So here in her own words and gorgeous photographs, is their stunning wedding which took place in Umbria last June.
Our wedding took place last June, the 18th in a medieval town in the heart of Italy - Gubbio, Umbria. We married in the town hall (a medieval building with stone vaulted ceiling) and had our reception at a Castle a few miles down the road, nestled high on a hilltop - where we also stayed (it's a small hotel run by a Count!).
We planned for two and a half years, having got engaged on Christmas Day in 2008 and I knew from the start that I'd become a bit of a diy bride. I've always been into crafts and having the freedom to design everything for our wedding was a dream come true! I made 40m of bunting, hand sewn and double sided in pretty vintage florals, using turquoise/aqua shades and white throughout to compliment our theme.
I also made all of the place cards which I bought vintage style frames for, I did the same with our Italian menu and created an 'Order of Speeches' as a lot of people wanted to say a few words but we wanted to keep it in some sort of order.
We shared our day with our nearest and dearest so we had a small party of 16, which worked really well around our long reception table with a sweetheart table at the end for the two of us. We flew out to Italy for a week before everyone else arrived in order to organise the legalities and paperwork. Our guests stayed at the Castle with us for 3 days and toured the local area whilst we got on with preparations for the big day.
Our hotel were fantastic, nothing was too much for them and they helped us organise everything - they even filled the Castle grounds with flowers picked from their acres of woodland on our wedding day, so when we opened the wooden shutters on the morning of our wedding, we were met with huge pots filled with beautiful yellow blooms - it was so fragrant and smelt wonderful walking through the Castle passages.
It was such a magical experience - we were treated like Lord & Lady of the Castle for a day and were made to feel like part of the Count's family.
We broke tradition by spending our last night together but went our separate ways early in the morning to get ourselves ready. The days leading up to the wedding had been raining and we were so worried that it would rain on our special day (though in Italy, they class it as very lucky to rain on your wedding day), but the sun shone down and our day was warm and sunny...just perfect! It was very lucky indeed as the following day, a torrential rainstorm hit! So someone must have been looking at us favourably that day.
I know it's expected that the bride is a little late on her wedding day, but my hairdresser overran by an hour which meant it was a mad rush to try and get to my Groom in the end (though of course, I was thrilled with the style my hairdresser had achieved, it was exactly what I'd wanted). I arrived half an hour late, we were supposed to begin the ceremony at 3pm but I ended up arriving in the campervan at 3.30pm to a piazza full of locals awaiting my arrival! It was totally unexpected as Gubbio is such a small, quiet town, but everyone had obviously seen the wedding party arrive and decided to wait to see the arrival of the bride. I truly felt like a film star for the day with the amount of cameras flashing away at me!
Our ceremony was in Italian, with an English translator. Both were lovely women who really personalised the service and made it funny in parts. We had written our own vows and read those to each other, which made me cry listening to my Groom telling me how much he loved me in front of our family and friends. We also incorporated a 'ring exchange' part to the ceremony as it's not traditional to exchange wedding rings in Italy, but for us, it's obviously a large part. I'd been so anxious in the run up to the wedding that I would be too nervous or not be able to stop crying throughout the ceremony, but on the day, I was so overjoyed that I didn't have a care in the world, I was just so glad to be marrying the man of my dreams.
Decoration details:
Our theme was based on white orchids and turquoise/tiffany blue with a hint of shabby chic/vintage touches added into the mix. Our table centrepieces were white, shabby chic style birdcages with pure white real touch orchids wired on and scattered inside. I spent a few months collecting vintage brooches and found a fantastic American Etsy seller who made some charms for me with a brooch back. These were all attached to the birdcages, along with strings of pearls. The two smaller birdcages had a necklace each wrapped around them with an old vintage map of Gubbio and the surrounding area - after the wedding, we took these off and wear one each to remind us of a special place in our hearts.
Luckily, my Mum and her partner drove over from the UK to Italy with all of our decorations in the boot, so we weren't restricted with luggage on flights. This gave me carte blanche to have the pieces I really wanted - including the candelabras with crystal droplets and turquoise candlesticks. We also had turquoise chair sashes, tied into a bow with a beautiful pearl and diamante brooch attached in the centre. The napkins were a real find - pure cotton napkins by Mydrap used by restaurants but available to the public. They come in a whole host of colours and we had the turquoise of course! I had pre-rolled them and tied a piece of lace around them with a pearl and diamante buckle.
