help of my twitter #sundance friends around the world we managed to coax the sun out for them in the afternoon.

Amy the fab wedding photographer from Imag1ne went to meet the family at 4.30pm and took them into Piazza Del Campo for some photos there before they were whisked away to Montestigliano to the small beautiful chapel which had been beautifully decorated with floral compositions of roses and hydrangeas and lots of candles to create a wonderful intimate setting for what was to be a very emotional ceremony.

As I sat at the back of the chapel and witnessed this very intimate family ceremony where Jon & Nancy renewed there wedding vows and had their rings blessed there were a few tears of pure joy to see such a united beautiful family express their love for each other and laughter when Nancy tried to put Jon’s new ring on the wrong finger!

I am so grateful to Jon & Nancy and their girls for allowing me to share their magical moment and hope that they have amazing memories of their very special celebration here in Tuscany. I hope that they have even more happy years of wedded bliss and hope to see them back again to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary as I’m sure that Siena and Montestigliano will always be a very special place for them.

Here are some beautiful images of the day taken by Amy … I hope you enjoy them.

Jackie x

 

 

 

 

 

Marry Me in Tuscany was delighted to be asked to be the wedding planner for Erin & Pio who got married in Casole D’Elsa a quaint hilltop Tuscan town, last September.

Erin first contacted me last February to ask if I would help her organize her September wedding and of course I was really happy to say yes…. especially as I’d met Erin’s mum and dad (Wendy & Craig) the year before at Paige & Jason’s wedding, sadly they weren’t able to come back as they’ve just had a baby girl but Linda & Ken (Paige’s mum and dad) were coming and I just knew that with the Canadian’s heading back into town we were in for another fabulous wedding.

During the planning process as is usually the way I got to know Erin quite well and was really excited when she sent me a photo of her shoes, she was certainly going for the “something blue” with a pair of these gorgeous Blue Satin Manolo Blahnik Pumps!

Aren’t they just the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever seen??  Sadly I didn’t manage to snaffle them and please don’t worry you’ll be seeing more photos of those later..

To compliment them Erin chose a beautiful bouquet of white hydrangeas and small delicate pink roses tied with a blue ribbon to match her gorgeous shoes.

Erin & Pio brought their family and friends together from Canada & Ireland for a week of celebrations, with a hen do, stag do, rehearsal dinner and lots and lots of “sampling” of delicious local Chianti wine thrown in for good measure and all in the name of research for the wedding dinner you understand, well it would be rude to come all that way and not to really! When in Chianti and all that!

They stayed at Villa Catignano just a few kilometres from Siena, a fabulous wedding venue and a great place to stay, Sofia and her family are so welcoming and will do everything to make sure that your stay with them is enjoyable and full of wonderful memories. Erin & Pio rented the impressive 17^th century villa for their friends and family, as you can imagine the rooms are very spacious and with frescoed ceilings in some of the rooms you’ll certainly feel like royalty staying there.

And so, the wedding day finally arrived it was a very sunny and incredibly hot day in September. I arrived at the Villa as Erin was getting her hair and make-up done and she looked absolutely stunning in her gorgeous “Demetrios” gown.  Andrea the photographer really enjoyed photographing her, she’s gorgeous and so photogenic, there were times during the day when I had to remind him to snap the groom too!

I have to say that Pio brushes up quite well too, in this photo he looks almost Italian, a truly gorgeous couple,  I can’t wait to see the children!

 

Pio set off with his guests on the coach for the 40 minute drive to Casole D’Elsa, this beautiful little hilltop town is found perched on top of the rolling Tuscan Hills over looking the Val D’Elsa valley and on warm sunny days you can see for miles. It’s just 40km from Florence and 25km from Siena, and not too far from Monteriggioni and Colle Val D’Elsa.

