Italian Lakes Wedding Planner

Lake Maggiore is located mostly in Italian territory but very North side is in Switzerland. This is a well known area with many touristy destinations such as Brissago, Locarno and Ascona that have a peculiar Italian character and surely a mild climate.
It is for this reason that we want to go out for Italy for a moment, just few kilometers to reach Italian Switzerland. You may remember we mentioned this area one year ago in occasion of Natascia and Paolo’s country wedding to Bellinzona Castles.
Today we would love to speak about Fiona and Scott’s wedding on Brissago Islands.

You already know Fiona and Scott. We introduced them at the end of July in our Just Married section with some photo preview of their wedding.
Bride and gromm wanted Studio Artefoto Omegna by Raffaello Mazzoleni as their photographer helped by skilled photographer Moreno Nicoloso.

Today we are showing you the best images of Fiona and Scott’s wedding.
Do not miss the PHOTO GALLERY with many other shots of this fantastic event on Lake Maggiore.

Now let Fiona introduce herself!

My family are from Scotland although I grew up in London, and Scott’s family are from England. We lived very close by to each other, and even went to the same school, but didn’t meet until 6 years ago!

Fiona and Scott’s wedding took place on Isole di Brissago entirely. Continue Reading »

We’ve mentioned this lovely news in our Just Married section. This was one of the most important event of 2010 Summer Season on Italian Lakes: Daniel and Tessa’s wedding on Lake Maggiore.

Tessa Brix is a Dutch model. She is also famous in her country for many TV spots and catwalks.
In 2003 she was Miss Netherlands Universe and she represented Netherlands to selections for Miss Universe in Turkey.
In 2005 she was chosen again to represent the Netherlands to Miss Europe in Paris.

It was a real honor for Italian Lakes Wedding Team hosting Tessa Brix wedding. We worked hard to make this happen and to let Tessa and Daniel enjoy their event in every single detail.
Valentina Lombardi – our planner for Lake Maggiore – followed the planning event, Monika Andenmatten followed floral design. Enrico Mocci was the photographer chosen by Tessa and Daniel to be their official photographer for their Big Day.

You will see here just few images of all the pictures but do not hesitate to see Tessa and Daniel’s PHOTO GALLERY. There are more than 60 images taken by Enrico Mocci who calibrated colors, lights and shades in a perfect way. Continue Reading »

The part of the coast from Verbania that comes along until the swiss border is certainly one of the most spectacular places of the Lake Maggiore. Some years ago there were forests and terraces with cultivated plants, so at the end of the 18th century this area was attractive for lots of rich families coming from all over Europe. Therefore most wonderful villas were constructed with luxury gardens surrounding them. The mild climate did its part to let all flowers grow easily like Gardenia, Lemon-trees and Bougainvillas. They find an ideal start and do mix with the plants so special for this area which are the Camelies and Rhododendrons. Nowhere else is this special mix of flowers to be found around lake Maggiore.

So in this surrounding we find the Villa Margherita. Its special view on the lake, its beauty and its calmness with its huge garden and a refreshening swimming pool do create the special atmosphere of Villa Margherita.

The villa is situated in the hills above Oggebbio, near Verbania, just some k´s from Ascona and Locarno and only 90 k´s from the international airport Milan Malpensa.

Villa Margherita is a location dated back to the 19th century, freshly restored, an ideal location for any kind of reception. The interior is well thought, modern and charming with particular attention to all details, so this makes your moments so fascinating. Continue Reading »

Like last year, also this year RED is going to be one of our brides preferred color.
We spoke about Cinzia and Christian’s wedding on Lake Orta last day with a lot of red details inside. Today we would like to speak about Melissa and Cameron’s wedding.
A young American couple who choose Lake Maggiore and Grand Hotel des Iles Borromées for their Italian wedding.

Cinzia and Christian, Melissa and Cameron: two distant couple connected by a red themed wedding.

Red is color of love, a warm and passionate color. It is a interesting and charming color. In many cultures it is the representation of beauty. Indian, Mussels and Chines brides usually wear red to celebrate love, passion and romanticism.

Melissa and Cameron for their wedding chose to have red all around.
Just have a look to bridesmaids and flower girls dresses, groom tie and of course on the table centerpieces and bridal bouquet. Continue Reading »

Judith and Mark. We are here again to tell you about another British couple who chose Italy for their dream wedding. The opted for magic scenarios of Pallanza on Lake Maggiore.
The event was followed by Enrico Mocci Photographer of ArteFotoArona for Italian Lakes Wedding Team.

Mark is professional plane pilot and for this reason he wanted arrive to his wedding with the mean he loves: an airplane of course!

All guests and Judith too, were amazed and surprised! Mark glided with his seaplane on the lake just in front of Villa Rusconi gardens where all was read for the ceremony. Such a great entrance!

