A Countryside Castle resort for your Wedding Celebrations close to the City of Rome

As promised, after our many tours around the region in the last month or so, here is another great wedding venue near Rome made available for Country Weddings Italy. Daniela dug this one out of her hat just a few weeks ago. The funny thing is that it is so close to our respective homes, it is almost as if it were hiding from us, right under our noses. Anyway, now that Daniela has been clever enough to find it, we are eager to show it to you.

The venue is a luxury hotel resort located in a real castle in the countryside immediately outside the city of Rome. The “Castello” was built between the 10th and 13th centuries by the noble Cancellieri family, descendants of the extremely important Orsini family, on the ruins of an ancient Roman villa. Through the centuries it has seen the rise and fall of the many noble families that owned it before it was converted into luxury holiday accommodation in 2002.

The castle is set in luxuriant parkland, and exudes a relaxing atmosphere, while being just a stone’s throw from the lively city. You would never think that you are just 20 minutes from sightseeing and shopping galore!

 In keeping with this ambience, the castle also offers a large outdoor swimming pool where clients can relax, swim and sunbathe and a wellness centre offering personalised beauty treatments for regenerating the body and the mind.

The Hotel has 23 double rooms, making it rather intimate, but at the same time large enough to hold a medium-sized wedding party. Each of the rooms is individually furnished in true keeping with the castle’s style. There are suites, luxury rooms and standard rooms to choose from, for all needs, and varying budgets.

The hotel’s “Locanda” (restaurant) has been splendidly restored in true medieval style. It features a fine stone fireplace dominating one end of the room. The restaurant can be hired for exclusive use for weddings and events and there are also another two functions rooms for bigger or smaller wedding parties. The decor is charming and can be embellished to give a more formal look or a more romantic, country chic look.

Food at the castle is magnificent. The cuisine ranges from regional dishes to others with a strong central Italian influence, but always and only using top quality ingredients and fresh seasonal produce. We can vouch for this. It’s a job perk, you know!

One amazing feature of the hotel is that it also has a private chapel where Catholic weddings can be held.  The chapel is intimate and rich in decor, making it extremely simple to decorate for ceremonies. Weddings can also be held outside in the Cloisters, giving a magical touch to a religious ceremony.

On a more ludical note, the hotel is also close to several golf courses for any golf enthusiasts out there and only about 25 minutes away from a car race track where it is possible to try out your hand racing a Ferrari or a Lamborghini around the track. We can organise these activities for you and many more too.

The resort is 25 miles from the airport, and only 8 miles from Rome city centre, although one would never know that the Eternal City is so close. The castle stands in green parkland and noise is a forgotten problem when staying here. Relaxing by the swimming pool, walking in the grounds, relaxed meals on the terrace, all away from the hustle and bustle, truly makes for a great place to spend a few days with your partner and guests, with the added bonus of being able to organise sightseeing in the city.

All this is available for weddings, and other events that we can organise, and the whole estate and hotel just oozes class. We find many hotel and resort prices to be very reasonable in this part of Italy (apart from the city centre) and again, this location is not overly  expensive if compared to some British and French hotels of the same standard. Last but not least, the staff at the castle are extremely friendly and efficient. Combined with Country Weddings Italy, a great team!

Castles and Country Weddings....Italy

Well, what a month March has been! We've gone from the freak snow of February to the amazing sunny days of March. Just perfect for wanting to laze around in the garden and not do any work, but no rest for the wicked, and my feet literally haven't touched the ground, so what does that say about me??

 I know I haven’t been around a lot on the blog, but we are currently visiting some “wow factor” venues that we could possibly suggest to our Country Weddings Italy couples. More of those in the near future (and then I’m off to bed as we have another visit arranged for tomorrow morning!) but in the meantime, and I know I’ve told you about this before, Latium (or Lazio as it is known here in Italy), the Italian Region home to Rome, to name its most famous city, is full of the most amazing architecture from all periods. Most of the castles, however, date back to the Medieval Age.

