Latium, the land of Princes, Popes, Farmers and Craftsmen

Many people reading this blog have asked me to tell them a little more about Latium, the region where Country Weddings Italy is based and will concentrate most of its wedding venues. Although I obviously speak from a personal point of view, I truly think that this part of Italy is beautiful, and the beauty of it is that it's not crawling with tourists for most of the year, apart from the capital city, of course. 

So many parts of Italy are popular with overseas tourists. Tuscany is most certainly at the forefront in everyone’s mind when they think of Italy. The region’s tourist board has certainly had some very efficient marketing experts working for them in recent years, and they have the "material" to warrant that, without a doubt. The Amalfi coast is also very popular with Brits and Americans with its unique coastal scenery, and Lake Garda and the northern lakes in general have gained popularity thanks to the likes of George Clooney buying property in the area. Italy’s most beautiful cities, Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples are also known names in everybody’s vocabulary.

Latium (known as Lazio in Italian) is, in fact, the Italian region that is home to one of those names: Rome, the Eternal City, Italy’s capital, which gets its fair share of publicity worldwide and which everyone dreams of visiting at least once in their lifetime. It really is worth a visit and that could easily be incorporated into your stay here, as the city is never more than an hour's journey from wherever you stay in the region.  However, apart from Rome, we are somewhat spoilt for choice in this area of Ancient Roman, Etruscan and Renaissance history. There are architectural wonders to look at wherever you go.  There are Roman ruins, Etruscan tombs, medieval castles, spectacular countryside, rugged coastlines with its long, wide beaches, mountains for skiing, thermal spa towns and lakes for lazing by. A perfect, mini paradise!

We have already shown you a few venues and locations for celebrating your wedding in Latium in this blog. In coming weeks I will most definitely showcase some more. I could go on for hours and hours about the majestic beauty of the medieval town of Viterbo, Montefiascone, the village that produces the excellent Est! Est! Est! wine by the side of Lake Bolsena, the the Monti Sabini hills in the northeast corner of the region, with its olive groves that produces the most divine olive oil and superb country farmhouse hotels ...... but I often think that the power of words is sometimes just simply overcome by the power of pictures, and so I thought I would show you this short video of just some of the highlights of the Latium area. Feast your eyes on this!

"So Many Shades of White" Wedding Inspirations

Last weekend, I spent three days in the most fantastic castle (you truly do get to visit some wonderful places doing this job!!) you can imagine. More on the castle as a dream wedding location in a future post (I'll just name-drop a minute to get you interested though....Tom Cruise, Petra Ecclestone, Mena Suvari...), but I wanted to tell you about its connection to my latest Country Weddings Italy  wedding inspiration collage. White is a colour that shouldn't be taken for granted at a wedding, whatever we may think. Trends come and go and even change the colour of the traditionally white bridal gown, but white remains the supreme champion of colours. 
The talented Floral Designer that I had the privilege to meet at the castle last week, Andrea Patrizi, emphasised the importance of this colour and reiterated the concept that it is THE colour to choose for all aspects of your wedding, possibly the only one. I wasn't quite sure about that, but the more photos I look at, the more I think he may well just have a point! From sophisticated roses to simple country daisies, pure silk or antique lace, icing sugar or the finest quality paper, white is one colour that is so easy to work with and that looks splendid in any environment.


Photo Credits: Wedding shrug from Monsoon; Bridal bouquet made to order by Porcelain Roses (and yes, they are really porcelain!); Pearl wedding invitation from Imagine;  Clutch bag from Etsy;  Daisy wedding cake by Maisie Fantasie, Tall cake featured on weddingandcakes.com; White butterfly biscuits by Juliet Smallwood

Fairs and fair promises

Daniela and I left respective husbands, partners and children at home last Sunday and went off to visit a Bridal Fair. It was most interesting noting the new wedding trends for next year - bridal dresses, wedding favours, invitations and stationery, wedding cakes, venues, musicians, photographers – you name it, we saw it!  We also had the opportunity to speak to several people working in the wedding sector who seemed to fit our vision of how we’d like to develop our business and who were located in the area we intend to work in. They all seemed extremely interested in our plans and as a result, the last few days have been filled with telephone calls, appointment books in hand, arranging visits to each of the companies or people that we hope to work together with in the future.

Living in the very area that we operate in is a great advantage. We actually already knew many of the venues that we are planning to showcase and offer on our website. We have enjoyed meals or special events at several of them. We have had direct, personal experience in the past of working with a couple of our new suppliers. 
One thing that we promise to future Country Weddings Italy clients is that we will personally have visited any venue that we propose as part of any wedding, and will have seen, tried and/or used  any services that we suggest.  We believe in the personal touch, which is why we don’t want to offer ready-made packages to our couples and also why we have decided to work within a limited area, where we know we can keep our finger on the button at all times. Each couple will have their own idea about what their big day will be like, and we will live up to their expectations, and maybe surpass them too!  We believe that this is only possible if our work is carried out “hands on”, getting to know suppliers personally, watching them at work and conveying to them what our clients really want. 

I’ll be telling you more about our meetings in the next few days, so watch this space.