In the words of fabulous wedding photographer Samuel Docker "This was a trip and a half!!" I couldn't agree more. The gorgeous Tuscan views and the stunning Villa Catureglio has literally taken my breath away whilst putting this destination wedding together for you lovely lot. As has Bride Daniela's customised David Fielden gown. The tulle skirt and embellished bodice look truly magical amongst the greenery and natural beauty, especially when lit by the dreamy sunset. Also making me mouth a huge sigh is Daniela & Carlo's gorgeous Golden Retriever. Doesn't he look dapper in his floral collar and so at ease roaming around during the romantic outdoor ceremony. And if you still need convincing as to whether or not you should include festoon lights at your wedding, this wedding's gorgeous display will definitely convince you. Pinning fingers at the ready. You're not going to want to forget this gorgeous day.

The Dress

Daniela the Bride: I wore a heavily customised David Fielden gown that I bought in a Les Trois Souers sample sale over a year before the wedding. It was actually my first time dress shopping, only the third dress I tried on, two sizes too big, seen as sold and I didn’t even like the bodice! I felt like I broke every single bridal gown shopping rule, but I fell in love with the unique colour, how dramatically full - but still light – the tulle skirt was and the delicate lace and beading. I spent the next 12 months hoping I wouldn’t regret the decision and trying to not look at other dresses in magazines/blogs! Closer to the wedding date, I found an amazing seamstress – Satish Mal – who specialises in wedding dresses and together we restyled the back of the dress from a keyhole design to a deep V and took it in. She also made my amazing cathedral length veil in a tulle to match my dress.

Accessories

My pearl drop earrings were from BHLDN. I had them pinned on Pinterest for ages, but every time I checked the site they were out of stock until a month before the wedding, when not only were they back in stock, but also on sale!

Second Dress

I changed into a sequinned dress from ASOS after dinner because I wanted to be able to dance all night without worrying about metres of delicate tulle. It was a great decision!

Bridesmaids

Our bridesmaid’s dresses were also from ASOS, in a beautiful dove grey chiffon and lace to match the look and feel of my dress and the venue.

Grooms Attire

The groom looked handsome in a bespoke dark navy tuxedo with a satin shawl lapel from Cad & The Dandy and shoes from Barker.

The Venue

Villa Catureglio was our dream venue – absolutely stunning with enough space and flexibility to host multiple events over a long weekend. And possibly most importantly – it was dog friendly! We knew we wanted Magnus – our golden retriever – together with us on the day we became an official little family. Villa Catureglio is run by a British couple – Kate and Richard - which made planning a destination wedding much easier. Kate and her daughter Rose were also our wedding organisers and did a fabulous job. They – and all the staff at Catureglio – are truly wonderful people and went out of their way to make our wedding weekend perfect.

Weekend Events

We decided to get married in Italy as Carlo is Italian and so that our friends and family from all over could come together in one of the most beautiful parts of the world and make our wedding a holiday. We were so appreciative that most people had travelled far to be with us, so we wanted to put together an amazing itinerary over the long weekend for them to enjoy and give them a full Italian experience. On the first night, we hosted a welcome pizza party in the villa’s courtyard. The local pizzeria catered using Catureglio’s wood-fired oven and we had a DIY Aperol Spritz bar. It was the perfect welcome to Italy! On the day before the wedding we organised a wine tour and tasting for guests at Fattoria di Fabbiano and spent the evening having a quiet dinner with our families. The day after the wedding, my superstar sister and Singaporean family put on an absolutely delicious South East Asian BBQ on the villa back gardens – bringing a bit of Singapore to Tuscany! We pigged out, lounged in the sun, enjoyed the pool and helped ourselves to gelato before saying goodbye.

Colour Scheme/Décor

Villa Catureglio is so naturally stunning, we knew we didn’t have to do much by way of décor. We wanted everything to blend and enhance the setting, so went with a neutral colour palette with lots of greenery and touches of grey, blush and burgundy. We used those colours throughout the stationery, flowers and wedding party. Touches like the signage, wine cork placards, favour bags & tags we DIYed ourselves in the lead-up to the wedding. For wedding favours we had little bags filled with confetti – Italian sugared almonds that are associated with celebrations.

Flowers/florist

Our flowers were created by Sabrina – who owns a tiny village florist shop in Diecimo. I love flowers and wanted a romantic, loose and organic feel and she absolutely delivered, including a beautiful wreath collar for Magnus and an amazing garland which we hung from the grotto along with a bolt of fabric to make an aisle/ceremony backdrop.

Ceremony & Reception

We put a lot of thought and heart into our ceremony – working with our celebrants, Diane and Giuseppe from Blessings from Italy, to make it reflect who we are as couple and our values. We had beautiful and emotional readings from my aunt (Union – Robert Fulgham) and Carlo’s mum and there were community vows made by our guests to us – which was a special moment we will never forget. We found an absolutely amazing instrumental swing band from Florence – Piaceri Proletari – on the internet. They learnt Israël Kamakawiwo'ole ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ for me to walk down the aisle to and kept guests entertained with their original tunes during our apertivo hour. We held the aperitivo directly after the ceremony on the front lawn, serving prosecco, elderflower G&Ts and Aperol Spritzs. There was a buffet of traditional Tuscan antipasti for guests to help themselves to, including a waiter carving prosciutto off the bone to order and cubes of deep-fried Parmigiano cheese – delicious! We then moved through the villa to the back gardens which were set up with long banquet tables, hundreds of candles and fairy lights in the olives trees. Our caterers, il Fattore, were exceptional. We enjoyed parmesan, red wine and melted onion risotto, followed by tagliata – a local sliced steak dish dressed with olive oil, balsamic and rocket. We had a berry millefoglio as our wedding cake – which is traditionally Tuscan and was the most delicious wedding cake we and all of our guests have ever tasted! We’re still getting compliments! The caterers also brought out cheese toasties at midnight to keep the party going. After dinner, speeches and cake in the back gardens, we all moved through the grounds to the old stone barn for the evening party and the most dreamy first dance in the festoon-light-lit courtyard.

Photographer

What can we say about Sam Docker? Choosing Sam as our photographer was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. He’s the nicest guy and got on so well with our family and friends, but wasn’t afraid to direct us to get the right shots – including having us scramble up and down a hill amongst the olive trees to get the perfect light for our couple portraits. His pictures were absolutely worth it, beautifully capturing so many real moments and vivid emotions that we didn’t get to see for ourselves on the day.

Videographer

Paul Van filmed our wedding day, and he produced the most stunning wedding video which we can’t stop watching. Paul got married in Italy himself, so loves the area, and he brings so much creativity and thoughtfulness to his work. We couldn’t recommend him more. We treasure our wedding video and would definitely recommend all couples should look to get one if they can.