Italian Lakes Wedding Planner

There is a special corner close to Stresa the pearl of the Lake, a wonderful luxury hotel just on the lake shore with gorgeous gardens and wonderful scenarios for a magic wedding.
And this is the place Darren and Leanne loved when they visit Lake Maggiore one year ago when they came over to find the perfect venue on this spot of Italy: the Grand Hotel Dino in Baveno.

Darren’s words are fixed in my mind “One hour by plane, few minutes on the motor-way and you reach Paradise on Earth!”
How could I describe better a place like this?

Leanne and Darren come from Ireland and the choose Lake Maggiore for their destination wedding. We explored several venues but as soon as they reached Hotel Dino they simply fell in love with the venue and pleasant atmosphere you breath inside.

They really wanted a symbolic blessing in the grounds of the hotel. Their day was blessed with a wonderful sun and mild temperature and their dreams came true.
The blessing was set in the smaller and more private garden of the hotel. Continue Reading »

It seems that Amy Turner photograher and Koinè Quartet is a very good matching lately!
Koinè String Quartet is our string quartet and Amy Turner is a young English photographer who lives in Umbria – Center Italy.
What have they in common? They both have a large experience for wedding on Lake Como and they have been both chosen by our couple for the planning of their wedding, and they really liked working together!

With this first post we would love to show you some images taken from weddings planned on Lake Como where both Koinè Quartet and Amy Turner were present.

The first wedding we tell you about is Sarah-Louise and Karl’s in Villa del Balbianello in Lenno.

Everytime Amy works in Villa del Balbianello she is always amazed by this wonderful venue:

I am so, so lucky to visit the beautiful places that wedding photography takes me to and to be witness to some of the most magical, romantic moments in some of the most magical, romantic settings on earth. It’s almost impossible to choose my favourite venue given that a Castle in Tuscany differs so much from a Villa on the Amalfi Coast, a top Hotel in Rome and the stunning gardens alongside the Italian Lakes. However, if I was forced to choose my favourite wedding venue then this would be it: Villa del Balbianello, Lenno, Lake Como.

After getting ready to Grand Hotel Britannia Excelsior in Cadenabbia, Sarah-Louise and Karl reached Villa del Balbianello with a motorboat. Continue Reading »

Today I’d like to go back a little in time to talk about Melanie and David’s special day, which was our last wedding of the spring season.
Melanie and David are a delightful couple hailing respectively from England and the United States. For their Italian wedding they chose the fantastic setting of Villa Rusconi Clerici by the shores of Lago Maggiore.
Their wedding was the last Spring event but the first to welcome the summer! Melanie and David opted for a wedding based on sunflowers and lemons, which are typically warm and sunny mediterranean themes.

This was perfectly highlighted by glorious sunshine which thankfully arrived after a few days of bad weather. Their wedding was characterised by a limpid blue lake, a light breeze that chased away the clouds and bright green of the landscape all around. An exceptional contrast of colour made the various yellow hues used in the arrangement designed by Monika and myself, stand out even more.

The event was organized by Valentina, Italian Lakes Wedding’s experienced wedding planner, who has become a true expert in weddings taking place at Villa Rusconi Clerici.

I planned this event in collaboration with my lovely and valued colleague, Stefania who is based in the Southern Lakeside regions of Italy, (including Lake Bracciano) but who occasionally assists us here in the Northern Lakes.
It was such a pleasure to have assisted Melanie, who was one of the most co-operative brides of this year. As a couple our bride and groom ‘to be’ complemented one another perfectly. Melanie was an incredibly stylish American Bride and David, a very handsome British Groom. They had enjoyed their first vacation together in our country and so had their hearts set on Italy as the destination for their special day. We had to plan certain details at relatively short notice but Melanie was precise and punctual, which made working with her a sheer delight!
Valentina – wedding planner

I was inspired by Melanie’s creative ideas and pleased to offer suggestions based on my vast experience of organizing weddings in the area. It was fulfilling to collaborate with the Bride and help make her dream of a stunning and sophisticated wedding at Lake Maggiore come true.
Melanie and David expressed a desire for a romantic blessing ceremony, (tastefully and thoughtfully conducted by Celebrants, Giuseppe and Diane) and their vision of an elegant and chic countryside event was realised at Villa Rusconi Clerici, one of the most romantic locations in the area.

