Now that the words Italy Covid wedding rules 2021 are on top of Google trends as research we still want to continue sharing some real love. This has always been our passion , to celebrate love and life with our couples.
And as weddings are still going on ( even if in a different way ) today I want to show you the last ceremony we had in Fall with Jo and Dave, an amazing couple from Uk.I was recommended to them by a friend who got married in Tuscany a few years ago with me in the beautiful abbey of San Galgano
Now that the words Italy Covid wedding rules 2021 are on top of Google trends as research we still want to continue sharing some real love. This has always been our passion , to celebrate love and life with our couples.
And as weddings are still going on ( even if in a different way ) today I want to show you the last ceremony we had in Fall with Jo and Dave, an amazing couple from Uk.I was recommended to them by a friend who got married in Tuscany a few years ago with me in the beautiful abbey of San Galgano
As Jo works in the tourism and hotels management and Dave is a chef they started 2 years ago to plan their destination wedding. They came to Italy just before the Corona Virus pandemic started: were lucky enough to see a florist, meet 2 caterers and other suppliers! I remember that day with happiness as even if it was in February we had time to drive around Tuscany.
It was a sunny day and do the most important parts of the planning . Then a hard period came and some of the guests had to cancel their stay but the day before they had flights booked. The PM said british citizens were allowed to fly to Italy and they finally landed in Pisa!
The first day was relaxing and a nice dinner at the venue with all the friends and family. The weather was mild enough to allow them to have a swim and enjoy a bit of the famous Tuscan sun!
The following day Jo got ready in the upper floor of their suite.In the meanwhile all guests were relaxing in the garden while Elizabeth was taking pictures of them all.
The symbolic ceremony was celebrated in the garden under a romantic wisteria roof. All people were waiting for the bride to walk down the steps when a few drops of rain started to fall!!! It was just a moment and very funny as the bride started walking a bit faster trying to arrive down the pergola for the most exciting moment without being totally wet! It was just a moment and then the sun came back again and with the amazing landscape of the Borgo it was the perfect scenery for the pictures!
I was trying to check the aperitif buffet and the beautiful flowers decoration but as it was getting closer to 1pm. We decided it was time for a 5 minutes break and I had a spritz cocktail with my assistant Rebecca and the caterer ( I think really deserved it after all this period spent planning against Corona Virus and rules and laws changing every now and then!! ;-))))
If you want to know about rules you can see that they were all seated with more than a meter distance, (unless those who were family, of course….) and were wearing face masks when indoor. The venue gave us hand sanitizer and the guests brought some more from home, just in case there was not enough here
The only negative point was all the stress we had before. They came here as we didn’t know if they were able to fly, or even to stay in Italy without having to quarantine once back home. But apart from this all the guests were so happy to be able to visit Italy and taste the food and wine that they offend during their stay!
They had a great lunch with a huge buffet of aperitivi as well as many cocktails and white wine, a first course of macaroni short pasta with pecorino cheese, figs and rocket.and an. incredible Lemon risotto with chives herb, one of my favorite dishes!! The main course was a delicious Chianina beef fillet in Wellington crust even if some guests opted for a beef fillet in Wellington crust paired with some veggies and potatoes.
After cutting the millefoglie wedding cake the bride decided it was time for a dress change and decided to go for a sequin outfit to get the party started.
I was home when Rebecca sent me some pics of the bar decoration and the guests having fun and dancing all together with the children. The day ended with an amazing landscape covered in pink and orange like the cocktails poured in the glasses.
And it was also when I realized that we did the right thing, always respecting rules to protect the health of all the people, the guests and the workers. We were able to create a day that will last in their memories forever.
Hope you like my post and if you want to see more pics about the venue here is a link to their website: weddingvenuesintuscany.info/listing-item/borgo-campanelli-2/
All the pictures in this post were taken from the super talented Elizabeth Armitage, an English girl living in Tuscany and the caterer is Class Ricevimenti . The gorgeous flowers you can see displayed were created by Bianchi Fiori, Poggibonsi.
See you on the next post about a wedding in Tuscany !!!
Now that I have a bit more time to relax I started writing some posts about all the events I did last year. Samantha and Gia’s was surely one that I will never forget! It all began with a phone call. I was driving when Stephanie called me to ask if I wanted to help her for her sister’s wedding in Tuscany. She had already chosen a nice villa in the Chianti region. She was lucky because I know this area very well as I’ve been living there for many years. When I first visited the villa I discovered this luxury hamlet with a gorgeous Spa in some of the main Suites.
