Today I have a confession to make, please don’t judge me.
My favorite engagement rings
Invitation to Oz
I know, I’ve been away too long. But I’m coming back with a blast, I promise!
A couple of weeks ago I received the loveliest promo from Australian-based Classic Wedding Invitations. Linda Vydra (owner and designer at CWI) employs revolutionary last cutting technology to create invitations that are all but classic, if you ask me. Unique and incredible are the words that came to my mind while browsing their newest showcase pictures photographed by Lilli Waters (please, do check out her website for more of her stunning works!).
How I style weddings
Hello there, I’m back blogging today on this side of the website after so many months of exciting weddings, because I would like to share with you an inside look at how I style weddings. In truth, the styling process is not a solitary path, as every wedding project is born with the client couple and my role is that of assisting you in defining your vision and turning it into reality.
It all starts with a thorough questionnaire that I submit to you as soon as we meet, then after you’ve picked a venue we revise your answers together, trying to match your vision with the setting in which your wedding will actually take place. Generally speaking, I find that this order makes the process easier, while trying to find a venue that matches a certain pre-defined style can be more expensive as well as deeply frustrating. Not the best way to begin a wedding planning journey!
Getting to know you, discussing what your likes and dislikes are, provides me a number of useful information to deploy in your wedding design (colours you like, wedding pet peeves, etc.), but it also allows me an inside look into who you are, what you feel, what your story is. It is with this understanding in mind that I get to work on your wedding project, making sure every detail, hue, atmosphere is there for a reason, carrying a chapter of your story. Anything can work as a running thread, one of last year weddings were built on the concept of multicultural living and travelling, another on colour used as an explosion of joy and celebration, yet another one on a modern/romantic combination of lace and grey…
Once the main design concept is in place, the projet itself unfolds pretty straightforwardly. Through Pinterest I start assembling a general moodboard where anything goes, and all the possible developments are explored. It’s from this rough cut that I select the elements that will represent the project itself in the design moodboards I will use to present it to you. I usually build three: one for the ceremony, one for the party, one for all the details (stationery, favors, gifts…). During the presentation I collect your feedback to fine tune (or completely change) the project itself and take an opportunity to make sure what I put together is the right fit for you. The design concept and the moodboards together represent your wedding style ID, from which I will later start designing sketches for the vendors. That’s it, a wedding style is born!
If you’re wondering how all this actually unfolds, the pictures in this blog post illustrate it pretty accurately. In fact I approach editorial shootings with the same design process that I apply to weddings. Whenever I’m not the one coming up with the original idea, I work on all the team members contributions, mixing and exploring them in order to come up with a single style that will match each specialty and make our respective work shine. For example, the idea of this moroccan shooting came from Sofia and Erica, who wanted to try out an exotic atmosphere. I suggested we went beyond the obvious, exploring a different palette from the usual purple/orange combo.
ph. Les Amis Photo
Then, knowing that Valentina has a penchant for minimal and clean design, I suggested we could introduce geometrical patterns in the project, particularly triangles, which we could apply in different variations to setup and stationery.
ph. Les Amis Photo
Once we identified the perfect venue, I started selecting materials that could reinforce two elements usually typical in exotic settings, wild nature and luxe. Luxurious vegetation was already present in the glorious deck garden at Shambala, so I simply added a rough linen tablecloth and I suggested we’d use cord string to braid napkin rings.
ph. Les Amis Photo
I then reinforced the luxe feel by choosing gilded plates and cutlery, and applying a gold foil to some of the square wooden vases Sofia used for her flower arranegements.
ph. Les Amis Photo
While on set we decided to use pebbles a little recently, because they helpef elevate the composition. Just like it happens on location at a wedding, were last minute adjustments might be necessary to perfect a project. And that’s the end result!
ph. Les Amis Photo
What do you think about this? Would you like to have me on board for your wedding design project? I’m sure I could conceive the perfect style for your wedding in Italy!
Wedding trends, velvet!
Hi, lovelies! Today’s post is about a trend which I adore and which is just perfect for an wedding in Italy! I’m talking about velvet, and if you don’t trust me you have to look no further than the latest Martha Stewart Weddings, to verify that velvet (and lace) is the epitomy of Italian Style. John Legend wedded model Chrissy Teigen on the shore of Lake Como and velvet ribbons and lace details were everywhere!