Paola from La Piccola Selva helped us to achieve the required atmosphere by designing beautiful arrangements of country style flowers with a touch of elegance, a consistent trademark of La Piccola Selva.

We selected only the most professional catering service, whose culinary skills contributed to the overall success of the event held exclusively at the Villa. The Bride and Groom were treated to a sumptuous aperitif with their wedding guests in the grounds, followed by an enchanting dinner by the majestic lake. This was an intimate wedding and certainly one of the most romantic of the season!
Valentina – wedding planner

When Valentina introduced me to Melanie, I soon realised that our bride had precise ideas concerning the theme of her wedding. She wanted a flower arrangement with a typical mediterranean flavour, cheerful and sunny, based on yellow tones. The choice was soon made to include the complementary characteristics of lemons and sunflowers.
Continue Reading »

Balbianello Villa – Official Rental Fees 2012

Many of you write us to ask further information on Villa del Balbianello rental.
For this reason we would love to give you more information on our blog that we hope could be useful.
As mentioned Villa del Balbianello is a very exclusive and unique venue, for this reason rental fee is related to the luxury and exclusivity of the location itself.
Click here to find official rental fee that Villa del Balbianello property gave us for 2012

After the great and special rehearsal dinner to a beautiful Lake Como beach club, the Big Day has finally arrived for Antonin & Louise.
Many details made this wedding really different!

Both bride and groom stayed to Villa D’Este where they spent few relaxing days enjoying the lake and warm summer weather.
On the wedding day Antonin joined his friends who stayed for almost a week in a fantastic Villa with pool and private pier located in Laglio.

Ceremony was arranged to Villa del Balbianello followed by an wonderful reception in a private Villa in Cernobbio, on the lakeshore: a real masterpiece of the Lake Como architecture.
From this Villa, Antonin and his best men got on a charming Riva motorboat to go to Villa del Balbianello: they were really handsome.

In the meanwhile, the bride, together with her dad and the bridesmaids left Villa D’Este on a second charming Riva motorboat and reached Antonin who already reached Villa del Balbianello waiting for her together with family and friends, all very excited.
Louise was so beautiful in her wedding gown!

The ceremony was celebrated in the Loggia of Villa del Balbianello and conducted by a close friend of the couple.

All decorations were precious and elegant, with a big arch of flowers as main detail. Continue Reading »

Lisa and Darren are another lovely English couple who chose the end of August for their wedding on the lakes. A very good choice considering the wonderful sunny days that we usually have on Italian Lakes at the end of August. A great sky with a mild and not too hot temperature.

The entire event took place to Villa Rusconi Clerici in Pallanza on Lake Maggiore. Lisa and Darren had their blessing in the garden of the villa by the shores. Ceremony was conducted by Diane Wheeler.
Then they had a lovely aperitif in the garden, followed by a second aperitif on a big boat for everybody with 1 hour tour of the lake and an elegant dinner in the pavilion of the villa.
Dances and a bath on the lake to follow!

Fuchsia pink together with white of hydangeas were the theme colors Lisa chose for her flowers.
We will come back soon speaking about these and other details of this lovely wedding on Lake Maggiore in the following week. Just enjoy these first pictures!

Balbianello Villa – Official Rental Fees 2011

Many of you write us to ask further information on Villa del Balbianello rental.
For this reason we would love to give you more information on our blog that we hope could be useful.
As mentioned Villa del Balbianello is a very exclusive and unique venue, for this reason rental fee is related to the luxury and exclusivity of the location itself.
Click here to find official rental fee that Villa del Balbianello property gave us for 2011

Nadia and Michel: the Big Day has arrived!
First of all let us introduce you our bride and groom: Nadia and Michel both come from Germany. The groom has Italian heritage. His relatives came from Puglia Region in Southern Italy which is famous for its splendid sea.
Nadia and Michel always loved Lake Como. They visited it many times and they chose it as their wedding destination.
In order make their love dream come true they chosed a special romantic and exclusive venue. Choosing Villa del Balbianello has been more than natural, considering also how famous it is!

