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.

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.

Rustic Chic Lakeside Wedding Venue at Country Weddings Italy

Today we’d like to show you one of the locations that we visited recently and have decided to include in our range of Country Weddings Italy wedding venues. This 346-acre estate evokes a truly rustic chic atmosphere: it is a fully working farm that stands on the shores of a small lake just 30 minutes north of Rome. The farm owners have developed a restaurant renowned for the quality of its food and a farm shop selling all their own produce. The restaurant uses the farm produce in its kitchens; it even grows its own wheat to make the pasta!

The venue also offers accommodation for guests, in both double rooms, or beautiful self-catering apartments, created from the farm’s refurbished hay barn and stalls.  Anybody attending a wedding can make this a real holiday opportunity, staying around to enjoy the lakeside beach and bar, sailing boats, swimming, horse-riding and even cookery lessons.

Weddings here take on a bucolic style. The wedding reception decor and floral designs reflect the natural country setting, using local wild flowers and colours in keeping with or complementary to the environment. Couples can even choose to seat their guests on hay bales during a symbolic ceremony down by the beach, and after the excellent food served at the wedding reception, it is possible to hold an after-dinner beach party to continue celebrations until the early hours of the morning!

Daniela and I love this place, and the friendly family team that run all the estate activities. This is also a restaurant where I can already vouch for the quality of the food, I’ve already enjoyed Sunday lunch here with the family, eating and enjoying an excellent glass of local wine, and lazing by the water’s edge.

If you require further information about organising your wedding at this venue in Italy, please get in touch with us at: countryweddingsitaly@gmail.com

Vintage, Shabby Chic, Retro.....in Italy

I know that vintage-theme weddings are already a big hit in the UK and the USA, but here in Italy, the trend has only just started to arrive. All the wedding magazines are talking of “vintage, traditional and princess-like” wedding dresses for next year, 2012, after a good  few years of minimalist fashion, straight lines and no lace for the bride!

I personally ADORE the vintage look, be it clothes, interior design or just bits and pieces. I treasure my grandmother's bone china tea service, embroidered tablecloths, cut glass vases and all the old black and white family photographs, which are all spread around my home in the countryside north of Rome. I am also an avid crafter and vintage themes are a constant in my creations, some of which are now becoming extremely popular among friends and acquaintances as the vintage trend takes hold.

Daniela, my friend and business partner, is also a lover of everything vintage and “shabby chic”. Her house is a true treasure trove of her family heirlooms. I don’t think I have ever seen a house filled with so many fantastic pieces of furniture and finishings, all authentic! How, therefore, could we not envisage weddings with this type of slant to them? The very area where we have based Country Weddings Italy just cries out for ceremonies and receptions with an authentic vintage, bucolic or shabby chic theme. The farmhouse gardens filled with sunflowers, paeonies, hydrangeas and roses, the restaurants and country house hotels with their rustic chic furnishings, the castles and noble country homes filled with antiques and vintage drapes and ornaments.....talk about cutting costs, half the styling is done for you already in this setting!

I never got the chance to wear my mother’s or grandmother’s wedding dress, but as I have got older (alas!), I have often thought that it would have been an amazing opportunity. Many wedding dress collections for next year in Italy have that “vintage” look. Below is a dress from the Errico Maria collections, a company based in the south of Italy that has been creating masterpieces for brides for over 30 years and a dress from Rosa Clarà, the Barcelona-based international wedding dress makers. I have also rummaged around and found some authentic vintage dresses for sale in Italy too, on the Tara Vintage website, (with a bricks and mortar shop in Bra – yes, that’s the name of the town - in the north of Italy), as well as the several vintage dress websites that have sprung up in the UK and US (one of the photos below is from www.poshgirlvintage.com, the California-based online vintage dress shop).
 Alternatively, for anyone who is a dab hand with a sewing machine, my searches have opened up a whole world of authentic vintage sewing patterns to me (unfortunately, I'm not one of the afore-mentioned "dab hands"). I recently spent hours enthralled by all the patterns available on www.sovintagepatterns.com, and have included a couple of their treasures below for you. For example, imagine a real 1930s dress pattern to be made using the wealth of fabrics on offer today, which can so closely resemble the gorgeous handmade silks and laces of yesteryear, but are maybe a little easier to sew, and more resistant to wear and tear.

Photos left to right from: sovintagepatterns.com, rosaclara.es, poshgirlvintage.com, sovintagepatterns.com and erricomaria.it