I thought I might tempt you with a few photographs of some of these magnificent buildings. Some of the castles are still lived in by their aristocratic owners, but many are now also open to the public, to visit or, here it comes, to hire as wedding venues! Can you imagine feeling like a true-blood Italian aristocrat or princess in your own castle for a day??

Some of the castles have been transformed into hotels, at several levels from B&B to 5-star hotel. Some of them are museums on a day-to-day basis, but can be hired for weddings anyway (they close the museum for the day, don't worry, no uninvited guests!) At least two are now  municipal wedding halls, which means you can use them as your legal civil wedding venue there, maybe with the mayor marrying you in the castle museum or up on the terrace overlooking the surrounding countryside.  One castle is famous for both its beautiful rose gardens and the wonderful waterfalls nearby. Perfect as a backdrop for photos….

There are castles big and small, some hotels to stay in for a week, or locations just for your special day, some municipal wedding halls or museums. Some are by the sea, some by a lake and others in the countryside surrounded by exquisite medieval villages or green fields. Just perfect, in any of these cases for a Country Wedding in Italy! 

If you’d like to know more about using a Latium castle as your wedding venue, or also as your holiday location for you and your wedding guests, please let us know and we can send you more information. In the meanwhile, take a look at the pictures to see the plethora of castles on offer!

Mimosa Yellow Wedding Inspirations

Image credit: www.itsajaimething.com 

This time of year, things tend to get a little “yellow” here in Italy. Spring is already in the air,  the sunshine is already a regular feature each morning and the first trees to flower at this time of year are the Mimosa trees, or the Silver Wattle trees as they are known in some parts of the world. This tall tree blossoms with its feathery yellow, ball-shaped flowers, which give off a strong perfume and are beautiful to look at against the clear blue skies of early morning. I don’t think I had ever seen a Mimosa tree before coming to Italy, so they still strike me as being extremely beautiful. The fact that I can’t actually hold a flowering twig or branch of the tree without sneezing is beside the point! (the blossoms give off a powdery residue at times, which plays hell with my allergies!)

Mimosa yellow shoes by Brian Atwook, Mimosa table centre arrangement by Liane McCombs Weddings & Events, Mimosa garland on www.myfrenchcountryhome.blogspot.com, nail polish "Mimosa" by Chanel, bracelet by IsitForMe on Etsy, Mimosa invitation by Delphine Press,
 Yellow candy by Esla Events

So why tell you about these trees today? Because March 8^th is International Women’s Day, and here in Italy, and the Mimosa is the symbol of this special day. In Italy, many matters, mediatic and non are concentrated on celebrating the event each year, for all the right and wrong reasons, in my humble opinion. I think it is an excellent opportunity for the media and campaigning groups to talk about the oppression of women, equality, domestic violence against women and female poverty etc, but do  not think that we actually need a special day to believe that we have a right to a night out with our female friends! Isn’t that something we can do every day of the year if we so wish, and have the time ?

Ok, I’m off my soapbox. The trees that have coloured my daily drive down the country lanes to school and back in the last few days have given me the idea for this wedding inspiration board. Bright yellow looks so wonderful with crisp white as colours for your wedding styling, and is mellowed if matched with ivory. Take a look for yourselves, and Happy International Women’s Day to one and all from Country Weddings Italy!

Getting Married in Italy...the Perfect Choice

Hi everyone. Today I thought I would provide you with some personal thoughts about why couples decide to get married in Italy. I'm very happy that they do, of course (!!) but making that choice can be so tricky, with the plethora of beautiful destinations worldwide to choose from. In spite of that number of alternatives, Italy has become a very popular choice with couples opting for a “Destination Wedding”, especially with British, Irish, American, Australian and Canadian brides and grooms.

So what is it that makes Italy so attractive, the choice as the perfect place to take your vows and hold the celebrations for your new life together? The first thing that comes to mind is that Italy is such a romantic place. Italian lifestyle itself, the Dolce Vita, is the perfect atmosphere for any type of celebration, and the scenery that you find almost anywhere can be the perfect setting. Just think of all that money saved on styling!! I often spend hours just gazing out of my living window, thinking about how beautiful this place is, and that’s after living here for 22 years, so the novelty has kind of worn off by now! Anyway, let’s say that the canvas is already there, all it needs is painting a little bit more with your favourite colours and style. 