At their arrival Nadia and Micheal had a beautiful sunny day and they enjoyed a relaxing boat trip on Lake Como.
The day of their wedding started with a cloudy and rainy sky. Luckily, clouds left the space to the sun, creating a landscape even more evocative and unreal.
Micheal and guests’ arrival by motorboat to Villa del Balbianello, stood out in all its splendor, with the 2 gracious bell towers of the ancient Saint John Convent which stretched skywards in a myriad of clouds and shades.

Isn’t it stunning? Just look to images of the Villa seen from the Lake! The authors are again Estella & Diego of Photo27 who followed the 3 days event: boat trip on the Lake the first day, wedding to Villa del Balbianello and last but not least a beach party in Lenno on the third day, right after the wedding.

And here arrives Nadia, on board of a luxurious white motorboat. The clouds went away in the meanwhile, leaving the space to a clear sunny day…
It almost seemed that the planners arranged the sun coming too!

During the weddings, access to Villa del Balbianello, is exclusively allowed from the Lake. You are welcome by the motto “Fay ce que voudras” (do what you want) which the Cardinal Durini wanted to be engraved on the small pier. Continue Reading »

Two lovely weddings on our lakes today! Melanie and David on Lake Maggiore, and Vanda and Tony on Lake Orta.

On Lake Maggiore Melanie and David came from United Kingdom and US to get married to Villa Rusconi in Pallanza.
Lovely ceremony was performed by our celebrants Giuseppe and Diane.

They wanted a very Italian style decoration made up with sunflowers, lemons and greenery.
A very country side setting for a beautiful wedding on the shores!
Continue Reading »

On the 21st of October 2009, Sandra and John get married at Villa D’Este.
Their story is very romantic and the atmosphere that rainy day brought to their special day was magical and incredibly touching. We were all excited and the time went so fast!

The ceremony was originally organized outdoor, but because of bad weather, it was moved inside the beautiful Column Room.
While Sandra was getting ready, all of us were waiting in the room welcoming the guests and John, the groom.

He reached the altar accompanied by the music of great song La vita è bella.
The florist made an incredible job, we were all astonished…

Finally Sandra appeared, she was beautiful and radiant as John’s son who had the honor to lead her to his father.

Thanks to the great job of our lovely celebrants celebrants Diane and Giuseppe, the whole ceremony was touching and real, and the newlyweds were very happy and surprised!

After the ceremony Sandra, John and their guests had a long walk inside the Hotel to take unforgettable pictures, before coming back to the room for a delicious reception dinner. Continue Reading »

Villa Rusconi in Pallanza, is a beautiful setting by any standards for a Blessing Celebration. The famous and stunning Lago Maggiore glistened in the warmth of an exceptionally strong September sun on the day, much to the delight of the wedding party from England, who had been suffering from a washed out summer!

Nicky and Chris appeared perfectly matched bright young things. The groom had previously written to us, describing his bride as a typically English Rose and when Nicky arrived by boat to greet an eager crowd our first impression was just that. Tall, slim and blonde, Nicky looked stunning in a simple but elegant dress worthy of a film star… talking of which, the groom reminded us of a younger dashing English actor named Charles Dance!

An expert guitarist performed the Wedding March and the ceremony was beautifully punctuated by an original poem composed and recited by Amy, a dear friend of the happy couple. The weather was beautiful, the grounds of the Villa absolutely gorgeous and the guests elegantly attired. A curious Italian boat crew waved and cheered ‘Auguri’ (an Italian wish for happiness.) Continue Reading »

Here I am again to talk about Villa Rusconi Clerici, this time I will describe the gorgeous symbolic ceremony of Nicky & Chris. As flower designer, I have had the great pleasure and honour of handling the decoration of this special event, which took place in September in Verbania Pallanza on the shores of Lake Maggiore.