Erin & Pio had decided that they would prefer to get married in a quieter little town rather than Siena which is closer to the villa and wanted countryside views and not too many tourists and Casole fits the bill perfectly for that.  Italians love weddings and so you’ll always get lookers on but in Casole the locals sat on the benches outside the town hall and admired the happy couple from a far.

This impressive building below is the “Rocca” the town hall which dates back to the 14^th century and is where Erin & Pio tied the knot, not bad for a sleepy little town is it?

Erin arrived with her dad before Pio and the guests guess she was keen to get married and despite setting off at least 20 minutes after the coach we still managed to arrive before Pio and the guests…oops!  So we sent her off round the block while the guests got the lift up to the town square. And so with everyone where they should be a few more photos before heading inside we were ready to start and Erin walked in on her dad’s arm while her brother Collin played “I’ll love you to the end” by the Pogues on guitar and his girlfriend Shay sang.

The mood was set and after a very moving ceremony where even I was caught with a lump in my throat, Erin and Pio were declared united in matrimony…

After the ceremony they were treated to a celebratory drink courtesy of the town hall…and they got to take their local crystal flutes home with them, I hope they made the long journey back to Canada via Ireland.

And just in case you’re missing those shoes here they are again…this photo really needs a caption, what do you think Erin is saying to Pio…?

After the wedding ceremony, the guests gathered outside for some photos, I always thought that grooms needed a bit of Dutch courage before the ceremony but Pio’s hip flask certainly caused a few laughs as he showed it to Erin after the wedding ceremony.. not sure how much whisky was left..but I’m guessing not much!

And so after more photos I led the guests back down to the bus, Pio & Erin headed off with Andrea to get some more photos around Casole and then stopping off on the way back to get some photos in the beautiful Tuscan countryside.

And not forgetting those shoes..

Meanwhile back at Villa Catignano the guests tucked into the aperitivo in the lovely Italian gardens while waiting for Erin & Pio to come back.

Erin and Pio made their way through the beautiful Italian gardens to join their guests

Then it was time for a few more proseccos and photos before heading into the courtyard for dinner the beautiful white lanterns with white roses and voile candles set the atmosphere perfectly.

As Kaner the bestman announced the new Mr & Mrs Lynch..Pio and Erin came running into the courtyard, I take my hat off to Erin for even attempting this in those shoes… but I Love this photo of the two of them, it shows what a fun couple they are and I’m sure you’ll agree from the photos that they are very much in love. Thank you both for letting me be part of your beautiful Tuscan Wedding.  J x

Photo credits:

• Andrea Pitti

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marry Me In Tuscany pulled off an absolutely perfect wedding last Sunday for Abbie & Alex at a secret location in Tuscany. Abbie had booked her wedding venue before contacting me and having never visited Tuscany before gave me the brief that she wanted a small chapel in a country location for her wedding.

Not a tall order at all you may think, Tuscany is just beautiful rolling green hills but Tuscany is the size of Wales and just as diverse, with the seaside, mountains for skiing, lakes woods and a few rolling green hills,  the picture postcard Tuscany that most people associate with it has been so cleverly advertised, who hasn’t seen a photo of these famous trees at some time when looking at calenders and images of Tuscany? The problem is that the Val D’Orica where most of these images come from is over an hour away from the place they were staying near the coast.

As lovers of the countryside it was important to them that they had a country wedding where the emphasis was on the beautiful countryside oh and a cute little chapel too! I initially sent Abbie some ideas but unfortunately even the little tiny Tuscan villages weren’t what she was hoping for so the search was on to find what became affectionately known as “the moon on the stick” venue.

After some searching and pulling in favours from friends I eventually found it, an absolute gem, a gorgeous little hamlet with a beautiful little chapel that would be perfect for Abbie & Alex and their 12 guests, secluded, surrounded by countryside and fabulous views. A place that is so special I thought Abbie was going to cry with joy when she saw it for the first time when they popped over for a quick visit to check it out.