The panorama from the house is incredible as it leans all over the landscape of Panzano. The wedding day, as soon as I arrived I went to the suite of the girls where Suely was taking care of their hair and make up. The bridal party started and the photographer was there to take some pictures during the “getting ready”.
Being a wedding planner in Florida herself she carefully thought about all small details of the brides and tables. Gia and Samantha wore two white leather jackets with her name and wedding date on. This look matched with the same pair of white trainers made with lace in harmony with their dresses. It was a very emotional moment when Samantha read the letter that Gia wrote her the day before!!
The table was set up without tablecloth in the most typical country chic style. It was decorated with white ceramic dishes and ivory napkins, cristal glasses with gold rim and golden silverware. All the guests had a name tag made of transparent plexiglas that was paired with a small shot of liquor especially made for the wedding. Every women had a pashmina scarf on their chair to cover her shoulders in case they get cold. The cocktail after the ceremony was served in the terrace area while the dinner was outside in the garden of the Villa Delle Donne.
Chianti Cooking experience took care of both moments, the pizza party on the day before and the wedding dinner. All the dishes they prepared were sooo good and they had a a yummy 3 tiers wedding cake served with a nice transparent topper with the name of the brides. The sun shined during the whole day and all the guests ended up dancing under the starts with the music of Lorenzo Borneo’s dj. I am really thankful to Stephanie who invited me to this wedding and gave me the opportunity to know these two incredible families. I’m sure that Gia and Samantha will have a great future together and even more with the love of all their relatives and friends!
Brides: @samanthalmarion + @giacastellino
Planner + Stylist: @bystephaniemarion
Day of Coordination: @marrymeintuscany
Venue: Villa Delle Donne + Villa Le Scuderie @luxuryretreats
Floral Design: @lillaflorals
Catering: @chianti_cooking
Photographer: @kyaranatale
Videographer: @matteofotografia
Entertainment: #lorenzoborneo
Dresses: @inesdisanto via @chicparisien + @wtoowaters via @baciobaciobridal
HMUA: @suely_hair_makeup
Stationary + Details: @brandspired
I’m really proud to start the new year showing pictures of this wedding shooting. We did it last summer with the lovely Yulia from YULIYA M. PHOTOGRAPHY
What a fabulous photographer and friend ! Yulia is so passionate about what she does, and it shows. She is based in the USA and began the year with photoshoots through Europe. She is widely travelled and a very successful business woman. She favors the journalistic approach in her photography. She uses natural light and her love for her craft shines through in her photos.
The soft pastels, pinks and elegant tones lended themselves perfectly to our stately surroundings. The abundance of natural light added to the magic of the day and produced the most incredible images. The styling is elegant, simple and classic. The stunning gardens provide endless photographic opportunities with the landscape of Siena as backdrop.
Siena is very famous for weddings for many reasons. It is closely situated to Florence, Pisa and Rome, making it easy for travel. It is one of the most striking medieval cities in Italy. In add the cobbled streets are mostly only for pedestrians so it lends itself perfectly to exploring on foot.
The palazzo we had the first pictures in, is the perfect place to use for a cocktail or reception if you want to get married in the city town hall in Piazza del Campo. They offer an inner garden as well as a courtyard and a cover hall to use in case a plan B. They can host up to 100 people. Here are some more pictures of this wedding venue.
We also had the pleasure of using their villa close to Siena that has the most amazing view of the surrounding countryside.
We wanted to create a table decoration different from all these we normally see. We tried to use fruit as well as gold cutlery and blue tones for tablecloths and napkins. I really love the style of this table decoration: what do you think?
The villa green areas are perfect for a blessing as well as an alfresco dinner. Their Italian gardens are immense and as you can see from the photos there are many stunning spots for wedding photos.
This wedding shooting couldn’t have been possible without the effort of my favorite suppliers: Agriflor fiori for the bride’s bouquet and decoration and Atelier Andreia Cruz for the wedding gowns.
And as always I have to say thanks to the lovely Sofia for welcoming us into her home and giving us the opportunity of shooting around.
When you imagine your wedding you don’t surely think about getting married in fall or exactly on Halloween day. But this is what I’m going to talk about today: a couple or even more reasons to get married during autumn season.