The sun and light in Italy is also so special, and you get a chance to add a little colour to your skin before the big day, if you want to. Wonderful food, fantastic wines, friendly-natured people……I could go on and on, but I think Italy’s magic ingredient is just that…magic. Something that has no name, something that you can’t quite put your finger on, but you know it is all around you. One phrase that always immediately pops out of somebody’s mouth when I say that I live in Italy is “Oh! You lucky thing!!” And my answer is always “Yes, aren’t I”. And I mean it.

In spite of some negative aspects of living here all the time (is any country perfect?), Italy is a wonderful place, even more so if you plan to spend only a temporary period here.  The Latium countryside is rolling hills, lush vegetation and filled with archaeological and architectural wonders. To watch the video I put on the blog a little while ago, about this superb area of Italy, Latium, where Country Weddings Italy is based, click here.   We can also add the excellent food and wine, amazing locations, beautiful churches and town halls, unique venues with breathtaking views. Italians are certainly creative and stylish too. In fact, we dedicate a lot of time to our supplier searches,  so that the presentation of the food for your wedding breakfast, your table decorations, your wedding flowers and your photographs will be out of this world, even when planning a wedding on a smaller budget. Your wedding will be an event that stays on all your guests’ lips for weeks afterwards. You will have lifetime memories of your wedding in Italy to cherish forever.

Couples choosing to marry in Italy and invite their family and friends often turn the experience into a celebration that lasts for more than one day. The special occasion becomes an opportunity to meet relatives and friends that you may not have seen for some time, and spend some quality time with them, all staying in the same location. At Country Weddings Italy we organise pre and post-wedding events too, which can also be incorporated into your official wedding programme, and be included on your wedding invitations. We can sit down together and organise a whole progamme of events for you and your guests. For example, how about a pre-wedding barbecue by the pool of your hotel the night before the wedding? How about inviting all your guests to have a late brunch with you the day after your wedding, to look at some of the photos (the magic of digital photography is that it is immediately visible on screen) and talk about some of the most enjoyable moments of the day?  How about spending a day before your wedding in the kitchen with your friends, learning authentic Italian cooking while sipping a glass of full-bodied red wine (or two…).

 Or, to make the men (or the women, of course!) in the wedding party happy, how about learning to drive a Ferrari or a Lamborghini around an Italian racetrack for the day?

Daniela and I always make sure that we have excellent accommodation to offer you, if it is not already available at your wedding venue, and if we don’t have immediate thoughts on the matter, we will do the searching for you, until we find a place where you will be happy staying for your wedding holiday.  Some of the excellent hotels and country villas that we have visited and chosen to offer to our couples have offered to organise cookery classes, wine-tasting evenings, and even sightseeing tours around Rome.

Add your wedding ceremony in a frescoed wedding hall, a beautiful church or in a country garden, spectacular food and wine at your wedding reception and a mild climate almost all year round, and……well, maybe we’ve got the answer as to why Italy is a very popular choice for couples planning their wedding.

Butterfly Wedding Inspirations at Country Weddings Italy

www.countryweddingsitaly.com

OK, we admit it. We have a thing about butterflies here at Country Weddings Italy. We have even chosen a butterfly to sit on the home page of our new website, which is due to go online any day now. (Yippee!!). The photo above is a sneak preview....

I have my own reasons for loving butterflies, and have even been known to shed a tear when I see one, as I find them so spiritual, but they truly are the most marvellous, gorgeous creatures. With so much ugliness in the world, they can become a magnificent theme or item at a wedding, bound to wow your guests and carry a beautiful, special meaning too: Butterflies symbolize new life, new beginnings and a transformation from old to new. This is highly symbolic of marriage; the joining of two lives to create a new one.

Butterflies are all around in the Italian countryside in Spring and Summer months, but I sometimes catch a glimpse of them in Autumn and Winter too in my garden. The various colours are amazing, and I always gaze in wonder at how audacious butterflies are; they take their time and visit all the flowers in the garden, not scared off by humans, dogs or loud noises.

