Review of my Italy Wedding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am not sure how helpful this review will be to all of the LIW or NYC brides, but if anyone out there is planning a wedding in Italy, hope this is useful.
The other reason for writing this review is to get to re-live my day a bit…lol!
First off, let me say I had the most incredible wedding planner, named Ben Singleton...He only plans weddings in Italy and was my Godsend through this wedding!! lol! I am unfortunately, not a very detail oriented person and thank god he was there to remind me of all the things I had overlooked…hehe!
We had our rehearsal and dinner on the 3rd along with my hair and make-up trial…
(yes, I had my hair and make-up trial the day before my wedding…..but when you are getting married overseas…your options are limited…haha) Luckily I loved my hair and makeup…
The rehearsal dinner was outside at a restaurant set up on a hill overlooking Tuscany…the food was unbelieveable! And the vino was even better…lol!
We were married on Oct.4th at 5:30pm at the Villa di Maiano in Fiesole, Italy.
For those who don’t know where Fiesole is, it’s a small town in the hills of Tuscany about 10 miles north of Florence.
The villa where we were married dates back to the 14th century and was absolutely stunning.
The weather was PERFECT….75 degrees, sunny, with a slight breeze.
We held the ceremony on a terrace that has a stone wall (about hip height) that overlooks the hills of Tuscany and the skyline of Florence……
The view was AMAZING!!!!!!
We had 75 guests fly out from the states and arranges buses to pick them up in Florence (where most people stayed) and bring them to the villa and back…it worked out perfect!
We had a violinist and a cellist to play for the ceremony and the cocktail hour and they were wonderful!!!!
The ceremony and cocktail hour were both outside on the terrace and then we moved into the villa for the rest of the reception.
The order of the wedding was very traditionally Italian and is very different than we do it here….The first dance is after dinner, the cutting of the cake is not really a big deal (which I was happy about). And just little things that they do…we decided to do.
We wanted all of our guests to get the experience of a traditional Italian wedding (as well as we wanted it for ourselves)
We decided on a well known jazz band in Italy and I was nervous about our choice, b/c even though DH and I love jazz, we wanted all of our guests to enjoy it….well all I can say is it was the best choice I could have made….
They sang America jazz, American classics, Italian jazz, Italian classics….It was great!!!)
We decided on full sized bottles of wine made from the vineyards on the grounds of the villa as favors….they were a big hit!!!!
I brought my dress on the plane with me and it worked out great and I loved my dress….didn’t want to take it off.
FH decided against a tux….b/c the wedding was non-traditional, he wanted to be too…
He looked SO handsome. He wore an Armani charcoal grey pinstriped suit with a blue shirt underneath and brown accents….
My description doesn’t do it justice, but when I post pic’s you’ll see my handsome hubby!
All in all, my day was all I dreamt it would be and more….It was my fairytale come true!
I am certainly not saying that it was without flaws, but to me, it was perfect!
THANK YOU TO ALL THE LIW LADIES THAT GAVE ME SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE!!!!!!!!! YOU LADIES ARE ALL WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!
The other reason for writing this review is to get to re-live my day a bit…lol!
First off, let me say I had the most incredible wedding planner, named Ben Singleton...He only plans weddings in Italy and was my Godsend through this wedding!! lol! I am unfortunately, not a very detail oriented person and thank god he was there to remind me of all the things I had overlooked…hehe!
We had our rehearsal and dinner on the 3rd along with my hair and make-up trial…
(yes, I had my hair and make-up trial the day before my wedding…..but when you are getting married overseas…your options are limited…haha) Luckily I loved my hair and makeup…
The rehearsal dinner was outside at a restaurant set up on a hill overlooking Tuscany…the food was unbelieveable! And the vino was even better…lol!
We were married on Oct.4th at 5:30pm at the Villa di Maiano in Fiesole, Italy.
For those who don’t know where Fiesole is, it’s a small town in the hills of Tuscany about 10 miles north of Florence.
The villa where we were married dates back to the 14th century and was absolutely stunning.
The weather was PERFECT….75 degrees, sunny, with a slight breeze.
We held the ceremony on a terrace that has a stone wall (about hip height) that overlooks the hills of Tuscany and the skyline of Florence……
The view was AMAZING!!!!!!
We had 75 guests fly out from the states and arranges buses to pick them up in Florence (where most people stayed) and bring them to the villa and back…it worked out perfect!
We had a violinist and a cellist to play for the ceremony and the cocktail hour and they were wonderful!!!!
The ceremony and cocktail hour were both outside on the terrace and then we moved into the villa for the rest of the reception.
The order of the wedding was very traditionally Italian and is very different than we do it here….The first dance is after dinner, the cutting of the cake is not really a big deal (which I was happy about). And just little things that they do…we decided to do.
We wanted all of our guests to get the experience of a traditional Italian wedding (as well as we wanted it for ourselves)
We decided on a well known jazz band in Italy and I was nervous about our choice, b/c even though DH and I love jazz, we wanted all of our guests to enjoy it….well all I can say is it was the best choice I could have made….
They sang America jazz, American classics, Italian jazz, Italian classics….It was great!!!)
We decided on full sized bottles of wine made from the vineyards on the grounds of the villa as favors….they were a big hit!!!!
I brought my dress on the plane with me and it worked out great and I loved my dress….didn’t want to take it off.
FH decided against a tux….b/c the wedding was non-traditional, he wanted to be too…
He looked SO handsome. He wore an Armani charcoal grey pinstriped suit with a blue shirt underneath and brown accents….
My description doesn’t do it justice, but when I post pic’s you’ll see my handsome hubby!
All in all, my day was all I dreamt it would be and more….It was my fairytale come true!
I am certainly not saying that it was without flaws, but to me, it was perfect!
THANK YOU TO ALL THE LIW LADIES THAT GAVE ME SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE!!!!!!!!! YOU LADIES ARE ALL WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!