Anyways, I just love velvet (silk velvet, to be precise) and I don’t think this has anything to do with my obsession for colder seasons, since recently cleverly picked velvet details have been showing up at events all around the year.
left: ph. Caroline Tran; right: ph. Anastasiya Belik via Burnett’s Boards
To prove you the many ways you can deploy this trend, I’ve selected a few velvet inspiration for wedding ideas fit for every season!
sinistra: ©Anticipate; destra: ph. Braedon Flynn via Southern by Design
A velvet ribbon is certainly the easiest way to insert this texture anywhere (to adorne your cake, tie your blooms, work around accessories), but even fabric swatches can be put to use, like in the vase cover from the pic above.
Why should you use velvet in a venue set up, you ask? Because it’s a multifaceted fabric that will bring depth to any composition, collecting light and adding texture to any decor; because it’s sensuous to the touch; because it embodies luxe and preciousness. I call it ‘luxury in a ribbon’!
sinistra: ph. Mille Batista via 100 Layer Cake; destra: ph. Elisa Bricker via 100 Layer Cake
Finally, I’m going to tell you what my own ideal velvet wedding idea is. I envision it to take place in autumn, in a venue with period chairs upholstered in iridescent velvet, loads of candles everywhere, large vases of dahlias, a bride in dramatic make-up with an empire-waist gown, a dapper groom dressed in slate grey, with a boutonnière of berries tied by a pumpkin colored velvet ribbon, an open air ceremony with an archway draped in berries and dried leaves, an intimate candle-lit reception.
Can you see it? How would YOU like it? I know the perfect location and venue for such a wedding here in Italy, so if you like it just drop me a line and we can start planning it together!
fatamadrina does white
This year I decided to exhibit at a local wedding fair event, after a long while. To be perfectly honest, I’m not a huge fan of such events in this Country, especially from a service vendor point of view, but I felt like I needed to reconnect with the local industry and I had been toying with the idea of an all-white decor which felt just perfect for such an occasion!
Since last year, I’ve been streamlining my workflow and campaigning for a ‘less is more’ approach in my daily life. I’m positively downsizing commitments, splurges, projects and the focus I’ve gained from this process has been a-mazing, actually allowing me to dive deeper into the things I care about the most. To me, less things in my life also meant clearing the so many inspirational feeds I received, which actually made my creative inspiration feel drained. ‘Less’ has become going back to a blank canvas, to white space. So my yearning for less has soon morphed in a yearning for white.
I craved white.
An inspiring, promising, nuanced white that could represent what my consultancy can be to you guys getting married. A white canvas on which we can write your own story.
moodboard for the fatamadrina booth © fatamadrina
So I decided to build a whole booth decor on a white scheme. I started off with a few magazine clippings I had kept (yep, I still read paper magazines and collect clippings. Very retro, innit?!), but I soon moved on to creating a Pinterest board where I could collect any predominantly white image and/or detail that caught my attention.
Paper Poms tassel garland ph. Barbara Pederzini
Then I started adding subtle colours: the gold foil of a wall sticker, the powder pink of a satin ribbon, the milk white of lace. It might not be incidental that these were the very colours of my first ever tissue paper tassel garland, which I had ordered from Paper Poms at the beginning of the 2013 season with a gut feeling that it’d come handy! And this is how I ended up with a colour palette which was effectually a moodboard in itself. From that to sketches to the actual project it was a very smooth process, not unlike the one when I help brides and grooms to design their wedding.
design sketch by Barbara Pederzini
On January 18th and 19th, couples visiting the local wedding fair were welcomed in a conversation corner which was slightly different from the one I’d envisioned (in the meantime, banqueting chef Bruna Musso had suggested we shared a booth, since we work so well together), but still very much true to the original concept. There was a lot of white, a few soft colours to complete it, plenty of atmosphere and warmth, a blanket/cushions covered sofa, and pictures from my weddings rotating on a screen.
ph. Barbara Pederzini
It was a very gratifying week-end and the surprising news is the ‘fatamadrina does white’ pin board is still very much alive and thriving. Could it be that I’m getting all minimal and whitey?!
Destination wedding planner based in Modena, Italy, until 2016.