The wedding plans continued over the months leading up to the wedding, and the week before the wedding Abbie popped over with her lovely mum Pauline for hair and make up trials and to finalize the flowers for the wedding ceremony and wedding dinner. While she was out here, Pauline was caught whispering to me about a couple of surprises that they’d like to arrange for Abbie & Alex, fortunately the secrets stayed secret as one of these was that Anne & Fred close family friends wanted to organize a couple of doves that they could set free when they came out of church, I’m no bird lover I have to say, but I found some doves in a beautiful white heart shaped basket, some helium for the balloons and some rose petals for the confetti, have to say that was the easiest one to arrange!

On the day of the wedding, I met Matteo who handed over the doves, assured me that they wouldn’t escape in the car while I was driving, my main concern was that one of them would kick the bucket on the way there as it was so hot  and then we’d have a comedy moment where the poor thing is launched and then immediately hits the ground, but they arrived in one piece although I’m not sure they appreciated my taste in music which was turned up so I couldn’t hear them cooing!

The little convoy set out from Siena to the “moon on the stick” venue and where we waited for Abbie and her mum to arrive as they were being driven over in style from Conti San Bonifacio wine resort where they were staying and where they would be holding the wedding celebrations later that evening.

Laurence & Salvatore set about making Abbie & Pauline look a million dollars and Silvia worked her magic with the flowers in the chapel and Bridget & Simona were in the kitchen preparing a scrumptious  light lunch that would be served after the ceremony. Amy the fab photog arrived and started snapping away and then the lovely Aldo, a talented pianist arrived followed by the wedding celebrant which completed the team for the day.

How gorgeous does the chapel look? Glorious white hydrengeas with varigated ivy transformed these majestic candelabras, the overall effect was stunning.

The wedding ceremony was at 1pm so right on time Alex arrived with they’re guests including 98 year old gran a remarkable old girl that travelled with the family to see Abbie & Alex get married, after a quick loo stop and they all headed into the little chapel where they were serenaded by Aldo with Nessun Dorma, although there was no danger of any of the guests sleeping while they waited for Abbie.

Abbie came into the chapel looking absolutely stunning in her lace wedding dress & Jimmy Choo’s to the lovely piece “Ballarde pour Adeline” and was accompanied by her uncle John who was giving her away, and once she reached the alter Pauline placed Abbie’s hand in Alex’s.

As I closed the chapel doors to stop the sunlight spoiling the photos, outside we set about laying the table in front of the chapel for the drinks and lunch after the ceremony, the tall cypress trees provided lots of wonderful shade which would keep everyone cool during lunch. I collected the doves from their safe hiding place and put them outside the church hoping that the family cat wouldn’t get them before Abbie & Alex had a chance to set them free.

When I finally went back into the chapel there wasn’t a dry eye in there, the ceremony had been so moving and intimate that it touched everyone.

As Abbie & Alex came out into the sunshine their guests collected handfuls of rose petals to shower the happy couple with. Then Fred stepped forward with the doves and Alex & Abbie set them free with the their wishes another emotional moment for everyone.

And then the Prosecco started flowing, fried zucchini flowers, grilled courgettes stuffed with cheese and mini pizzas were handed round while the guests chatted and celebrated with Abbie & Alex.  After a few photos they all sat down to a delicious lite lunch under the shade of the huge cypress trees serenaded by Aldo.

Later in the afternoon I headed over to the Wine Resort to start the preparations for the evening do, leaving Amy in charge to get them to Sant’ Antimo, one of my favorite places in Tuscany for some more photos and to get everyone back to the wine resort in time for the aperitivo and dinner.

I love the wine resort it’s a perfect venue for a wedding and is so chic, a real haven for the discerning traveller that likes their creature comforts and the views are amazing too, in fact I could move in there tomorrow it’s so lovely!

