March 2011 « My Italian Wedding

Archive for March, 2011

Anne-Marie’s handmade lovely shopping bags

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Hi there!

Everyone should have an aunt Anne-Marie! Yes, that’s true! My aunt Anne-Marie is simply fantastic and she always comes out with excellent DIY Christmas ideas! Well Christmas is over for a while now but Anne-Marie came to us last month while I was in France with Maya with her fab heart-shaped shopping bags! Ideal for wedding favours!

Believe it or not, my brother who does not usually fancy girl stuff wanted his bag as well!!!

I promised my aunt I would publish something about it in this blog! Here we are! Shall she think about selling them on etsy? Ah ah… Well, fact is that I couldn’t resist from creating a rustic photography set for her!

Apart from lovely pictures, my aunt has been attending a embroidery evening course for a while, and she’s passionate by what is called Broderie Suisse or in the US Chicken scratch or Depression Lace or evenSnowflaking…

And you, do you have your aunt Anne-Marie as well?

Posted in Creative Favours, DIY | No Comments »

Maya loves her mother, I mean her mother’s breast…

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Hi there!

4 months have gone since I gave birth… Time runs so fast, and I realize Maya requires a lot of my time I do not have for me ( nor for the blog ah ah ah) any longer…Try to go back on stream though!

Maya is turning 4 months old today and I wanted to bake for her something special… in perfect British style… Here I am with some delicious vanilla cupcakes I’m going to treat the family with tonight! Not sure how I managed to bake them with Maya talking to me all the time this morning! But done!

Not bad as a result for a first try, isn’t it?!

By the way, the muffin baking moulds I used are the one we bought in London, Columbia Road Flowers Market one year ago! Stefania will recognize them!!! Such a lovely week end!

Maya! Stop crying, we’ll go out now for a walk…

Cupcakes silicon baking moulds: Columbia Road Market
Teddy Bear: Nattou
Cupcakes: Vanilla and Lemon Cupcakes
China: Fade
Baby Pacifier: MAM

Posted in DIY, Menù, Our Creations | 2 Comments »

While I was in Italy

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

Hello girls!

We have been a bit inactive lately, but the previous one has been a busy week in Italy. We met a lot of people (among whom our photographer Danilo who took some really nice pics of us…coming soon!), plus we worked on a few decoration designs and, eventually, we had also time for ourselves, which means…shopping!

I have to say I saw a lot of dark blue colour in the cloth and shoe windows…at the beginning I didn’t fancy it, but after a while I thought it wasn’t that bad…so I had a good excuse to buy something and try it on me! ah ah…here we go…these are some pics of my new pair of blue shoes I took in the backyard of my house…

These are made by Coolway, and what I really like is the funcky and elegant clip made of fabric and lace which you can take off whenever you want. Also the heels are not that high, so I can use them for a wedding (maybe the one we have in Septemeber, but also when I go to work.

Last but not least…I treated myself really well and I also bought a really nice (and expencive, argh) pair of vintage glasse by Romeo Gigli! Have I done well in my shopping?

Posted in Dress & Accessories | No Comments »

Loves me, loves me not

Sunday, March 20th, 2011

Hey,

How many times have you played the “loves me, loves me not” game when you were little? I can’t count them…but when I saw these creative wedding bouquet and decorations made of daisies I thought of those afternoons spent in the garden with my girlfriends guessing which guys liked us…
Have you seen Federica’s kissing ball bouquet? I had heart shaped eyes when I saw it!

She got married in Varese, not very far from Milano, and chose white and green daisy flowers for her bouquet and her table decorations as well! Here you are with her experience and how she came with this idea!

“I was looking for a bouquet which would be creative and discret at the same time, as well as elegant, simple and unconventional; in one word: unique! I wanted my bouquet to be a precious detail of my overall bride look, but a bouquet that I would hold in an really easy way! I found everything I was looking for in one flower, the daisy, and in one shape, the sphere.

A satin ribbon was binding the bouquet, so I could hold it like a handbag, in a pretty distracting way, just as I would hold no bouquet actually, in a way of a person who cares about details, but who does not show up!”

Lovely, isn’t it?

Picture courtesy of Vagabondando

Posted in Flowers & Decorations | No Comments »

Where did you get your engagement ring?

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

Back to Italy for a whole week.

I already had:

- a few glasses of Franciacorta wine (don’t remember how many)
- a strawberry and cream cocktail at the Small pub (an old osteria turnet into a cocktail bar…lovely!)

Franciacorta white vine Italy

- a few scratches from my old little Susy (yes, I know…she looks so sweet but she is a little pest!)

- not sure how many hours of chats with my lovely girlfriends…main topic of last night was: how did you get your engagement ring? OMG, I heart the most romantic and ilarious stories…Silvia’s boyfriend recorded a video announcing a week end in Monaco where he gave her the ring in front of a pint…Lara got it in the kitchen, Sylvie found it under her pillow (after a 10 year engagement!)…and me?! I was looking at the ceiling thinking what to say. Silence.

The plan aimed to focus on gentle subliminal messages failed a while ago, so now I’ve started working on a straightforward strategy – hey darling, why don’t we stop and look at that window so I will show you which ring I really like.
No positive results so far. Last January was my birthday and I thought it would have been the perfect event for an engagment ring…nothing…he arrived with a photography mag subscription!
How does your ring look like and how did you get it?

