For some people, a destination wedding means stress in airports and praying that the weather is good. For others, like Lindsay and Michael, it means the change at a 3-day celebration in style in Italy.
We love that bride Lindsay found most of her design inspiration from the venue itself. As they married at an organic farm, they kept that in mind when designing invitations, choosing handmade paper and hand dyed ribbons. The palette came about organically also, starting with greys and gold paper goods and introduced soft pastels later on when it was becoming clearer what would be available around the time of their wedding and in Italy. Most of the flowers were foraged from the venue grounds, and the bride’s parents, who travelled to the wedding via France in their motor home, packed their motor home full of their own gold cutlery and table decor so Linsday didn’t have to stress about sourcing locally!
Read on for more from the bride:
“Michael and I got together six years ago, but we were pals for years before that. We still laugh that we ended up together because neither of us ever really had notions on each other, but now, I couldn’t imagine life without him.Living three hours apart for most of our relationship meant that weekends were spent traveling to see each other. Although worth it, it left very little time for family and friends, and when we did get engaged, we knew that we wanted a wedding that would allow us to spend as much time as possible with them around us. I co-own a destination-wedding magazine and two of my brothers had destination weddings, so I was well aware of how a wedding abroad meant that we would have three days of celebrating.
As a planner, I felt a lot of pressure from the outset, so before going to Italy on a venue-scouting trip, I got a few things straight in my head. The wedding was about us, not me and my job, and the venue was going to have to be able to cater for lots of music and dancing and be okay with our crazy, but amazing family and friend’s partying ways.
Our wedding day was just like a dream. My feet didn’t touch the ground. We asked guests to put away their phones and cameras for the church as I was a bit nervous about the walk down the aisle, but we really didn’t expect the effect it would have on our entire ceremony. Everyone was just so present. The mass was full of music with 22 musicians, thanks to our talented families and friends, but everyone got involved. One of my lasting memories is hearing what sounded like the entire congregation singing along to “You are Mine.” It was so emotional. Our priest, Fr. Flor is a musician himself, so the mass was very personal; he made it really special for us. The rest of the day flowed in the same way. I know it’s cliche, but it was the best day of our lives.
We were incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by a team of vendors that are some of our greatest friends. Rodolphe, who shot our video, is practically part of the family, and we were very excited when we realised he could make the wedding. Sam flew from Ireland with a suitcase full of baking supplies and created a stunner of a wedding cake that tasted as good as it looked. Liv, who I’ve an endless amount of admiration for made the most beautiful headpiece for me; I cried when I opened the box. Laura, who I’d met on one of our recent weddings, was not only our photographer but also my sounding board for everything. I’m so lucky to call her one of my closest friends. We really couldn’t have pulled it off without their generosity and kindness. Their talents know no bounds and we will be forever grateful to them.
On paper, our guest list was big, but somehow, it still felt like a very intimate wedding. With a few days to get to know one another, new friendships were formed and old ones reignited. That was what it was really all about for us. Our patient parents, brothers, sisters and a bridal party provided endless support during the planning and the memories they helped us create will forever be with us. We really feel like were the luckiest people in the world.”