It’s run by Manfredo who is the owner, he speaks perfect English (his wife Sarah is English) and he produces fab wines too. Nothing is ever too much trouble for him and his staff and they make sure that the guests have a memorable time. Manfredo helped me blow up the balloons with the helium gas, and no we didn’t play the Donald Duck game with it, we were tempted but are far to professional for that! ;-D

Abbie, Alex & Amy were the first to arrive back and after a quick freshen up were ready to have some more photos taken in this beautiful setting, the rest of the guests arrived and joined them for cold cuts and cheese and more Prosecco while they watched the sun go down, and I lit the candles and arranged the flowers on the table, I’ll think you’ll agree that it looks pretty amazing.

As the guests came round the corner to the terrace where the wedding dinner was being held, there were gasps of surprise, I think that after such a splendid day they didn’t think there was much left that could surprise them. After an opening speech by Alex they settled down to have a delicious dinner and to reflect on their fabulous day full of wonderful experiences.

When I went to pick up Alex & Abbie on Tuesday to bring them up to Siena, as we left the wine resort Abbie shed a few tears, her wedding had exceeded her wildest dreams and the words that she used to describe it were, “magical, amazing, out of this world, fantastic”a wedding that united already close families and deepened the relationships that they already had.  It’s always lovely to hear these comments after a wedding, and as a wedding planner I strive to make each wedding even more special than you could ever dream it could be.

You may be wondering why there aren’t many pictures on this blog, there are three reasons for this, generally on the day of the wedding I don’t have much time to take them, secondly I’m a much better wedding planner than a photographer as these photos here prove and thirdly the photos that Amy took are so gorgeous that you should pop along and have a look at some of them by clicking here. They’re stunning and I keep popping back to have a look too!

Once you’ve seen the photos you may be wondering how you too could have your wedding at “the moon on the stick venue” the owner of the property is happy to have a few weddings each year but you’ll have to book me in order to find out where it is exactly.;-D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mariko & Peter asked Marry Me in Tuscany to help them organize their lovely wedding in Siena. Mariko is Japanese and Peter is Australian both living in Tokyo so you can imagine the challenge I faced with the documents for them both.

As Peter was coming to Rome to do a Masters they’d decided that Tuscany and Siena was to be the place to bring all their family and friends from all over the world together for their wedding, a friend of theirs had stayed at and recommended the lovely B&B Podere Le Vigne just down the road from where I live as a perfect venue for them to stay and also hold their wedding reception and as I know Carla and Federica really well, that’s how Mariko and Peter found me.

The Podere is ideally situated just outside the walls of Siena surrounded by olive trees and the wonderful Tuscan countryside. Carla & Federica are famous for their hospitality and made the guest feel at home immediately.

As an Australian Peter needed an Atto Nottorio and not wanting to do that before leaving Tokyo I recommended that he make an appointment in Rome as soon as he arrived in Italy. Unfortunately he didn’t and so with 2 weeks to go to the wedding he called me in a panic as the Court in Rome had given him an appointment for September! Got to love Italian logic and bureaucratic ways although not good when you’re getting married in two weeks and can’t do that with out your documents being in order. So I called my contact at the court in Siena, and Peter boarded a bus from Rome the following day and with two of my friends for witnesses we managed to get his precious Atto Nottorio sorted out in a couple of hours.

Mariko also decided that she’d do her documents here in Rome too when she arrived and so you can imagine I was starting to get a little nervous about getting the documents around the various places, the prefettura to legalize the documents, the parish priests for him to do his request to the town hall for them to marry legally in church and the town hall to lodge all the documents for the civil part of the wedding and to book the pre wedding verbal hearing for the day before the wedding. I can’t tell you how relieved I was when they got off the early morning bus on the Friday the 1st of July with Mariko’s documents. So putting them in a taxi to the Podere Le Vigne I set off to do the rounds which I managed to complete before all the offices closed for the weekend. As they both said “they couldn’t have done it without me.”

Monday we headed up to the town hall for the verbal hearing and afterwards I popped the document confirming all was in order in to Don Renato’s post box, a quick meeting with Don Angelo in the evening completed the day and we were all set for the wedding the following day.

