Archive for September, 2010

Choosing the town hall for your civil cerimony

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Hello,
I’m a little bit late with my weekly post, but I’ve managed to get one by the end of the week. So here we go with some stuff on Italian wedding burocracy (soft reading!).

If you want to get married in Italy you need to have your wedding celebrated by an official representative of the town hall of the place you choose to get married. Then you will have to book the day and pay a fee (which changes according to each town hall as well as to the day of the week you choose to get married).

Pordenone city hall

The Italian civil cerimony is usually held at the town hall, but in some cases town halls have got special permissions to have weddings celebrated in external places like ancient villas or castle where, most of the times, you can arrange your reception as well.

This is a solution which might be very handy if you have a lot of people coming from abroad and without their own car, but it could also be a little bit more expensive because the mayor (or one of his/her representatives) charges the couple more for asking him/her to go there.
So I would recommend to check with the town halls of the area you have chosen what are all the options and which one is more convenient to you!

By the way, the one in the picture is the Pordenone town hall, where Sylvie and Gian got married one year ago! Almost old memories if I think they are having a baby in two month time!

Picture courtesy of Enrico Facchinetti and Cosimo Barletta

Posted in Burocracy, that's amore! | No Comments »

An Italian engagement section – Patrizia e Luigi

Monday, September 27th, 2010

Hi loves,

Summer is over, I can already feel some kind of nostalgia in the air… and winter is going to be sooo long before the sun is back again… But I’ve just come across Patrizia and Luigi’s engagement pictures in Sardinia which almost make me smell the sea and fell the sand in my hands…nice memories of the summer!

I’m so happy about this pics because we eventually managed to find an Italian engagement section after Melaina and Patrick’s engagement which we posted a few months ago! Engagement sections are not so popular in Italy or, I must say, they haven’t be so popular so far. So I hope we will have more like these ones…I found the pics lovely and quite different from the tradional American style we are used to.
So, simply enjoy and thank you Mauro!

The sand made heart designed between Patrizia and Luigi is sooo romantic… A simple, natural and lovely couple greatly captured by Mauro’s expert eye…

Pictures courtesy of Mauronster
Location: Is Arrutas, Cabras, Sardinia

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Have a laugh with a comics table plan

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Are you in love with comics?
Do you want your guests to have some laugh in front of seat table with a design like this?

Then you should see Donatella’s Funny Art website. She is an illustrator and graphic designer who lives close to Milan. I met her a few weeks ago while surfing the net and her drawings immediately catched my eyes.
She told me she started up her own business a few years ago and she is now quite busy creating bespoke brides and groom seating plan!
Since I’m in Venice I could not prevent from asking Donatella to publish her Venice theme tableau mariage! Take a look below! The left side picture is the final result with all the little hearts ready to be written with the name of the couple’s guests! On the right I wanted to draw your attention on the details! How nice is Ponte di Rialto?!

Bride and groom asked Donatella for their dog to be part of the drawing as well! How cool is it?!

Posted in Stationery | No Comments »

Elisa + Rocco: an Italian wedding with bubbles

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Happy Monday everyone!
As promised another real Italian wedding which has made us dream!
Elisa and Rocco got married two weeks ago in Jesi, a nice small little town in the Marche region. Our friend Lara was among the guests and she dropped us a few lines telling the story of their big day!

I completely felt in love with the dress and…with all those bubbles…enjoy the pics! Thanks Francesca for that!


Italian bride and cat
Elisa and Rocco civil cerimony

Jesi town hall (more…)

Posted in Dress & Accessories, Real Weddings | No Comments »

A white rockabilly wedding dress

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Hello all,

We are almost at the end of the week (yesss!) and I want to leave you with something vintage and kind of rockabilly!
A few week ends ago I went to the Pordenone Blues Festival, a music event which sees on stage some pretty famous blues band coming from all over the world. And while watching The Di Maggio Connection‘s rockabilly performance I started dreaming of…a rockabilly themed wedding of course!

After a little bit of research it did not take me long to find Danielle’s pics – an awfull lot of photos showing the rockabilly theme she and her husband choose for their wedding! They simply seem popping out from an old 60s movie!

Her hair dresser has made a fantastic job, what do you think?


Red lipstick, red high heel shoes, the groom red tie… everything is matching together in a real rockabilly style which is lovely! Danielle did not fall however into exageration! The must-have traditional white bride dress is there! I love the skirt and the tiny jersey! Danielle told us she found her Speechless brand dress at a costume shop, and it had already been worn and she realized thus good savings!


And what do you think about the groom? He looks like a real rockabilly music star, doesn’t he? It seems he says: “and now, everyone on the dance floor”!!!

Pictures courtesy of Alex Creswell and  Keleigh Layton

Posted in Dress & Accessories | 1 Comment »

Italian origins and a lot of love

Monday, September 13th, 2010

A dream.
That’s what this wedding is!
I felt humbled when I saw Nick & Emily’s destination wedding in the tuscan countryside and I have to thank their photographer Jessica Lorren, who has been so kind to let me feature her pics in our blog!
I love the light, the gentle colours of each single pic and all those little details which make me think of my good old Italy! The wooden hanger, the settled table, the vineyard…everything drives me back to my childwood and make me feel peaceful…

Nick and Emily met in Chicago while attending medical school. They decided to get married in Italy after a trip there – they completely felt in love with the Tuscan landscape and they felt somehow part of it because of Nick’s grandfather Lino Italian origins.

