Linda & Giuseppe

Anybody else want to whip bride Linda's pink peony flower crown off her head and try it on? It's a masterpiece isn't it, and beautifully finishes off her bohemian bridal look. Her Rime Arodaky gown is perfect for the surrounding Tuscan countryside too with it's cut out lace detail and heavenly long sleeves. A true beauty amongst nature. And keeping with the relaxed, stylish, country vibes of this destination wedding was the fairy light reception and table scape decorated with a garland of O'Hara roses that is just out of this world. Plus a party to rival all parties with an Italian swing-folk band. All the emotion, magic and that delicious pink peony flower crown was captured by Due su Due Photography. Enjoy lovely ones.

Wedding

Linda The Bride: When we decided to get married, Giuseppe and I had already been together for 6 years. Together, we had travelled to many countries, furnished three apartments, and moved from Italy to the Netherlands for work. We already felt committed to each other and our future, and knew that we are a solid team. So the wedding for us was more about sharing these feelings with the people we love, especially since most of our friends live in different countries and our families are 2000 km away from us. Getting married was, above all, a chance to be with all our loved ones, and spend as much time together as possible, as we can never see each other as often as we’d like. Our guests flew in from 7 countries just to be at our wedding, and that really made us feel loved.

Location

We opted for a weekend wedding in a typical Italian country house, which would allow us to be with our guests for three days, and started looking for a location in Linda’s native Tuscany. We did a lot of research online and flew from Amsterdam to Florence to visit our favourite venues. The amazing Fattoria and Villa di Rignana was the first location we visited, and we immediately knew it was the one! Rignana is a typical late 1700s Tuscan villa and has 16 beautiful rooms decorated in a tasteful country-chic style, which allowed us to host 34 of our dearest friends for two nights. It’s also set in a breath-taking Tuscan setting, with gorgeous views over the hills and vineyards of the region, and produces its own wine! The villa even has a small and suggestive private chapel from the 18th century with a frescoed ceiling, where we decided to hold the wedding ceremony.

The Concept

We love nature, so we wanted an outdoors reception. We chose natural, muted colours, like olive green, pale pink, beige, and white, which we used for the stationery, table setting, and flowers. Giuseppe wore a light-beige suit with a pale green tie. We were after a natural, effortless look, and tried to keep things rustic but elegant at the same time. We wanted the day to be laidback and flow very naturally, too, so we had a long, relaxed happy hour in front of the setting sun, and chose a U-shaped table to give a communal feeling to the dinner. The table was naked, to show the beautiful wood, with a light-beige runner in the middle, silver cutlery and a single long flower garland. Even the lighting was as natural as possible, with candles and warm fairy lights.

Dress

The dress was the most difficult choice for me. I have a modern, tomboyish style, and wanted something that matched that attitude. I also fought with the idea of the dress being worn just once: such a waste of materials and craftsmanship! So I decided to buy a preloved dress: a dress with a story. I really like the style of French designer Rime Arodaky, feminine and “rock’n’roll” at the same time, so I hunted for one of her dresses on stillwhite.com – a website where brides sell their wedding gowns. I was very lucky and found the Olsen model in my size, which came all the way from Australia. I had never tried the dress on, so it was a bit of a gamble: but when I wore it for the first time, it fit perfectly!

Groom

Giuseppe’s suit was tailor made for him by a local shop in the small town of Hoi-An, Vietnam, during our three-week long trip in November 2015. Hoi-An is well known for its tailors and a really picturesque and relaxed place to spend a few days. We loved that the suit also had its own story before the wedding, since we carried it around during our adventure. It even came with us on a trek in the jungle!

Catering

We were lucky to have Tonino as our catering! The quality of their food is absolutely amazing. They managed to cook a completely, and absolutely delicious, vegetarian menu – an important request for us, as we are both vegetarian. Some people consider a meal “incomplete” if there is no meat or fish, but Tonino assured us that nobody would be disappointed, and they delivered. It was such a huge success and we are so grateful.

Florist

Marie Lou is a little flower shop in Panzano that regularly works with our venue. When I visited their tiny shop, we immediately hit it off. I wanted a subdued, romantic but not overly sweet mix of greens, whites, and pinks, in line with the natural palette of the wedding. We chose seasonal flowers and greens: O’Hara and Bombastic roses, peonies, wax flower, eucalyptus and olive branches. For the chapel, already richly decorated, we had simple bunches of eucalyptus and wax flower. For the table, they created a long garland with fragrant O’Hara roses. It was spectacular and smelled so good! Last but not least, my flower crown: I was not scared to go big, so they proposed using peonies. The result was bold, bohemian, and artistic. I felt like a queen with her crown!

Photography

We chose Francesca and Alessandro from Due su Due to shoot our big day. They had already shot my sister’s wedding, and we could not help but fall in love with their kind and discreet approach, and with the beautiful and spontaneous pictures they took. We wanted real memories, not choreographed portraits, and their reportage style was exactly what we were looking for.

Makeup

My sister Clementina, a talented make-up artist, did my make-up. It was such a joy to have someone I love help me get ready on such a big day. I might be partial, but Clementina really did an awesome job and created the natural yet glamorous look that I wanted. I always wear eyeliner, so the cat-eye was a must for me, and she created a bridal version of my signature style. Every bride should have a make-up artist like her!

Cake

Our cake was made by the lovely Marisa of Sugarcups. She created a simple, subdued beauty and topped it with the same fresh flowers as my bouquet.

Music

We are big music lovers and live music was a very important aspect for us...as well as dancing until dawn! So we had both a live band and a DJ. Piaceri Proletari are a talented swing-folk band from Florence, whose songs are a modern spin on traditional Tuscan ballads. They created a fun and informal atmosphere in typical dolce vita style! Our DJ was Andrea Ribas DJ, and he was awesome. He was with us from 3pm to 5am, setting the mood for the ceremony, happy hour and dance party. He got everyone on the dance floor until 5am!

Favours

We crafted our favours using little glass jars which we filled with candies with our initials on them, handmade by Papabubble in Amsterdam. We finished them with custom stickers and a wax seal we designed ourselves and got made on Etsy.

Advice

A wedding is a party! The important thing is to enjoy it. We did all the planning ourselves, so we know that it can sometimes be very stressful, but – when it happens – always remember that what you are organising is your idea of a fun day. So don’t spend time or energy on things that you don’t care about. And be selective with that guest list! You are going to enjoy the day a lot more if you keep things intimate and only invite people you love.