Favours for our female guests included personalised fans with our wedding location and date from FanfairUK which were awaiting our guests in the ceremony room on their seats.
At the table, personalised lip balm tins with our names/date and 'Something Blue' gift box candles were for the ladies and personalised mint tins with our names/date and a tiffany blue box with white ribbon held white pearl cufflinks for the men.
I'd bought a white vintage case from ebay and covered the inside in pretty pictures of ladies wearing shawls, then wrapped turquoise and white pashminas with a ribbon and styled a tag saying 'Please take one to keep' for the ladies in case there was a chill in the air in the evening.
All the flowers, except for those provided kindly by the Castle, were real touch orchids. I chose these for my bouquet as I needed it to travel well and really liked the idea of being able to keep my bouquet forever. It was a great decision as it is still as beautiful today as when I bought it two years ago (I planned early and bought things as and when I saw them, then stored them in my spare room which fast became a hoard of goodies!).
I always knew I wanted my Mum to make the wedding cake - she made my sister's a few year's before and she makes them for other occasions - she's so talented! We decided to continue the damask theme from our invitations and this was imprinted on the white icing. We had individual miniature cakes - half in lemon sponge with lemon curd filling and half in carrot cake. The top tier was a traditional fruit cake. Each was trimmed with alternating tiffany blue and white ribbon. The white acrylic cake stand was from Wedding Acrylics, and the bottom silver stand was an original from the 1950s!
Groom's Attire!
Ben wore a white linen, slim fitted, 3 piece suit with waistcoat and had a silk turquoise cravat and handkerchief. He also wore turquoise socks which I'd diamante'd with 'Groom' on each sock band! It was a surprise when he put them on but he loved them! He also wore white leather shoes and a white dress shirt.
The Bride's Attire:
My gown was by Mon Cheri. I'd happened upon it a year prior to our engagement (!) when I was looking online at the wedding dress my sister had chosen. As soon as I saw the picture on the screen, I knew it was the one for me. The lace sleeves were so unusual and I loved the Queen Anne neckline. I said to myself, if I ever get married, that's the dress for me! Lo and behold, a year later, my then boyfriend surprised me with a proposal on Christmas Day and within days, I was searching the web for 'that dress'! I found a stockist a few weeks later, but there seemed to be only one shop in the UK which wanted to get a sample in for me (everywhere else had sold their samples as the dress was from an old collection). I drove a 3 hour round trip to the dress shop and tried on a far too big sample, but the ladies at Lorraine Christine in Boston, did a fantastic job of pulling in the dress to give me a good idea of how it would look once it had been fitted to me. That was it! Love at first sight and the dress was sorted, within just a few weeks of our engagement! It ended up being stored in the shop for 2 years waiting for our big day to arrive!
My veil had been a huge surprise to myself. I'd always thought I hated veils, until my Mum asked me to try one on with my dress. As soon as it was in place, I looked up into the mirror....and cried! It completed the look beautifully and I felt.....like a bride! So I ordered my Richard Designs two tier, 54" white, satin trimmed veil with scatter diamantes from the shop. I also had a white lace parasol.
My shoes were Faith Cierab in white. I went through 3 pairs before I found the pair for me. As soon as I saw the crystals on the heel, the cute satin knot to the front and the hidden platform, I knew these were the shoes for my dress! I'm a petite 4'11" so the height of the heel and the platform is important when you're marrying a 6'2" Groom!
I searched high and low for suitable jewellery to compliment my beautiful gown and eventually happened upon Malis-Henderson in a bridal shop. The tiara, necklace and drop earrings were perfect with it's rhinestone, vintage styled setting. I had read that you shouldn't wear so many items together, but I thought my dress could take it and they sparkled so much in the sunshine!
I did my own make up on the day, using new products from MAC and my trusty Estee Lauder Double Wear cosmetics. My hair was styled by a lovely stylist from Fabrizio based in Gubbio who travelled to the Castle and spent 2 hours teasing my hair into the Hepburn/Penelope Cruz inspired 'do I'd requested (I had taken a lot of photos with me!).
