Wedding update

Nearly a year has gone by since I last updated this blog and with only a couple of months left until we get married, I guess now is a good time to do an update you on our wedding plans. Todays post will be a summary of the wedding and everything we have planned to date.

The wedding week – We fly out to Pisa on the Saturday with our close family (just 10 of us in total). We are staying in a beautiful villa with its own swimming pool in the heart of Northern Tuscany. The villa is within a short drive of Pisa, Florence and Siena, as well as lesser known towns like San Gimignano and Certaldo (where we are getting married) .

 

Photo from the owner's website - http://www.villa-tuscany.it

Credit for above photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/bivoir/sets/72157606434396958/

Click here for a post I wrote last year with more photos.

We are getting married in the hill top town of Certaldo Alto on the Thursday at 5pm (so that it’s not too hot). Assuming the weather is good, we will be getting married outside in this courtyard. You can see more photos of our wedding location by clicking here.

From - http://www.storybookwedding.it/gallery.htm

We have booked the very talented Domenico Costabile as our photographer. You can see some examples of his work here.

After the wedding we will be having some photos taken in Certaldo Alto before heading back to the villa for our wedding meal. We are using the villa’s private cook to serve us a traditional, Italian wedding meal. The menu is packed with 6 courses of delicious sounding Tuscan food.

With only a matter of weeks until the wedding most things are picked and booked. Myself and my bridesmaids are getting close to having the fittings of our dresses done. We had a shopping trip to Manchester for our shoes a few weeks back and I got my dream purple shoes! The flowers are picked too, a mixture of white and purple. The grooms suit and the ties for the men are all bought and ready to go.

After the wedding

Our families will be returning to the UK on the Saturday after the wedding. We however have booked to stay on in Tuscany for a further week. We’re heading down to the Maremma region of Tuscany (further south) for 5 days relaxing and exploring the nearby towns and beaches.

 

The guest house we are staying at for 5 nights. http://www.i-escape.com/quercia-rossa/overview

 

http://www.isolarossa.co.uk

Click here for more information and photos of this stunning area of Tuscany.

 

For our last 2 nights we are travelling back up to Northern Tuscany, ready for our flight back from Pisa. We are staying in the walled, medieval town of Lucca.

You can see some more photos of Lucca here.

Real wedding: Bright and modern

Bright and modern, two words used to describe this wedding by Every last detail and the two words I would love to describe our wedding too. This wedding really caught my eye, not only because it includes a lot of purple but because it highlights a lot of the modern details I would like for our wedding. Find many more stunning photos here.

I love both the brides flowers above and the button holes, they’re just so bright, purple and modern.  I especially like the button hole, its so much more me than the roses traditionally seen in the UK.

I also really like the grooms suit. I’m not really a fan of the grooms outfits that are so popular in the UK, like the tail coats and cravats. I think this look is much more modern. The only thing I’m not sure about is the black tie, I think I would prefer purple.

I love these purple bridesmaids dresses and the flowers are gorgeous too.

And finally, the bride wore gorgeous purple shoes!

Wedding trend – Coloured shoes

Whilst browsing the many wedding blogs out there I have noticed a modern trend for brides to wear coloured shoes. I quiet like it, it looks fun and modern. Also this way you have more chance of wearing the shoes again.Via Once wed

Via Style me pretty

Via Style me pretty

Via Once wed

Via The Bride’s Cafe

Real Wedding in Provence

This may not be Tuscany but this amazing location caught my eye the other day. The bride looks stunning too, I like how simple yet stunning her dress, hair and make-up are. More pictures from this wedding can be found here on Once wed.

Dress shopping

Last weekend I went to try on wedding dresses for the first time. I must have tried on about 20 dresses in total at 2 different shops. The first dress I tried on was Annuska by Augusta Jones which I mentioned liking here. I have to say when I tried the dress on I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. I tried on a variety of other styles and was surprised to find that the majority of shapes suited me. Although I liked a few of the dresses I tried on, none of them really felt like the one or any where near. Confusingly I real liked this one by esscense when I had it on in the shop the most but when I got home and looked back at the pictures I didn’t like it as much.

I tried this dress by Paloma Blanca on straight after the essense dress and in the shop I thought I prefered the figure hugging shape on but on the pictures I really like the shape of this one. I also really like the modern simple styling on this dress but its more than I really one to spend on a dress mainly because it is made in silk. Irrespective of the cost I don’t think I want a silk dress as the shop assistant was telling me its quiet delicate and especially with having to transport it to Italy I worry about it getting damaged. We’ve booked to go to another couple of shops in a couple of weekends time so I plan to go with an open mind again and try on more dresses. There is still plenty of time to find the dress and I did learn a few things about what I do and don’t like (mainly about what I don’t like, lace, too much beading and at the moment I’m not sure I like veils) and I had a fun girly afternoon with my mum and the grooms mum and sister.

Certaldo town hall

Here are a few photos of the town hall in Tuscany where we will be getting married.

The above photos are by Story book wedding in Tuscany.

Colourful weddings

To some pastel colours are romantic and girly and the obvious choice for their wedding day. I however  seem to be drawn to the more vibrant, brighter colours. When I think of Tuscany though I think of the greens of the lush rolling hills, the terracotta and the yellows of sunflowers. A lot of the weddings in Tuscany I have seen that have used bright colours have used yellow or orange neither of which would be my ideal choice. I worry that bright, fun weddings like the images below would clash with the stunning Tuscan scenery that will surround the wedding and not look stunning and timeless in our photos. On the other hand I believe your wedding day should be an expression of you the couple and not simply going with the latest trend or sticking to tradition because you think you should.

This week I saw this fabulously colourful rehearsal dinner on Style me Pretty. To see more images from this rehearsal dinner click here.

Also this week on Style me pretty they featured this colourful New Zealand wedding.  I particularly liked the idea of bridesmaids having the same style dress in different colours. Up until now I thought that both my bridesmaid would wear the same colour but not necessarily the same style but I think the use of colour in this wedding is very modern.

Bridal gowns

Here are a few bridal gowns that have cought my eye recently. I havn’t tried one on yet so I am trying to keep an open mind so that I can try on lots of styles and see what suits my shape.

Designer unknown, photography Jules

Designer unknown, photography Jules

Alfred Angelo Style1645

Augusta Jones

Stephanie Allin

Via Style me pretty

Our wedding – The Villa

Hard to believe it is only 3 weeks since we got engaged and already so much of the wedding is falling into place. We have found a fabuluos wedding planner, the lovely Chiara, of Weddings in Tuscany who is busy booking the town hall for us and a photographer (more details to follow when they are confirmed). It was through Chiara that we found this stunning villa in the Tuscan countryside. We are going to be staying there a week June 2011 with our immediate families. The plan is to have a 5pm wedding on the Thursday at a local town hall (details to follow) followed by an evening meal by the pool for all of us.

Credit for above photos – Flickr

Here is a link to wedding my planner has previously done at this property.

Real wedding – Vintage purple

This is another great wedding featured on style me pretty this week. I was particularly draw to because of the use of the colour purple which is my favorite at the moment. However I also like the styles of all the wedding party and more than that when you read the post on style me pretty you later find the romantic story of how the wedding photographer’s boyfriend proposed to her in Paris whilst shooting the couples “day after shoot”! There are lots more stunning photographs and you can read the full story here, here and here on Stacy Reeves photography as well as on style me pretty.