The morning of the wedding I went down the road and started setting up the tables with Carla and her husband helped to hang the my Chinese lanterns from the beams, and put lanterns and candles all over the garden, the overall effect was stunning, as Peter and Mariko didn’t have the budget for wedding flowers I  went and collected some olive branches and rosemary and Federica’s husband bought some flowers from the Botanical gardens and we set about making some lovely simple table centre pieces.

PierLuca arrived just as I was rushing home to get changed and he started to lay the tables and get things ready for the aperitivo and the dinner, he’s a fabulous waiter (capo sala) and he was closely followed by the magnificent Georgio, a fabulous chef, my favourite boys to work with, always lots of fun and great food to be had when they are about!

I have never met a bride who is ready before the groom, but Mariko was down and dressed and having her photograph taken by the official photographer at least half an hour before the groom and how stunning she looked and I was absolutely blown away with her Mum’s Kimono, it was absolutely gorgeous.

And so we all set off for the lovely church Ponte Allo Spino, a beautiful Romanesque church which is in Sovicille, just a few kilometers away from Siena.

We had a slight panic when we went into church to set up the music system for the music, unfortunately Peter had forgotten to put a cable for the speakers  into the bag, so with the consent of Don Angelo to delay the service, Mariko was installed in the car with her dad and I hot footed it back to Siena with Peter’s two sisters to get it, good job there weren’t any police around as I think I broke a few speed limits both there and back….oops!

So with everything back on track we got the wedding service under way and finally Mariko and Peter were married and they signed the wedding registry to the cheers and claps of their family and friends.

And the happy couple came out into the sunshine to have some photos taken with their family and friends.

Then we headed back to the Podere for the aperitivo and dinner a veritable feast of 5 courses of delicious home cooked Tuscan food.

Which ended with the cutting of the cake..until the light of a full moon.

Everyone had a wonderful evening and I’m sure that Mariko and Peter have taken some wonderful memories with them back to Tokyo and as Mariko said in her email to me last week:

“We are back in Tokyo, back to work, back to normal life, back from fantasy world of Siena. Again, thank you very much for the wonderful efforts for our wedding. Cannot believe it is done now, it was amazing!”

Wishing them both lots of happiness in the future.. I bet they can’t wait to see the official photos I know I can’t!

 

Marry Me in Tuscany pulled off yet another fantastic wedding for Carla & Ola at Villa Belpoggio in Loro Ciuffenna at the beginning of June.

As with lots of clients I spoke with Carla about a year before the wedding about her hopes and dreams for her big day, I suggested that she might want to make mood boards of ideas for colour schemes and ideas that she wanted to incorporate into the wedding, much to Ola’s delight Carla took this on board with a passion and probably single handedly kept wedding magazines in business, she literally bought every publication available on the market.

When they came out for a visit we compared mood boards and were happy to see that a lot of the images were the same, which meant that I’d totally understood what Carla wanted. Ola was also happy that Carla recycled a lot of her mags by giving them to me.. Carla & Ola never missed an opportunity to come over for a visit so I got to know them quite well during the planing process we had food tastings, trips to the florist to discuss flowers, cup cakes and lots of other lovely things that would make their day truly special.

They squeezed in one final visit just before the wedding when they came out for their engagement shoot, a fun morning which you can read more about here. The week before the wedding, Carla & I were on an hourly weather watch, heavy rain was forecast for their big day in fact it was supposed to rain from 9am to 6pm with a storm at just the time they were supposed to get married in the garden. Not good!

Thursday before the wedding we had to decide if we were going with the summer marquees or the rainy one! After much umming and arr-ing we decided that the best option was to have the wet one just in case the weather forecast was right, fingers and toes were crossed that it wasn’t but erring on the side of caution we felt this was the safest option so plan B came into play. With the desire for sun I even employed the help of my lovely Twitter buddies to do the #sundance which always clears those black clouds away and lift the spirits.