First of all, I LOVE fall! I’m of course blessed to live in a nice romantic country were colors change a lot in a short period. Leaves go from green to brown to yellow and reddish in the blink of an eye. They leave us time for nice pictures that are only waiting to be sticked on your wedding album.
It will be surely easier for you to find availability at the end of the season. I’m having problems now in finding venues for next summer. Some places have already started selling their 2019 availability so good for you to know: low season and good/best price!
Of course the problem of a rainy day is to be consider but think that most of the venues have always a plan B included. If not, a marquee or a romantic gazebo will be perfect to host your guest for dinner and dancing.
Getting married in fall is great not just for colors but also for decorations! Think about orange/brownish shades, sunset light, pumpkins, wood berries and pine cones. They can give you plenty of inspiration to create your own palette for the reception and also for the dinner table. In fact you can use these natural elements and mix them with white or lightly colored candles and why not, fruit and small vegetables to obtain natural effect.
If you want to entertain also your smallest guests what’s better than using “halloween themed” candies and lollypop to create a table only for them . You can also use lollypops as table names and it’s easy to create them by yourself as it’s explained in this pin ( I know I always talk about Pinterest but if you follow my blog you surely know I can’t live without ;-).
As I wrote before I love this finishing soft touch that autumn light gives to pictures. Be sure to have an early wedding so you can enjoy sunlight before the dinner and take advantage of what beautiful natures offers around you.
It is one of the two central things the wedding in terms of decoration. Of course feel free to do something classic but why not incorporate some elements of the decoration in your flowers? So go with reddish, brownish flowers like dahlias, roses, and also orange, green and rusty green. Using some branches together with berries will give your bouquets this messed touch that got the look right now!
What’s better than the dessert? A friend of mine says that “desserts word is stressed spelled backwards” so choose your favourite taste, can be creamy, chocolate or fruity and go with your fantasy to decorate it . While just icing sugar or fruits or berries or pumpkin shape, your cake will be the perfect finishing touch to a memorable day!
This ceremony took place in a country villa near Siena. The lovely couple come from Sweden and they contacted me a year and a half before the wedding date, so we had plenty of time to plan everything in the best detail! As you surely know if you’ve read my post on legal requirements the civil wedding for a couple like them is quite daunting so they opted for a symbolic wedding celebrated open air.
Their whole family came over for the wedding, so it was a big affair with lots of children and friends – they outnumbered the family! Anna Karin wanted a mystic feel to her ceremony but with an elegant and sophisticated feel to. So they decided to have the tables decorated with long garlands of greenery and roses. It was beautiful and very elegant, despite the weather we have had this summer – even before the ceremony it was raining a bit. We are always prepared with a Plan B though and so we covered the tables and at luckily in the end they could have their ceremony under the Tuscan sun and then had their white family dinner surrounded by their many friends and touching speeches in the courtyard of the Villa.
As you surely know guests who have speeches sometimes take a bit more of the time they are given to congratulate with the newlyweds. Well, their speeches exceeded expectations so instead of 11pm, the party started at 1pm, when the open bar was going to end. As wedding cake they opted for a great millefoglie of puff pastry filled with cream. It was decorated with fresh fruit and done in front of the guests. This is one of my favorites cakes as it’s perfect for a summer event and instead of just one , sometimes I like to try 2 pieces, just to be sure it’s very very good!!
We had the dancing area in one of the 2 rooms prepared for the plan B and all the guests enjoyed the great cocktails prepared by Nicola and his staff. The night was magic anyway and all the friends of the couple had a good time and I’m sure they will remember this night forever.
Tuscany has plenty of magic villas like this to offer to foreign couples. Are you looking for some new venue that can host your guests and family for a wedding in Chianti? Just have a look at our website for new wedding venues and you can find the venue that fits your needs: https://weddingvenuesintuscany.info . If you don’t just write us an email and we’ll be glad to send you some more info.
Thanks to all the wonderful suppliers of the day like :
Snowflake photos for the great pictures
Ursula Spicchiaioli for hair and make up
Class ricevimenti for caterers
Central house for lights and music
We had the pleasure of celebrating the romantic wedding of bride Victoria & groom Spencer.
They were a lovely couple from the UK who started planning their wedding a year and a half in advance. This gave them the perfect amount of time to find a nice location in their dream venue, the Abbey of San Galgano.
There was a small family party, including their most beloved people. There was a lot of time spent on planning as the bride was very sure of what she wanted. She already knew decorations and flowers and all these things were not so easy to find here. So, I contacted several florists before sending her the final proposal. They settled on Agriflor, who did a great job with blush pink roses, candles and vintage furniture.
