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Our Wedding In Tuscany, Italy (June 28th 2013)

Next month we will be celebrating our two year wedding anniversary. J proposed to me in Paris in June 2012 and exactly one year later we tied the knot.

Deciding where we were going to have our wedding with such big families that were worlds apart was difficult. Through lots of brainstorming and soul searching we came up with the perfect plan and 50 of our closest family and friends travelled from all parts of the world to join us for our wedding day in Tuscany, Italy.


I did most of my planning online. Without a wedding planner, a pretty tight budget and only two trips over there to meet vendors and sort out paperwork. I found very few reviews for anything and took a lot of leaps of faith and made decisions by going with my gut. We even booked our venue without seeing it.

Luckily for me, my gut feelings paid off. We absolutely loved our fairytale day and we still get regularly reminded by our guests that it was the best wedding they have ever been to.

I'm eternally grateful to everyone who made our wedding one to remember. I always told myself long before I started this blog that one day I would make a little space on the internet with all the details on how we created our magical day. Something I would have loved to have to refer to in our own planning process.

The theme for the day was princess, vintage and a splash of peach.









 

 

 









 




Wedding Dress
Skirt purchased at Jane Bourvis in Notting Hill London. Jane designed a dress for Sarah Jessica Parker, one of my fashion idols. For all you SATC fans, remember the green tutu Carrie wore in Paris when she bumped into Big and they fell in a heap on the floor? That beauty!
The corset and lace bolero designed and made by the beautiful Lili and her mum from Finiks London.

Shoes
Purchased from Dune.

Veil
Purchased from Light in the box.

Bridesmaids dresses
Designed and made by Finiks London

Hair & Make up
This was one thing I wasn't willing to risk so I gave myself a very simple hairstyle, had a make up lessons at Mac make up and did lots of practicing on myself before the big day.

Rings
J got my engagement ring from Quality Diamonds in Hatton Garden and we went back to get our wedding rings. My wedding band was specially made to fit my unique engagement ring.

Wedding Stationary
I arranged all of this online through Wedding Paper Divas - they have so many different designs and options. The pricing is very competitive and they run regular sales for as much as 50% off. They are based in America but the shipping is as quick (if not quicker) than what you would get if you were going through a UK company.

DIY
I found some time to do a bit of simple DIY for the wedding. I purchased all the materials from Hobbycraft.
Confetti holders - My bridesmaids and I rolled these the night before the wedding.
Table favours and name places - I got the love heart cases and prettied them up with some ribbon and lace and filled them with Italian sweets.
Table Seating Chart - I used the same materials and made individual table lists and attached them by strong to a big frame. I used individual letter stamps for every name.

Groom & Groomsmen suits
Were all purchased at our local Moss Bros. J got a very good deal on 5 suits and they were all linen, perfect for the hot weather.

Venue
My very own princess castle. Castello Oliveto was built in the 15th century. Its one of the few venues in Tuscany where you can hold you ceremony at the venue rather than the local town hall because the castle is connected to Castelfiorentino town hall.The gardens and grounds are stunning, and there is ample inside and outside space. We held our ceremony in the gardens outside the castle and our wedding reception inside the courtyard and hired out the whole place exclusively for a very good price. Louisa was very quick to respond to any questions that we had prior to the wedding and Azzurra was around and looked after us for the big day. She even partied on with our guests which meant that we were able to stay at the castle as late as we liked - I think it ended up being 3am!

Florist
I have no experience with dealing with florists for a big event but Fiorie & Colori went over and above any expectations I had. They sat down and listened to my vision, and then even before I had paid a deposit sent me over a detailed quote with beautiful hand drawn sketches of what they were proposing. It really brought everything to life for me The quote they gave me had all the bells and whistles but I was able to scale it back to work with our budget. They are a husband and wife team and have a beautiful shop in a small Tuscan town. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them putting everything together and they were always very hospitable and treated us like we were good friends. I'm sure you can see from the pictures, the flowers were amazing.

Caterers
We chose another husband and wife team for our catering requirements with Class Ricevimenti. I knew they were the right caterers for us when I went for a tasting session with my mum and one of my bridesmaids 6 months before the wedding and the experience was like dining at an amazing Italian restaurant. They filled us with wonderful Italian food - 5 courses from what I remember, even giving us wine with every course and didn't charge us a penny. They set up the tables and provided all the dinnerware. They catered for our aperitifs which was a huge spread of breads, meats, cheeses and other finger foods. Then a 5 course meal for the reception, waiters to serve the guests and endless alcohol for our guests to enjoy for the whole night. They also have a partnership with a local patisserie so for an extra 2 Euro per head they arranged our stunning cake and set up the beautiful display. I could day dream about their food even to this day it was so good. Especially the chocolate fondant desert with mascarpone sauce.....