They had their civil cerimony celebrated in Lucca town hall…



They got married at the villa Nick’s grandfather grew up in, and their reception was held at the little church Lino attended while growing up.
The villa is over 150 years old and was filled with memories of Nick’s rich Italian heritage. Emily carried her heritage with her as well, pinning her grandmothers’ brooches to her bouquet and wrapping it in her grandma’s hankie, wearing her aunt diamond earrings.

(more…)

Posted in Countryside weddings, Tuscany | 2 Comments »

Once upon a time an Italian hen week end…

Friday, September 10th, 2010

Happy Friday lovelies,

Today I officially confess that Sylvie and I are quite lucky girls! And that’s because we have a precious number of old and new friends who like the idea of this blog and are quite enthusiast to help filling it with lovely stories.
Here they are! Lara, Valeria, Elisa, Francesca and the story of Elisa’s hen week end in Assisi (Umbria) which took place a few weeks ago. After the pics Lara’s story, while next week be ready for Elisa and Rocco’s Italian wedding pics!


hen party in italy in a spa
hen week end in italy

There are no traditional people… that’s why last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a very unusual “Sprinsterhood’s Farewell”.
Four women, one car, 150 Km trip, the beautiful Italian countryside at this end of summer, a wellness resort: these were the ingredients of a nice relaxing weekend with the girls before Elisa would get married to Rocco.

The trip was good, zero traffic in the sunshine. At our arrival we found out that the pictures from the resort’s website were not trustful… The resort was even nicer than reported: an ancient mansion completely renovated and immersed in the green of trees, grass and colourful flowers. The bride obviously got the best bedroom, a junior suite with a big curtained double bed and view on the colourful garden.

We spent all Saturday at the swimming pool, tanning lazily while talking about everything possible, then at the sauna, closing with steam baths and Jacuzzi. On Saturday night we all wear a kind of neckless with the slightly retouched picture of the future bride: after a Spritz aperitivo, we had dinner in a cute restaurant in a narrow lane, some live music in a small bar and a nice walk in the night in a nice medieval borgo. Always laughing and saying non-sense, free and light-hearted.
Wonderful!

Photos courtesy of Francesca Tilio and Assisi Benessere

Posted in Wedding locations | No Comments »

How to get in touch with the town hall

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Good morning,

I don’t know you, but I’m counting the days for the week end already so I thought to write something useful while counting…
A few months ago we started a section on how to get married in Italy, which is basically about all the paperwork and burocracy you need to think of while planning your Italian wedding!

One of the first things you will need to do is to get in contact with the town hall – Comune in Italian language- where you will have your wedding celebrated, so that you can ask them about booking the day for your civil cerimony and all the required paperwork.
An attempt which might be as easy as to find a Fiat 500 with a Ferrari logo – not impossible though!

You can find all the Italian town hall websites just going on the official town halls’ website directory and typing the name of the one you are looking for on the search box (you will recognize a town hall website because it usually has the comune word in its url).

(more…)

Posted in Burocracy, that's amore! | No Comments »

Yummy Venetian “cichéti”

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

Good morning girls,
The temperatures has dramatically fallen down here in Venice and I wonder if summer is really over… so before talking about Italian winter soups I would like to suggest you some culinary specialties of the Venice region for your wedding menu.

Cicheti is the Venetian word for finger-food, basically this represents all type of small sized appetizers you would find when stopping in a bar in Venice!
Whatever pumpkins or zucchini, you will delight your guests with excellent finger foods during your wedding aperitivo time…Just be careful… Below pictures are simply mouth watering! Don’t jump on to the fridge door after you complete the reading!

Courtesy of Dulcis in Furno

Tania’s Dulcis in Furno blog is always a great source of inspiration for easy, sound and funny cooking! Not only is she a good cooker but her zucchini flower fritters look so light and airy that you would eat hundreds of them and you would not stop it!

I would also like to suggest a Venice specialty discovered recently on Elisabetta’s blog Pane Miele: blinis with caciotta type goat cheese and pumpkin, covered with artichokes flowers honey… This salty-sweet combination is rather curious, but I guess the visual effect would inspire your guests to try this experimental finger-food…

Courtesy of Pane Miele

So as you know, the artichokes flowers honey is a rare specialty that is produced in Sant’Erasmo Island in Venice! Surprises in Venice never end… (more…)

Posted in Menù | No Comments »

Venetian kilts – Scottish wedding in Venice

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Guess where we are?
No, we are not in Scotland although these nice patterned kilts might suggest you so! Can you smell the sea? We are in Venice, heading to Andy and Rachel’s wedding – another stunning destination wedding which took place a couple of weeks ago!

I love Vito‘s pics – this mix of black & white and colour…
It seems these mates are having a lot of fun going up and down Venice’s bridges with their photographer taking pictures of them!

(more…)

Posted in Venice | 5 Comments »