Vintage Lace Wedding Inspirations

Phunkey Photography

I went to a craft fair last week and found myself gazing at all the beautiful laces at one of the haberdashery stands and even more amazingly, a group of ladies sitting at a table, spinning their magic with their lace-making bobbins. A truly magical craft that I wonder at each time I see it. I was actually looking for something different to use on my new collection of cards (another hobby), but the sheer beauty and wealth of choice and the talent of the lace-makers got me thinking about weddings...So what's new?!
Lace says it all for me. It's elegant, it's vintage, it's rustic chic, it's stylish. The epitome of a Country Weddings Italy type of wedding.

Dresses by: Peter Langner, Melamela, The English Department, Monsoon

Italy is actually one of the birthplaces of lace-making, along with the Flanders, so perhaps the lace-making ladies shouldn't have surprised me so much. It is still possible to see women making lace in Italy, sometimes sitting out on the street in remote villages, maybe catching a cool evening breeze but not wanting to lose a chance to work their magic and spin their lace "webs" with their "fuselli" or bobbins.
Lace can be incorporated into any part of your wedding. If your dress is fairly simple, why not try an elaborate lace veil, lace-covered shoes or headpiece, or even a lace bridal bouquet? No bride must forget her garter on her wedding day, so why not a special lace one?

Clockwise from top left: Garter  and birdcage veil by Silver Sixpence in Her Shoe, lace headdress
 on Etsy.com, lace bridal bouquet by Emma Line Bride, Lace gloves found on a prettypenny.co.uk

Lace used at your wedding reception can grace the dining table, your table plan or even be a decoration on your wedding cake. If you prefer not to use real lace, your wedding cake creators can weave their sugar-art magic and create edible lace decorations. There are some amazing ones around. 
Finally, if lace is really your thing, use it in your wedding stationery and wedding favours too. Never has there been a better moment to use lace as a theme throughout your wedding, with the general trend favouring lace, vintage and traditional crafts after years of minimalism. Here are just a few examples that I have found on the internet and from some of my favourite wedding suppliers. 

Clockwise from top left: vintage lace and sparkle-trimmed invitation by Vintage Bespoke stationery,
 Chair back by Lacey Events Services, "Merletto" dinner service by Arte Italica, .com, lace place name,
table plan and tea party recipe cards by Vintage Twee, cake by Sugar and Spice Creations.

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.

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

Citrus Fruit - Orange, Lemon and Lime Wedding Inspirations

During Christmas, the New Year, and all the other mid-winter celebrations that we have all been enjoying, my thoughts momentarily turned to many a Christmas holiday spent in Cyprus with my family, where I used to love walking near the coast among the citrus fruit groves, feeling the sun on my face and the breeze at my back. Happy times. Orange, lemon and lime are such cheerful colours, a true statement of joy. They are colours that remind you of sunshine, warmth and lazy afternoons sipping fruit cocktails in the garden or by the pool!
Instead of choosing just one colour to run through your wedding theme, why not choose two or three or more, all tied together by some common denomination factor. A wedding in Italy is a perfect backdrop to such colours, as they are part of the natural surroundings. Chase away any winter blues and start planning your wedding with this colour theme in warmer climes!

Photo credits: Invitation on minted.com, bouquet on my weddingflowersideas.co.uk,  sandals on superweddingshoes.com, wedding cake on onestylishbride.com, ring on evesaddiction.com, yellow bridesmaids dresses photo on theknot.com, lime green wedding favours on bridaloccasion.com

A Medieval Castle Wedding with Country Weddings Italy.

I was recently very lucky to spend 3 days in a gorgeous 15^th century lakeside castle in my much-loved area of Italy. I was there on a course (I’ve now got my Advanced Wedding Planner certificate under my belt!) but given the nature of what we were studying, we were allowed to enter the magical world of weddings in a fairytale castle, because this place is a wedding venue open to all!! What girl wouldn’t love to get married in a  real Medieval castle?! Better than anything I ever dreamed up with my Barbie dolls when I was a youngster!

Do the names Tom Cruise and Petra Ecclestone ring bells for anyone? This is the place they chose to get married! The celebrity list is a long one: in fact, before spending time at the castle, I thought it would be well out of most people’s price range, but I now know that the castle caters to many pockets. It truly is possible to plan a multi million-dollar wedding there, but it is also possible to spend amounts that are within many people’s wedding budget. Prices depend on the various areas of the castle hired for the wedding and getting married here during the week is less expensive that choosing a day at the weekend.