The day of the wedding I went up to the villa, at 9am were I was met with clear blue skies and sun and not a drop of rain in sight YEAH! for the #sundance! We decided that the marquee would go up the courtyard between the little chapel and the villa rather than near the swimming pool which was Carla & Ola’s first choice, the weather in Loro Ciuffenna can change so quickly and I  didn’t want to be caught out later without a place for them to dance after dinner without suitable covering.

While the Ola and the other guests hung out by the pool we set to work and the catering boys put up the marquee….

Slivano the chef set to work making the delicious food that they would eat later.

Everything started to take shape, we set up the aperitivo area and ceremony site on the lawn and when a few black clouds appeared and a few little drops of rain we all blew so hard those black clouds had no option other than to just move on. Carla was leisurely having her hair and make-up done with her chief bridesmaid Kelly and her sister Kirby they kept popping their heads out to check on the weather and to see how things were progressing and how the ceremony site was taking shape.

The florists pulled out all the stops and with beautiful acqua roses and lemons created these fabulous arrangements that were to be the key to the wedding site.

With one of the above arrangements at each side at the top of the aisle we then alternated candles and lemons, with bouquets of acqua roses in square glass vases and a huge arrangement on the fountain completed the wonderful wedding ceremony area, I can’t tell you how relieved I was that the weather behaved itself, we’d designed the wedding site around being outside and Plan B or C (I forget which!) would have meant that we would have had to move the ceremony into the little chapel at the Villa, which would have meant adapting the floral arrangements accordingly, something that neither Carla or I wanted to happen.

At 3.45 Ola and the guests gathered on the lawn to have a glass of pre-wedding prosecco, while Carla put the finishing touches to her make up and put on her fabulous wedding gown and her lovely Jimmy Choos. At 4.15 Carla looking absolutely gorgeous made her entrance with her dad accompanied by the harpist, and joined Ola for their beautiful wedding ceremony. And after a short service this wonderful couple were married, and as they left as husband and wife the Tenor sang “Con Te Partiero’ you can see just how happy they were from this marvelous photo. And the sunshine continued to shine while they had an aperitivo on the lawn and photos I moved all the floral arrangements from the wedding site to the dinner area and just before the came to dinner sprinkled the rose petals on the tables and tried to lite the candles but with a wind that had got up just before sunset that was proving to be a no-goer. For the tables, Carla & Ola had chosen these fabulous candelabras interspersed with round bowl vases with floating rose heads and candle holders of various heights to give movement with the lemons and little flags for name places the whole effect was wonderful.

As Ola is Swedish, his father and mother welcomed Carla into their family by giving her a rose, a rose for a rose, isn’t that a wonderful Swedish traditon? As Plan A had been to have the wedding dinner up by the pool and then cakes in the courtyard we had to implement plan D, that while we cleared the eating area for the open bar and dancing, Carla & Ola took their guests into the villa for cupcakes, prosecco and coffee, shame I missed that as apparently Carla mentioned me in her speech, one that she’d given to me previously and told me not to read, without my glasses that’s impossible so I still don’t know what she said! Although you can see what she said in her lovely testimonial here.

The lemon cup cakes where delicious, and completely in theme with the wedding, with a White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting and melt in the mouth limoncello centres and topped with butterflies, roses and flowers.

And with the lanterns lite and lots of candles, Carla & Ola came back to the courtyard to dance the night away and as seems to be the case lately there wasn’t a dry eye in the marquee (including me) as they took to the dance floor for their first dance as Mr & Mrs Lindberg.. A truly wonderful wedding for a very special couple who are evidently very much in love, I wish them many happy years together and hope that they’ll come back to Tuscany real soon.

• photos 1,3,6,7,8, 10, 12, 13 by Lelia Scarfiotti
• photos 2,4,5,9,11 by Jackie – Marry me in Tuscany Ltd

All photos are subject to copyright.