Scott was excited too looking at Mark arrival! Scott was the special guest of the wedding, the most wanted and pampered! Scott had a wonderful flowers collar with white and lilac freesias. He was simply proud of that!
It was a great satisfaction for this wonderful Broholmer dog…it doesn’t happen every day to be the special guest to a wedding! Continue Reading »

As floral designer one of the most important moments during a wedding planning is the decision to take for floral arrangements and colors to use. During first contacts I always try to understand bride and groom’s tastes and needs to suggest the best solution for them.
Sometimes they have very clear ideas in their minds. Basing on this and on my experience and creativity i try to develop a floral arrangement project that will be just perfect the day of the wedding.
This is what happened with Jennifer and Oliver a British couple whose wedding was planned for September 2009.

One year before Jennifer told me about the floral scheme she had in her mind. All was based on purple matching with ivory. The very good hint arrived in following emails when Jennifer mentioned about the idea of adding Mediterranean aromatic herbs among flowers.

I was delighted with the design and colours they were truly beautiful. One of my many memories from our special day is the scent of the mint and rosemary in the flowers. I kept getting scents of the mint throughout the day and it is something that will always remind me of my wedding day.
All the guests commented on the amazing table displays – it was better than how I’d imagined – romantic and elegant with the candles and petals.
I even managed to fly home with my bouquet and we are drying it out to keep as a memento of the day!
Thank you once again for your fantastic work – the flowers were truly beautiful.
Jenny and Oliver

This was planned to recall Italian style and the wonderful scents she loved in her childhood. Just a little great idea that gave me the occasion to work on a floral arrangement based on purple and ivory with fresh and perfumed Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary, sage, mint and lavender. They could be a perfect green base to create the bouquet on but also centerpieces and ceremony decorations. Aromatic herbs offer an evocative range of colors from green to silverish of sage and lavender up to deep green of peppermint. Last but not least little lilac-blue lavender blooms could be the trait-d’union between purple and ivory flowers of the compositions.

This was my proposal for Jennifer and Oliver’s’ wedding floral arrangement. Jennifer feed back came back very quick. She was really excited for that: she loved all details of my proposal, she was literally looking forward to see and smell the flowers on her wedding day.

We started a planning that lasted few months and leaded to final result that you can see in this post.
Everybody and especially bride and groom loved the floral arrangements. Jennifer and Oliver after their honeymoon sent also a lovely email to thank us for all. You can read a piece of that here.

But I also want to tell you something more about Jennifer and Oliver’s wedding!
They arranged all in Pallanza on Lake Maggiore. Ceremony was held in Villa San Remigio while reception was arranged to Grand Hotel Majestic where almost all guests spend their Italian days.

Wedding coordinator was Valentina Lombardi who is part of Italian Lakes Wedding Team. Photographs were taken from Photo27 from Milan that I thank you for giving us the beautiful images you can see here.

The civil ceremony has been celebrated in wonderful Music Room (Sala della Musica) of Villa San Remigio. String quartet classical music created a wonderful romantic atmosphere.

Big Jennifer and Oliver’s day begun with a cloudy day but after few hours sun decided to come back again turing into a wonderful summer end day!

Villa San Remigio wide park and its secular tress, fountains and statues are the perfect settings for wonderful wedding pictures. Have a look to the natural style and great impact of the picture here below, simple but wonderful!

At the end of the ceremony Jennifer hanged on her bouquet a funny “Just Married” sign with two hearts, what a funny idea! Continue Reading »

Isola Bella, Isola Madre and Isola dei Pescatori: they are Borromeo Islands.
Three precious jewels rich in charm and history now among the most know touristy destination of Italian Lakes.
Someone said that gossip of possible wedding between George Clooney and Italian showgirl Elisabetta Canalis here increased the appeal of these places making them “exclusive”.
We do not have to forget about another fairy tale wedding that took place on Borromeo Islands: John Elkann – ceo of Fiat – and princess Donna Lavinia Borromeo.

If Isola Madre and Isola Bella are known for their great palaces and gardens and could be the perfect frame for your wedding pictures, Pescatori Island could be the best location for a perfect reception on the lake shores. This thanks to its wonderful position and rich gastronomic tradition.

Pescatori Island is the only one that is not part of Borromeo Family properties.
It is a liggle village with no more than 50 inhabitants. Fishing was the main occupation in the past some members of local families are still fishers.
You can see this heritage all over here starting from the little port where you will see many fishing boats.

It is such a peaceful place so you will meet many cats and frogs especially in July. Little nice frogs jump all over the narrow roads of the islands.
In this idyllic place there is a quite corner: a little garden with a terrace on the lake. You will read a big white sign with the name Belvedere on it.

Hotel Ristorante Belvedere is located on North East part of Pescatori Island far from busy port.
It has been managed from the same family for 4 generations. In 1921 restaurant hosted Charles De Gaulle who had lunch there during his honeymoon.

Today Belvedere Restaurant can host up to 200 guests inside the charming rooms and on its two gardens on the lake. Your reception to Hotel Ristorante Belvedere can be arranged on the open air by the lake shores, in the wide garden under the porch of booming flowers or inside the charming and bright veranda. You could also choose the lovely dining room once called La Grotta (the cave) because walls were all in stones.
The venue has been just refurbished but still preserves the charm of the ancient appeal. From all corners, including the dining room you could see Isola Madre and its great botanic park.

