Boho wedding in Tuscany {real fatamadrina wedding}

Oh, the excitement! I can finally share with you the pictures of Mr and Mrs Dom’s wedding! (look up the hashtag #mrandmrsdom on Instagram and Twitter for more snaps).

I know this is not very professional, but I have to come clean about Lydia and Dominic. Although every couple I meet is special and I can truly say I’ve been able to strike a lovely working relationship with each and every one of them, there are some people that from the moment you meet them you just know something particular clicked. This is what happened with these two. Planning their wedding was an emotional and engaging path that lead to a truly moving wedding day.

I’ve often been quoted saying that it’s people that truly matter, as far as your wedding atmosphere is concerned. The friends and family who travelled to Villa Catureglio on September 9th are among the best and most loving peeps I’ve ever met on the job. They were so truly loving of the bride and groom to even accept me as part of the gang, just because I was helping their friends make their dream come true!

The day was captured by super-talented Francesco De Tito, who managed to catch on camera both the most intimate moments and the many decor details that I, the bride and her friends had conceived, created and assembled with the help of the some great vendors.

All flowers for the wedding were sourced and arrenged by Andrea and Cinzia Stiatti, one half of the talented family behind Stiatti Fiori, in Montevarchi. I met Nadia (the other half) while looking for vendors for another wedding I was planning in the Siena area, and we immediately got along. She and her sister were incredibly forthcoming and flexible, and they managed to tune in perfectly with my brides’ requests and the projects I had drafted for them. Working with the Stiatti sisters was a dream! It doesn’t happen very often that you get a call from a florist just 2 days before a late September wedding, saying “look, I found some gorgeous peonies in the same exact colour we’re using for the arrangements, I’m going to bring them even if they’re not on the list”!

The wedding invites were entirely hand drawn and calligraphed by the bride’s stepdad, a very accomplished artist. To tie in every element of the decor and stationery, I also asked him to drawn a few more sketches of corners and details of Villa Catureglio, to scan and compose with the rest of the stationery. We ended up using them for the ceremony programs (mounted on sticks to act as fans), as well as table signs.

Lydia’s stepdad also calligraphed the guests names on escort cards (that I hang from yarn in the reception area), the seatplan and menu sign on a folding blackboard I had created (2013 was a very DIY wedding season!).

The wedding reception was held outside at sunset, and all table decor was created by Cinzia Stiatti with romantic arrangements of blue vases, bottles and tea cups filled with colourful blooms, completed with books and lace ribbons, candles and quotation tags. White wooden frames displayed table names, every one a special place in the couple’s history, with a brief explanation.

Olive trees surrounded the tables, with white cages filled with blooms hanging from their branches, as well as tiny bells attached to satin ribbons.

The invite asked guests to join the couple for a garden ceremony, a dinner under the stars and dancing in a barn… Although the weather was a threat up to the wedding day morning, everything went exactly as advertised!

The morning after the wedding I had to leave Tuscany for a business meeting here in Modena and goodbyes were, I admit, rich in hugs and pretty tearful. This was, without a doubt, one of the weddings I enjoyed the most in my career and I’m sure it won’t be the last project Lydia and I will work on together! Brace yourself for what comes next!

Credits:
Design, planning and coordinatio me, fatamadrina
Photography Francesco De Tito
Venue Villa Catureglio, Borgo a Mozzano (LU)
Banqueting Glamour Ricevimenti
Flowers Stiatti Fiori
Bridal hair Alina Coiffeur, Diecimo (LU)
Music Andrea Muzzarelli and band, the groom and his band