Marry Me In Tuscany was delighted to be the wedding planner for a beautiful wedding in Barga, near Lucca at the end of May.

Megan & Mike choose Barga as they had visited the area lots and had fallen in love with it and so it was the perfect wedding destination for them. As they knew the area so well they knew exactly what they wanted for their wedding which made my job very easy and having been up there several times during the planning process I can see why they love the area so much. Barga even has a fish and chip festival in August a must for all visitors but also great for all us expats that dream of good old haddock and chips!

The day before the wedding we went along to meet the lovely Lucia at the town hall for the verbal declaration and as the Council Chambers was being used for a conference, she offered us the choice of another very pretty room or the terrace for the wedding the following day, as the weather forecast was looking very good for Tuesday, hot and sunny, Megan & Mike decided that that was where they wanted to hold their wedding, with fabulous views over the rooftops and the surrounding countryside.

So on a perfectly sunny day they and their guests were driven from I Cedri to Barga and walked through the narrow windy streets to the town hall, as Megan & Mike live in Scotland and their sons are Scottish they each donned their kilts which is always wonderful to see and which the Italians love too, more of that later! Barga has strong ties with Scotland being twinned with East Lothian and is probably the most Scottish town in Italy it is also affectionately self nominated as the home of happy marriages which is an added bonus for all newly weds.

Megan choose a wonderful lilac outfit for her wedding and wanted a small bouquet that would compliment it the florist used lily of the valley, white hydrangeas and purple sweetpeas to create this small but beautiful bouquet.

With a slight delay, Vittorio Salotti started the lovely wedding ceremony, the first time that a wedding had been celebrated on the Mayor’s terrace, which you can hear on Barga News and also read their blog and see some official photos. They even made it onto the local news too!

On a beautiful summers day, Megan & Micheal were finally declared united in matrimony to lots of smiles a few tears of joy and resounding claps and cheers from their friends and family.  It’s quite usual for the town hall to give the happy couple a present to commemorate their wedding at Barga the presents just kept coming, an Italian flag and a beautiful inscribed silver plate both great mementos for Megan & Mike.

 

After a few photos on the terrace Megan & Micheal led their guests down to the local bar for an aperitivo, as they came out of the town hall the local ladies placed a rice heart on the ground for the couple to step into.

 

I Love the story behind this tradition, the heart is put down not only to represent the love from all the people that have passed or are not able to be present to see the couple getting married but also to protect them from and bad thoughts from anyone that doesn’t wish them well.

During the aperitivo I hopped over to the restaurant Il Pozzo to decorate the tables and put out the wedding favours and place cards and then led my Mike & Megan the guests arrived to be greeted with a glass of prosecco before lunch as Mike & Megan’s sons were wearing kilts I was asked the questions that all Italians love to ask when they see them “Is it true that they don’t wear anything underneath”? Of course being a good English lass I knew the answer to that!! The waitresses were going off duty at 6 so they made me promise that there would be a show before they left, clearly they didn’t trust that it was true and wanted to see it with their own eyes!

The food was delicious and course after course arrived, the wine flowed and then the wedding cake came out, with a sparkler that Rachel had sneaked through in her bag from Scotland..

And so at 6 O’clock just as the girls were going off their shift with much giggling they were delighted to find the answer to the question they’d asked earlier, I think the wine helped and it was all very tasteful but there was a lot of blushing and it wasn’t from the boys!!!

The meal finished with grappas and Amarettos and the taxis returned to take everyone back to the villa to relax round the pool. A truly memorable day and I met some truly wonderful people and so after another fabulous wedding I kissed everyone goodbye and headed back to Siena.  You can read what Mike & Megan said about Marry Me In Tuscany in “what people say”.

Here are some more photos of the happy day which Megan sent through to me, as you can see they had a wonderful time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Friday, Marry Me In Tuscany kicked off the wedding season in Siena with a beautiful wedding for a fabulous couple Dan & Marie from America. They brought with them 17 family and friends to help them celebrate their wedding.