Belvedere Restaurant mainly serves fish dishes hand made prepared combining precious ingredients of Lake Maggiore and close valleys. Cheese lovers will taste Toma of Ossola valley and natural Gorgonzola. While wine lovers could choose among great Piemonte wines such as Barolo, Dolcetto, Barbaresco or pick great local wines of Novara valley. Continue Reading »

After Suzanne and Christopher, Loretta and Scott, Nicky and Chris we are on Lake Maggiore again to tell you about another magic wedding: Simone and Stephans’ wedding. They were such a lovely couple coming from Zurich, Switzerland.

First of all a big thank you to Andrea and Marcus a great couple of Swiss photographers that kindly put on disposal their great images of Simone and Stephan’s wedding. A vintage and really unconventional service that we found really unique. The yellow shade gives to images a sense of warm and cosy brightness.

Simone and Stephan wanted a unique and unforgettable wedding. They looked for a real elegant and Italian style event to give their day a touch of glamour. After visiting many venue they choose Lake Maggiore and little town of Pallanza.

Bride and groom opted for a religious ceremony to Sacro Monte church in Ghiffa and a wonderful reception to Villa Rusconi Clerici in Pallanza just few minutes far from the church.

For all guests Simone and Stephan wanted a week end long event.
They started with a lovely dinner on friday night in a traditional pizzeria facing the lake.
Saturday the day of the wedding they decided for a big party to Villa Rusconi sipping champagne, delicious Italian cuisine and fun dances up to early hours of Sunday.

The big day of Saturday begun early in the morning to Grand Hotel Majestic where the group stayed for all the wedding week end.
Dividing herself among make up and hair trial Simone spend some hours with her mother and maid of honor Rachel.
On late morning they all reached Ghiffa where all guests and Stephan were waiting for them.

Simone and Stephan got married in the tiny romantic 1600 church of Sacro Monte of Ghiffa.
Floral decorations were arranged by Manuela the floral designers who works in partnership with La Piccola Selva.
Roses were main flowers. Arrangement at the church included external columns, pews, balusters, and aisle to the altar totally covered with rose petals. Continue Reading »

I’ve already told you some months ago about the wonderful hotels on Lake Maggiore. These are ideal venues for an elegant wedding on these magic shores.
Chris and Suzanne choose Grand Hotel Majestic for they big day.

They came here with relatives and friends from United Kingdom to celebrate a wonderful event that was studied in every single detail.

Suzanne choose a theme inspired on lilac and café au lait enriched by many little crystals.

Suzanne designed personally Bridesmaids and flower girl dresses just thinking about these details.

Flower arrangement Suzanne wanted was very detailed.
All arrangements were created by Manuela one of the floral designer who work in close collaboration with La Piccola Selva. Basing on the theme Suzanne wanted, Manuela created a rich vintage arrangement.
She used Freesias blooms and Aqua Girl roses for lilac, and Cofee Break rose for cafe au lait shades. Purple was made with wide Trachelium and classic Vendela roses and Stephanotis made the white accent.
Little fabric Stephanotis were on all wedding stationery Suzanne and Chris had on their tables: invitations, names card, table chart and trivia boxes.

Crystals were on the tables to match Kartell chairs rented for the occasion and crystal vases supporting flowers decorations.

Some other little crystal were inside the Stephanotis flowers in centerpieces and bridal bouquet, just a little compact and rounded jewel.

Suzanne matched crystals on her dress too. There were crystals on the veil, on the dress and the wonderful vintage pin she had on her waist. Bridal dress was italian by Spose di Gio. Continue Reading »

After the wedding to Villa San Martino we come back to Lombardy side of Lake Maggiore. This time we are going South. Here you will find sweet hills going smoothly towards the lake. This are is very well known from nature and water sports lovers. There are also artistic and cultural places to visit such as historic residence of Villa della Porta Bozzolo with its grand Italian gardens or Rocca di Angera, great Borromeo family castle or even Santa Caterina del Sasso, a monastery on rocks peak.

Right in this green area you will find a lovely venue for your wedding on the lake: Hotel Conca Azzurra in Ranco close to Varese.
A wonderful view, a wonderful garden with many flowers and delicious cuisine will welcome you.
These are the main features of Hotel Conca Azzurra, a pretty venue for your wedding if you are thinking of getting married on Lake Maggiore.

Let’ s see together all the pearls of the hotel.
The great view on the lake: from here you could see the center of the Lake and great chain of Mt. Zeda. You could enjoy this perfect panorama in every month of the year from Restaurant La Veranda. During summer season it opens completely becoming a open air terrace for romantic dinners under the stars.

La Veranda restaurant offer a high level cuisine with local and traditional dishes of the Lake Maggiore and surrounding countryside. It has a very good service and wide cellar with selected wines for every request.

You could sip your aperitif or arrange an informal buffet reception in the wide garden with lovely view on the lake. You will be surrounded by palms and flowers and you will taste delicious lake fish and Piedmont wines. Continue Reading »