We've put together a few inspiration boards to show you some of the many and original ways that butterflies can be incorporated into your wedding, and we've done a photo-shoot too, of Country Weddings Italy-created wedding decor items. More of that later this afternoon. In the meantime take a look at these photos and start dreaming of filling your wedding venue in Italy with these gorgeous items.

Clockwise from top left: tiara from Princess Jewellery, dress from Dorotheas Closet Vintage,
tiara from notonthehighstreet.com, dress from BHLDN, tiara from 3D jewellery, dress by Mariella
 Burani,full gown found on weddingpoints.co.uk, dress by Mary L Couture.

Clockwise from left to right: cakesforweddings.net, marthastewartweddings.com,
 maisiefantaisie.co.uk,  eweddingcake.com, nickygrant.com, maisiefantaisie.co.uk

Clockwise from left to right: diy.weddingbee.com, kaboodle.com, diywedcentral.com,
 bridalcraft.com,  confettiflowers.com, jan hobbins, monarchbutteflys.com, butterflyaccessories.co.uk

Clockwise from left to right: invitation from inspiredinvites.com, biscuit cutter wedding favour
 from itsawrap.weddings.co.uk,  yellow wedding invitation from zazzle.co.uk, wedding
favour biscuits from julietstallwoodbiscuitsandcakes.co.uk,  invitation from handyhippo.co.uk,
all white invitation from weddingsoon.co.uk, jewelled butterfly wedding favour from modefunction.com,
 lilac invitation from debbiejenkins.co.uk

Wedding Favours, a Worldwide Italian Tradition

The tradition of giving small gifts, or "favours" to guests at weddings dates back 300 or 400 years. It seems that the European aristocracy gave away the first wedding favours, known as a ‘bonboniere’- a small trinket box made of porcelain or crystal, often decorated with precious stones and usually containing sugar which was an extremely expensive delicacy at that time and was also thought to have medicinal properties.

The sugar inside the boxes was soon replaced by sugar-coated almonds in Italy, and the world-renowned “confetti” or  Jordan almonds were born, as they are still known today. 5 of these confetti were given to guests at weddings, to represent 5 good wishes for the newly-married couple: Health, Wealth, Happiness, Fertility and Long Life.

Not much has changed today, in Italy. Five (on occasion only 1 or 3, but always an odd number) sugar-coated almonds are still handed out at weddings and other celebrations too, but in recent years, the bomboniere or wedding favours, as they are known in English, have become popular worldwide. 

However, as times have progressed in Italy, an amazing number of new flavours of confetti have been developed, all absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious: chocolate, strawberry, orange, coconut, peach, pineapple, pistachio, limoncello, coffee, truffle.... the choice is endless. The dessert table, so popular at the moment at British weddings, is often replaced by the “Confettata” at Italian weddings, a beautifully decorated table full of glass or silver bowls, or fabric bags containing several different flavours of confetti. Whenever I’m attending an Italian wedding, I can usually be found near the Confettata table, just checking (honest!) that they “taste right”... if anybody comments about me lurking in that area of the room, I like to explain that I’m carrying out “quality control”!!! 

Confetti are also given to guests to take home, in wedding favours, which come in so many shapes and forms: beautiful little boxes, organza, silk or linen bags, arranged inside special confetti holding “petals” made from tulle, artfully arranged into little bouquets , or simply wrapped in tulle and tied with a silk ribbon. There are special shops in Italy dedicated purely to creating, making and selling wedding favours, but in the land where confetti were first made, it is maybe no wonder.

Confettiflowers.com

Wedding favours with almonds, chocolates or other confectionery are a lovely, thoughtful idea at any wedding, but in Italy, home to the original Confetti, they are a total MUST!! Anybody coming to Italy to get married can ask Country Weddings Italy for advice on choosing their wedding favours for their guests. I'll even offer to carry out a little "quality control" on the confetti too, if you insist ;-).

inventeventi.com

Martha Stewart Weddings

mezzalunabomboniere

Handpainted (edible!) confetti