Their civil wedding was in the abbey of San Galgano, the famous church where we think the legend of Sword in the Stone came from. It was amazing as the place itself is really magic (due to the mystery of the legend). For her music, the bride chose a violin and cello playing ‘sweet child of mine’. For the exit music as that day Guns ‘N Roses were also playing a concert in Italy… (if I was not there I could have gone…next time).
It was a night full of laughter and fun with the groom doing his speech whilst I was devoring a piece of wild boar meat, but at the end it was a magical night with a full moon which said goodbye to me as I was driving down through the wood surrounding the farmhouse. Really a night to remember and I think for the newly married couple too ( thanks for the pictures to the great Sebastian Bonacchi, great job as always, sure you are enjoying much more taking wedding pictures in Uganda now!!)
The first time I met Claudine and Paco, I had the strong sensation like when you meet a couple of friends. They are a young successful couple. She comes from Switzerland, he is from Peru. So we had no problem in speaking both Italian and Spanish with them. That made me feel at ease from the first moment.
We had a look at 3 Villas and the last one was the perfect place for their romantic wedding. Being close to one of the most beautiful romanic churches in Tuscany. It was easy for them to decide to get married there.
The weekend started with a buffet party the night before in the courtyard of the Villa. All the guests helped themselves to the generous food and we had a suckling pig prepared just for us. People from every part of the world would have enjoyed. In fact our Porchetta is world famous!!
The next morning, we went to the beauty centre for a manicure with the bride.There I got a fine on my car as I didn’t pay attention that the streets were going to be cleaned the same morning… We had a rushed trip back to the Villa for hair and makeup, getting the bride dressed and everyone ready. Then, we finally proceeded onto the church.
The couple chose rustic, elegant decorations for the church to match the gorgeous setting and let the beauty of the venue shine through. It was a touching ceremony with violin and trumpet music from “The Italian wedding band”. Once back at the Villa, guests enjoyed an aperitif with Class Ricevimenti. They served them a scrumptious aperitif in the villas’ garden.
They took advantage of the fun photo booth with props and the reception dinner started. The table was one long setting, with stunning décor from Agriflor. The most amazing single hung lightbulbs provided from Wedding Music and Lights looked incredible once it got darker. Several courses were served, which is typical of Tuscan food, and a delicious millefoglie cake to cut for dessert.
Before we knew it, it was time for the first dance. Just after, an epic battle with a Star Wars theme entertained all the guests. Open bar was organized by the professional Nicola of Eventin Exclusive Bar who created a wonderful piece of furniture just for these guys. It was really worth the effort! I love love love this style!
The night was truly full of fun as the couple danced until 3am with all their guests, enjoying the cool Tuscan night. Of course this could have never happened without my great assistants, Claudia and Letizia who helped me during the whole day. Another thanks to the wonderful job of Claudia and Luca of Rossini Photography, two of the most professional people I always love to work with. A huge thanks to them all for a perfect days that this couple will always remember!
Have you just started planning your wedding in Tuscany, perhaps in Florence. You have no idea of where to start?? I’m sure this post will give you a lot of hints of what to do next.
Doesn’t matter where you come from, if you are british, you come from the Us, New Zealand or Siena. Simply ask a friend who got married there and when you start talking about document required… They’ll all show the same face :”WHAAAT? Are you really going to do it all by yourself? No kidding, ..it will be a nightmare!!”
This is what most of the people are told when facing with italian bureaucracy. Speaking with some colleagues we always tell us our stories in the different town halls,with civil officer. While some of them are extremely helpful and try to make your couple feel relaxed even if they have no passport to show, most of them are not at all:
1) don’t speak a single word of English and refuse to understand anything that doesn’t sound italian.
2) have no idea of what office hours are and can go for a coffee even 5 minutes before the ceremony begins ( happened to me next May…)
3) can switch office, close the door to work without anybody else disturbing them and decide that all the papers you’ve prepared for the most important day of your life can wait until before the wedding day to be processed (if you don’t believe it have a look at this review)
So with the lovely picture of this Christmas tree in the main square of Fiesole. Think a lot before starting doing all the legal side by your own and above all start inquire for a good wedding planner!! Whan I received Alexandra’s email I thought, oh my God, the town hall will never accept a winter wedding on December 23rd but this exactly what they did!