Sound for the day
We hired a DJ  through Chiara Trallori and he was with us for the whole day (over 12 hours). He amplified our wedding service, played jazz music during the aperitifs and throughout dinner, and got the party started with his music and lights when we were ready to party. Chiara always came to meet us at the hotel we were staying out for our two pre-wedding visits to discuss the arrangements. She provides a really bug choice of other music for events. My good friend P used her recently for her own wedding in Italy and had a harpist as she was walking down the aisle.

Transport for wedding guests
You could get lost in the rolling hills of Tuscany. Worse still, you could have a nervous break down dealing with the local drivers so it was really important for us to make sure all the guests got to and from our wedding safely. We arranged for them to all stay at the same hotel and for buses to transport them. We used Maroni Bus. I had to do some heavy negotiating but in the end I got a price I was happy with and had the comfort of knowing all the guests were looked after in the transport department. I actually scrimped on any other bridal transport and caught a taxi with my bridesmaids to the venue on the day of the wedding to get ready long before the guests arrived. J and I caught a back to the hotel with the wedding guests. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. We had such fun memories of lots of drunken singing to close our brilliant evening.

Accommodation
All of our guests stayed at La Cappucinna in the beautiful town of San Gimingnano and 25 minutes away from our wedding venue. It was one of the few hotels in the area that were able to accommodate all of our guests together. The daily rate included buffet breakfast and there is a gorgeous pool area where we hosted a post wedding pool party the day after the wedding. The accommodation was basic and there were a few hiccups in regards to service but overall they provided us exactly what we needed and were able to manage most of our requirements.

Translator
It's quite a complicated process to be able to get legally married in Italy. The ceremony must be conducted by the town hall and be conducted in Italian so it is a legal requirement as an English speaker that you must have a translator for the whole ceremony. Somewhere along the way Fulvia Conforti was recommended to us and she helped us with both the processing of the paperwork before our day and translated our whole ceremony so we understood what was going on. She can be contacted by email at fulviaconforti@alice.it. I believe Fulvia also provides wedding planning services.


I'm so lucky. I married the love of my life and we have now been blessed with our beautiful daughter who is the centre of our universe.

I wish we could relive the day all over again. Just one more time.

K x
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26 comments

  1. Looks like you honestly had a dreamy wedding! The pictures are stunning. Happy anniversary! x

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I had so much fun looking through all my photos and picking which ones to showcase x

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  2. Happy anniversary, your wedding looks amazing. So beautiful c

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  3. Oh what a beautiful wedding, stunning pictures. Looks just so dreamy, like a royal wedding :) That location is also stunning, looks like you made a great choice :) Happy anniversary!

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    1. It was totally a dreamy day. It was a princess wedding so I'll take the royal part x

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  4. That dress! I'm blinded by the beauty :) My brother is researching a wedding in Italy so I'll share this x

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    Replies
    1. Awww thank you lovely!! I had my vision even before I went dress shopping and I had so much fun creating it xx

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    2. Also, let me know if your brother has any questions. It's not easy to plan a wedding in Italy x

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  5. What a stunning place to get married and you look absolutely beautiful. I love a good wedding! X #TheList

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    1. Thank you so much. Me too (love a good wedding)!!! i can't wait to go back and visit the castle again x

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  6. Wow, what a beautiful wedding and you looked gorgeous!! I love all the details - the peachy colour scheme, your flowers and wedding cake were amazing! Xx

    Carolyn
    http://stylishmemories.com

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    Replies
    1. Thank you hun! I put a lot of thought into the details so I'm glad you liked them xx

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  7. Beautiful wedding! You look gorgeous. Everything is so pretty x

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    1. Thank you lovely! Ahhhh take me back now! :) x

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  8. You look beautiful and the photographs are stunning! What a lovely post! Amazing dress! Jess x #sundaystars

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    Replies
    1. I had 500 photos to chose from that I had to shortlist. It was a lovely to take a trip down memory lane. Thank you for your kind words x

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  9. oh wow this really does sound magical - amazing photos and you looks absolutely stunning on you big day! thanks so much for linking up to #sundaystars

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  10. Wow! What an incredible wedding. You look incredible! Thanks so much for linking up to #TheList x

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    1. It really was an incredible day. Thank you so much x

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  11. Everything looked so beautiful, very lovely theme. You are obviously super organised and creative. xXx

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    1. Thank you lovely. I work hard on being organised (although I'm not naturally) I love being creative! x

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  12. The venue is really beautiful dear and your dress is just divine. Thank you so much for sharing it here. My wedding day is coming near and I am very busy with planning my wedding at best DC venues. Hope it will be a perfect wedding.

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