The setting is superb and the staff in charge of weddings, headed by the amazing Sanda Pandza, are all warmhearted and wonderfully efficient.  I learned so much during my stay at the castle and know for sure that any Country Weddings Italy couple who should decide to get married here will enjoy the experience of a lifetime.  The castle still belongs to the aristocratic family that purchased the castle at the end of the 17^th century, when the original owners found themselves in financial difficulties and had to sell off many of their assets. The current owner of the castle, (a real princess!) still has private apartments in the castle, although the castle is also open to visitors each day, for guided tours.

Symbolic wedding and commitment ceremonies can be organised within the castle grounds, indoors or outdoors, or a civil or religious wedding can be held just outside the castle walls, at the local cathedral or town hall. Moving on to the post-ceremony celebrations,  aperitifs are often served in the Secret Garden, while the wedding breakfast is normally served indoors, in one of the castle’s majestic halls off the main courtyard, or even in the castle’s traditional kitchens, with their huge fireplaces. Dancing and entertainment can continue  in the courtyard after the celebratory meal, and at night the castle can be lit up with candles and torches, and even fireworks so that it is seen for miles around. There is no end of possibilities to planning a wedding here!

As I’ve often said in the past, a country wedding doesn’t necessarily mean not holding an elegant celebration. This is an absolutely perfect setting for any lady who wants to be a true princess on her wedding day. If you would like more information about holding your wedding here, together with all the other services Country Weddings Italy can provide to make your wedding in Italy just perfect, then write to us at: countryweddingsitaly@gmail.com

Credits: We would like to thank Castello Odescalchi for all the photos.

White and Yellow Daisy Wedding Inspirations

Daisy wedding dress by Philippa Lepley,  daisy wedding band by Gerard McCabe, stationery by Debbie Jenkins,
 wedding cake by daisie fantasie, bridesmaids' dresses seen on weddingdressonline.org

It has suddenly turned rather cold here in the northern part of Latium. Lots of frost on my lawn this morning. The sun is shining however, just the right weather for a brisk walk in the open air in the countryside.
 However much I love winter weather like this, thinking forward to Spring makes me joyful. It makes me think of weddings, flowers and light,warm country air. Here is a little bit of true springtime wedding day inspiration for all you future brides who are maybe suffering from worse winter weather than we are fortunate to have here at Country Weddings Italy. This Daisy inspiration theme has just the right "rustic chic" touch that could be used at a country wedding venue.

Powder Blue Wedding Inspirations

Favour bags by fabulousfavours.co.uk, blue bridesmaid dress by Carla Massara boutique,
necklace by Bilibi, powder blue wedding dress by CentroSposiParadiso

This blog is dedicated to my Country Weddings Italy business partner and dear friend, Daniela. We have been having long discussions about the colour "powder blue" and its relevant gradient of grey as opposed to pale blue. It's been hard work (we even got the Sanderson's paint colour chart out at one point!) but we finally got there. Why all this preoccupation with a colour, you may ask. Because it's the colour we have chosen for our website background (nearly there now) and we have literally driven our website designer crazy asking him to find the exact colour we were looking for!

However, all this talk got me thinking about what an elegant colour powder blue is indeed, and just perfect for incorporating into a wedding theme, winter or summer, country or even for a beach wedding, so here are a few things I found on the web that can give you some inspiration.

Country Charm for an Italian Country Wedding

Today it's time to showcase another venue that we at Country Weddings Italy have been lucky enough to find, visit and get to know. This country hotel resort lies in the hills of northern Latium, just a few miles from one of the region's largest lakes, Bracciano, and close to local sites with Etruscan and Roman ruins.
Antonello and Marina, the couple who own and run the resort are two of the most helpful people we have met while searching for our quality suppliers and vendors. They really like to take care of their guests, no request seems to be too much trouble, and they call their work their favourite hobby!

The venue itself is top quality, with beautiful, natural grounds, a large open-air swimming pool, a top-quality restaurant,a large terrace for "al fresco" meals, a wine bar and lots of space for sun-bathing, taking a stroll, or just generally relaxing. The owners supply guests with bicycles for exploring the local area and offer cookery courses to their guests on request.
Guests can stay in double bedrooms, studio apartments or cottages, choosing self-catering, half board or full board, all at extremely reasonable prices. Weddings held here receive the owners' utmost attention. Antonello is also the resort's chef, having finally managed to turn a lifetime's passion into a full-time job after leaving his executive management position in a multinational company some years ago. Couples can choose to have their wedding reception meal indoors or outdoors around the beautiful swimming pool,  while dancing and music can continue until late at night in the winebar. Antonello has also been know to lend his vintage sports car to the bride and groom to travel to the local wedding hall!

This definitely a venue which has an excellent price/quality ratio, with guaranteed full attention from your hosts and the beauty of the surrounding scenery.