They arrived just a few days before in order to be able to get the documets at the American Embassy by the Lungarno. Once we had our precious declaration we headed straight onward to the town hall with my car. I was driving like a crazy to get there before 12am when the office close. I was really lucky because the girls working there were fantastic. More important than this they are used to deal with couple arriving late due to the times of offices !!!
Anyway, on the following day they got married inside the Council room as the chilly temperatures didn’t allowed us to stay outside . As they choose this lovely city the Deputy gave them tickets to visit the Roman Theatre. It is just a few steps far from the town hall. They got there with a couple of friends to take some pictures before heeding back to Via Tornabuoni where they had a lunch booked.
The talented photographer, Sebastian Bonacchi was there to help them capturing this special moment. If you like to see more pictures just scroll down. I’m sure you will love his style! If you are thinking about getting married in Florence, Fiesole cold be the right choice for you!
First time I read an email from Kathy it was one year and a half before her wedding day. After a couple Skype calls she introduced me to her lovely mum. That wonderful woman was the one who came first to Tuscany to select the right venue. She was really a big help and took care of every detail of the wedding in Tuscany. She did it as Katy decided to fly to the Emirates to start her new career in a big company.
After a couple of visits to different farmhouses with Kathy’s parent she came back to me with a decision. Villa Elena was the right place for their wedding in Tuscany. And so a long year and a half of planning started, with options for both a symbolic ceremony at the Villa and a civil one in the amazing townhall of Siena . Time flew by very quick and the big day approached fast so last details were decided directly at the bride arrival in Siena. Kathy had a busy working trip before getting to Tuscany. Due to I didn’t want to stress her with some many details.I needed just a short meeting in the afternoon to finalize a couple of things.The following day was the big day. The sun was shining around the Chianti hills. Everything looked perfect for the blessing in the garden. I took care of the flowers and decorations with the help of Kathy’s mum. When the bride came with her bridesmaids everything was ready for their moment.
As the Villa host a very famous restaurant the dinner was prepared by the house chef and It was served by the pool.
As the sun went down it was time to cut the cake. The bride asked for an ice cream cart and she enjoyed her favorites gelato.In the meanwhile guests take some pictures.
I love every wedding I organize but this was really special. I spent many many years of my life living just in front of Casa Elena so still keep good memories of these hills. It reminds me their colors and their perfumes… Chianti Classico, such a nice place to have your perfect wedding!!
A huge thanks goes to Federico Pannacci www.fedepan.net for the hard work and great job he did with my couple… It’s always a pleasure to work with you guy!
When Jo and Dave came out for a visit before their wedding one of the things we had to do was to meet up with the florist and discuss flowers.
Jo’s only request was that we use “Sweet Avalanche”roses, beautiful delicate pink roses (you can see Jo's and her bridesmaid's bouquets on the home page). They wanted lots of candles on the tables, two large floral decorations outside the restaurant she left the table plan up to me. They had decided to use the different Contradas (districts) in Siena as the table names .
Having a blank canvas to work with gets the old creative juices flowing, as I have worked with the same talented florists for years once we get going all sorts of ideas come in to play it’s great fun! So with me translating and all of us throwing our ideas into the ring in two languages and very little time we pulled some ideas together take made Jo and Dave very happy.
As light was important to Jo and Dave we decided to use square vases on the tables filled with beautiful bouquets of Sweet Avalanche roses and small pink rose buds placing a delicate string of water lights inside the vases, the lights then reflected off the water, to create height we used beautiful stem glass candle holders with tea lights and brought the whole lot together with rose petals and tea-lights on the table, the final result was stunning.
For the table plan, we decided to follow the design for the two large arrangements which were placed outside the entrance of the restaurant, but on a smaller scale. We used white branches to create height, small pink rose buds and the Sweet Avalanche roses and some greenery brought it all together.
Having bought a poster of the contrada emblems I set about cutting and sticking (good old Blue Peter style, you'll need a pair of scissors, glue and good quality card) We then hung the table cards from the branches, as the table plan was placed just inside the door we created more atmosphere by adding tea-lights and petals thus continuing the theme.
The day before the wedding, when I popped into see the girls at the florist’s there was a pile of the off cuts of the white branches on the counter “and what are you going to do with these?” I asked Carla. Always one to accept a challenge she created this wonderful effect by draping them over the vase by connecting the branches with pink wire….genius!
“The rose speaks of love silently, in a language known only to the heart.” - Unknown
Photo credits:
