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.

Vintage Twee for Country Weddings - the perfect combination!

Hi everyone, busy week here at Country Weddings Italy, but I really wanted to spend some time today showing you the truly inspirational work by a girl after my own heart. Joanne Linder is a northwest girl turned enterprising businesswoman who is proud of her British heritage, and who has a passion for anything vintage and “twee”, as she affectionately puts it. She also obviously has a magical artistic flair for making items that are just perfect for a wedding celebration. When I stumbled across her website (is it only me that starts off with an intention of looking at something in particular on the web, and ends up somewhere completely different??), I was immediately well and truly hooked!

Joanne’s  products are all made by her own fair hands, which must make her a very busy girl at times. She also told me that she works alone and makes everything from start to finish, a “mere” detail that many people overlook , as they think that Vintage Twee is actually run by a team of people. She obviously has a fine eye for attractive materials and detail too, and I, among many others,  think her creations are just wonderful. As a crafter myself, I have a fairly critical eye, but her items are clearly top-quality, worthy of adorning any wedding table or celebration. Her wedding favours, table decor, tea party range and stationery are lovingly made with inspiration from romantic times-gone-by that have never lost their appeal.

Vintage Love Letter wedding favour boxes.

Joanne set up the business just 18 months ago, but has already been featured several times in the press and her business has grown from strength to strength. This does not, however, stop Joanne from keeping her finger on the button at all levels, as she sources all her vintage materials personally, which she then takes to her studio and transforms into her handcrafted wares.

I really would have a hard time choosing my favourite item from all the ones featured here, but I think one of her most original ideas are the Afternoon Tea Recipe cards, which could easily be chosen as a wedding favour at a vintage, shabby chic or country wedding party.  Feast your eyes on these lovely photos and then visit Joanne’s website at www.vintagetwee.com.

We truly hope some Country Weddings Italy brides will want to use Joanne’s creations on their special day. We would just love to see some photographs of them on the tables at our special wedding venues! 

Gorgeous paper cones to be used for rice or petals,
 or filled with sweets or  flowers as wedding favours

Cones for rice or petals made from original music sheets.

Just perfect for placing in your cupcakes at the dessert table.

Joanne personalises place settings with your guests' names!

Teabag favours! This lovely card is designed to contain an individual
 tea bag and has a lovely tea quote on the front

My favourite original idea from Vintage Twee - Afternoon Tea recipe cards

Such a cute idea! Teapot wedding favour box.

A lovely fairytale wedding favour box

A wedding guest book, which is actually a box containing 80 sheets of paper
where guests can write their best wishes for the couple

For the Love of Flowers.....

Walking into Rosella Antonelli’s floral design workshop on a cold, wet late autumn day here in the Roman countryside was better than taking a hot bath with a glass of Prosecco and my favourite book!! Talk about a child walking into Santa's Wonderland - I was immediately struck by the harmony of the colours, although they varied so greatly, and the style of the non-floral items that she uses to complete each styling project,  many of which reflect my love of the vintage, shabby chic, romantic look so accurately. We sat down to talk surrounded by flowers, crystal candle shades, silver candlesticks, glass bowls with floating candles and flowers, cushions and drapes. I was in heaven!

Rosella is a floral designer who works with love and passion to produce her creations. She has worked for several years in the wedding and events sector, designing and making her floral creations and providing all the finishing touches to bring the style of each event together. Flowers, foliage, candles, crystal, silver candelabras, voile, muslin, silk and fine linen are all components used to create the right atmosphere wherever she is asked to work, indoors or outside, from grand villas to country farmhouses.

Colour is very much  a part of Rosella’s wedding creations (just to provide an opposite point of view from the one I told you I was given last week, where white reigned supreme!), but one piece of advice Rosella gives to brides is to choose a bridal bouquet that is suited to the bride’s height and colouring.  Don’t drown yourself with a bouquet that is too big for you or drain your colouring with colours that are too strong for you to take. It is also a good idea to choose a bouquet that is comfortable to hold, as you will need to hold it throughout the day, or at least until you toss it to your single female guests (if you can bear to part with it!).

Rosella will be working with us to create floral decorations at future Country Weddings Italy weddings. Daniela and I immediately felt at home talking to her, and we soon realised we were all talking the same “language” in terms of work ethics and philosophy  and love of quality service. Another warm, talented person to add to our growing team! All the flowers in this post are Rosella’s creations - you could have them at your Italian wedding too!

Antique Rose Wedding Inspirations

4-tier wedding cake by Peggy Porschen Academy, poppers found on lovetoplan.co.uk,
 rose cupcakes by Hall of Cakes, shoes by badgley mischka,

We’ve been out and about visiting venues again this week and on Tuesday we visited a truly romantic location for a country wedding in the Tuscia area of Lazio: an early sixteenth century monastery, where it is possible to celebrate a religious wedding, a civil wedding in the grounds and hold your reception too.

We visited on a spectacular, sunny November morning and the atmosphere, the sunshine, the lush vegetation and the inherent history of the place  made us imagine some truly spectacular, romantic weddings here, maybe with a a vintage, nostalgic chic touch.
This was all my inspiration for the antique rosy pink mood board above, while more details of the monastery will follow on in the next few days.

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