Posted in Engagement | No Comments »

Little Miss Sunshine

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

Wedding geek or baby geek? Both!

Nappies, Maya’s bottles, lullabies…they perfectly match with posts about elegant wedding dresses, shoes trends and contryside locations in Tuscany. Don’t you think?

The thing is this: the motherhood has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, but I ended up beeing in a mummy mood all the time – this explains why I wrote this post about little bridesmaids…I’m already dreaming to dress my baby girl with one of those doll dresses…poor Maya, what a terrible mum!

A part from jokes, I selected a few pictures for the freshness of the shot captured by the photographers and I also added a few details about the role of small flower girls in the Italian wedding tradition…

Courtesy of Sara Pagnotti

Young bridesmaids roles could be indeed very important: according to the Italian tradition, they should be daughters of friends or relatives, and their age should be between four and eight years old.
A couple of young bridesmaids would walk in front of the bride and would have in hand a basket containing flower petals they throw on their way… A couple of other bridesmaids would follow the bride and according to the tradition would hold tight the veil.
One of them could also have the important role of holding the wedding rings cushion.

Courtesy of Mara

Courtesy of Fabio Trifoni

From a dress perspective, little bridesmaids dresses should match the bride’s choice: if the bride wears a long dress, bridesmaids should do so; materials most often used for young bridesmaids dresses are cotton during the summer period and velvet or taffeta during winter time… Dresses must be practical for obvious reasons, and better if high waist dresses… without forgetting the tiny crown of flowers and the tiny version of the bride bouquet.

But whatever the little bridesmaids dresses would be, the most important really is to keep the continuity with the style and tone the bride wants to give to her day…

Posted in All you need is love | No Comments »

A relaxing Saturday morning

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

Buongiorno!

What have you been up to this week end?
I was in Stamford with MrB , doing absolutely nothing except of thinking of what to put in my luggage to go back to Italy (in a week time, yuhu!).

Plus, I was in a creative mood, so on Saturday I spoiled MrB with a “royal” breakfast…daffodils, Italian coffè, muffins with cream and cherries, chocolate eggs.
When he got up and saw all these yummy things he asked me: “Is it real? Can I eat something?”.
Some ideas could be used for a wedding too I guess…

I wanted to use daffodils because I like to buy flowers which are in season. I thought to play with yellow and brown, and use a few kind of vintage objects I had at home such as the cake stand, some old cuttlery and pottery and an Italian coffè machine (moka). The final touch was to find some browny luggage tags which I used as place older.

Here below a few details on the table decorations you see in these pictures:
Cake stand and napkin: Rapport of Stamford Gifts and Home
Vintage luggage tags: The Wedding of My Dreams
Cakes: Pudding & Pie
Moka Coffè machine: My mum
Cuttlery and pottery: Horncastle crockery

Posted in DIY, Flowers & Decorations, Our Creations | 3 Comments »

Pierette & Pierot

Friday, March 4th, 2011

Any plan for this week end?
The Venice carnival is still up and running so if you can, don’t miss it.
I’m so jealous of this lovely couple who went to Venice last week end, and probably will be there this one too!

Natascia and Davide’s masquerade was inspired by the Pierrette and Pierot costumes which recall the 19th century fashion with a touch of ghotic mystery! If you then put them into the Venice frame what comes out is something absolutely romantic and mystic.

Natascia is a cartoon strip artist and both of them seem to have been drawn by her pencil. I love their make up! By the way, if you want to see her work visit her blog Nat’s special room, a really cosy place!

I wish you a lovely week end. I will be painting and taking pictures (which I will post here if they are any good…not sure!)

Pictures courtesy of Natascia Raffio
Hat and ruff by Cunene

Posted in All you need is love, Venetian Art & Tradition | No Comments »

Colin Firth and his Italian Wedding in Umbria

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

Hello all,

I’ve to confess I’m not that fun of gossip, but I do love cinema.
So I couldn’t wait to know who won the Oscars the other day and flickring through the pictures of the winners in search for at least one familiar Italian name, I was pleasantly surprise to discover that Colin Firth‘s wife Livia Giuggioli is Italian.

Not only that, they also got married in Italy where they have a house.
It’s not in Tuscany thanks god! Don’t get me wrong, I love Tuscany, but I think there are some other wonderful gems which most of the people don’t know and which could be a very romantic and unusual location for an Italian style wedding.

They got married in Città di Pieve, a nice little medieval town in Umbria, not far from the Trasimeno lake. I leave you with these lovely pics by Alessandro Longobardi and Alessandro Carlini (thank you both!) which I hope will tickle your curiosity…who knows…

Città di Pieve is also the home of the Italian narrowest street, vicolo Baciadonna.
The literal translation is “kiss woman” street and it probably goes back to some local legend saying that road is so narrow that in the past men used to come here to approach women! Strange Italians!

Every August the town hosts a well know medieval events called Palio dei Terzieri – it recalls the Palio di Siena but it’s a bit different because instead of a horse race there is a competition among archers of different neibourghoods. A great masquerade with medieval costumes (there are some adorable medieval female dresses made with velvet fabrics!)