Dan a man always on the go decided that lots of activities were the order of the day to make sure that they made the most of their trip here and trust me they did! They had guided tours of Florence & Siena, a cooking class with Elena at Fattoria Corsignano, a Chianti wine tour and a rehearsal dinner at the superb restaurant Taverna di San Guiseppe in Siena, where they were treated to a surprise by the staff, won’t spill the beans on that just in case you go there too for a special occasion but I can honestly say that the food and service is wonderful and it’s well worth a visit if you are in Siena even if you’re not celebrating something special.

So after months of emails the BIG day finally arrived, and I went up to the fabulous venue Fattoria Corsignano, which Dan & Maire had chosen but which I know well as a great wedding venue to meet with a very relaxed Marie and her mum Susan & sister Rachel who was the MOH, they’d just had a massage and the wine was flowing!

Fattoria Corsignano is situated about 8km from Siena and is run by Elena & her husband Mario, a wonderful couple that will do everything and more to ensure that your stay is memorable and your wedding is the best day of your lives, the wines that they produce are wonderful too and with lots of wonderful areas to use for the wedding you’ll be spoilt for choice as to where to hold the wedding breakfast.

The hairdresser and make-up artist arrived and set about making everyone look a million dollars, when I asked about putting ribbons on the wedding car, they decided that perhaps it might need a clean, so I set off with Dan’s dad to take it to the local car wash, while I organized that, he nipped into MacDonald’s for a quick chicken burger and chips! So with a clean car I drove back to the Fattoria to put on the ribbons and see how we were getting on with the preparations, as I imagined everything was going according to plan. Amy had arrived and she was busy photographing the preparations.

So with everyone looking absolutely fabulous we set off for the short journey to the beautiful church La Certosa di Pontignano, which is situated a couple of kilometers from the Fattoria. This is a wonderful church which has beautiful cloisters and gardens which are perfect for photographs. On arrival at the church I lit the candles in the aisle and made sure that everything was OK with the harpist and the priest and that Dan wasn’t too nervous. And then the harpist started to play and bridal party procession began. Marie came in on her proud dad’s arm looking gorgeous in her beautiful Italian lace wedding dress that she had bought in the States and call it fate or destiny but her wedding consultant was from here!

The wedding service was very touching and there were a few hankies at the ready for those moving moments and as they were declared husband and wife they walked out into the sunshine for some lovely photos in the cloisters with their friends and family while I dismantled the church to take the flowers and vases filled with candles back to the Fattoria.

The guests went on ahead to freshen up while Dan & Marie stayed on with Amy for some photos in the gardens and then they joined their guests around the pool for an aperitivo and some delicious food prepared by Elena and the chef. Before going into dinner Dan & Marie took to the dance floor for thier first dance, they had been taking dance lessons secretly so they wowed their guests with a fabulous display. Marie then danced with her dad to the song “footprints in the sand” which made everyone cry including me, the words are so beautiful and are just so perfect for a first dance although do be prepared to sob heartily.

The wedding colours were chocolate brown and fushia pink the florist pulled out all the stops for some wonderful wedding flowers the girls are amazing and never cease to amaze me with their creativity I’m sure that you’ll agree the wedding flowers were fantastic.

After a veritable feast, speeches and cake cutting, the guests all took to the dance floor to let their hair down and danced the night away till the wee small hours.

Dan & Marie had a wonderful Tuscan wedding and am so pleased that I helped them make it all possible, to see what they say about me and Marry Me In Tuscany check out their lovely testimonial under “What people say“.

As you know from my previous blog on “why you should have a professional photographer at your wedding”, for more evidence of why you should the photos here are mine and really don’t do the day justice so to see some truly great photos of the day, check out Amy’s blog from Imag1ne as always Amy has captured the day perfectly and they are way better than mine