I would like to start by thanking the photographer Carlo Conti, who has kindly provided these fabulous images of the day. After many years of experience as a fashion, still life and architecture photographer, Carlo Conti has founded RPS Studio – Reportage Per gli Sposi – choosing to continue his career as a specialist wedding photographer. His style is characterised by a great ability to capture the most natural and spontaneous moments of any event in order to compose a fresh, modern and lively album…the pictures of Nicky and Chris’ big day are a very good example of his creativity.

Nicky & Chris are both born and bread in London. Nicky is pursuing a successful career in human resource, while Chris owns a recruitment agency focusing on the sports sector.
Being two very busy young professionals, they did not have a lot of free time to dedicate to the organisation of their wedding and decided to rely on the expertise and professionalism of Chic Weddings, a leading wedding design agency that works with the team of Italian Lakes Wedding.

Nicky and Chris were dreaming of a wedding by the water, informal and elegant at the same time. An event that matched their personality, not too flashy but very fun. After evaluating various options, they opted for Villa Rusconi Clerici for its wonderful position right on the shores of Lake Maggiore.

The colour theme chosen by Nicky & Chris focused on ivory and lilac, with a hint of purple. This successful combination is very much on trend recently and is often requested by my clients.

The ceremony at Villa Rusconi Clerici started with the arrival of the bride, Nicky, by speedboat. She was accompanied by her father and her lovely bridesmaids. The location benefits from a private jetty which offers the possibility of organising an extremely scenic entry as well as lake tours for the guests during the cocktail reception.

Nicky chose a sleek and modern bouquet, in perfect harmony with her dress: to design it I mixed mini white Calla Lilies, purple Lysianthus and Rose Tibet, enhancing the long shape of the bouquet with a few leaves of Beucarnea. Continue Reading »

Welcome to part 4 of our Summers Season Wedding in Orta appointment.
I will give an overview on some of the events we followed during 2009 summer in 5 posts.
The thing Summer Season Weddings have in common brides and groom choice to opt for Villa Bossi and its wonderful garden to celebrate their civil ceremony.
Every single couple personalized and made their event different and unique in all senses.
And so Maria and Chris did.

Maria and Chris chose to celebrate their ceremony in the garden of Villa Bossi first and the in the wonderful church of Assunta for a moving blessing.

Maria and Chris’ wedding was a simple and cosy event, they just wanted to have it this way! They came here with few friends and close family from United Kingdom.
Maria and Chris decided to arrange a different event but at the same time it was really really romantic!

For once in Orta history bride did not arrived by boat but from narrow and medieval roads in Orta village.
She was with her father and at their arrival a lovely flower girls was waiting for her as a surprise! Continue Reading »

It is not the first time that Lake Orta has been chosen as wedding destination by an international media personality. Some time ago Kerry Katona chose the same lake for her wedding. She is a famous British actress, book writer and former member of Atomic Kitten band. Then Bevin Tucker landed here. She has been main character in American movie Girl in 3D, directed by Louis Aira. Thanks to the thriller movie Bevin won first prize as Best Actress to New York Film and Video Festival in 2004. You could read more about Bevin’s wedding in posts that Valentina, Diane and Monika wrote.
Today we would like to tell you about Mark Followill. He is the voice of Dallas Maveriks the famous NBA basket ball team. Forbes Magazine describer It is one of the most important basket ball team in US from the economical point of view.

Mark Followill is official speaker of Mavs TV. Dallas Maveriks tv channel. Mark chose for his wedding with Rachel romantic and magic Lake Orta and its St. Julius Island.

Valentina Lombardi of Italian Lakes Wedding planned the wedding for them and Raffaello Mazzoleni was their skillful photographer. You can see some wonderful pictures here as anticipation.

An intimate symbolic ceremony on the lakeshore that Valentina will describe soon thanks to Raffaello Mazzoleni images. Stay tuned to know more from Valentina’s words and Raffaello’s reportage images.