For Axel and Melanie we organized one of these old boats, got it decorated and had 2 strong men to row them 600 metres to Ossuccio with its really cute townhall. All guests were waiting and applauded at the arrival. As well the major awaited them under the historic arcades to start with the civil wedding ceremony.
Sure that all majors in Italy have to read out the legal articles, but they do it with much pleasure. And often there are situations to laugh as it is not always very easy for the celebrant to pronounce all those foreign names and cities. So with this, all wedding ceremonies get a very soft and smiling touch, although they are legally accepted.

After the ceremony we arranged a toast in the garden below the arcades, just to have some sips of Prosecco and some light fingerfood, nicely prepared right next to the lake.

Then we proceeded by boat to the famous Villa Balbianello for some beautiful photos of bride and groom in the elegant garden of this villa. Nice to walk here where already successful films have been registered, like Ocean Eleven, Star Wars, James Bond etc.

Our photographer Julian Kanz had much fun to shoot Melanie and Axel in all parts of the pittoresque property. And the best is, that even all guests do enjoy this one-hour-stop as they can stroll through the gardens and relax at each corner with wonderful views over Lake Como.

Finally we drove back to the Hotel San Giorgio, where we arranged a wedding dinner with local food. But before starting with the dinner, all guests had 2 hours to relax and to refresh themselves. In the meantime it was our task to arrange the table decoration, all in white and green colors. Together with lampions, candles, torches to create a very typical summer party in the beginning of a hot July.

Britta Hartmann-De Marchi is german and therefore the specialist for German, Austrian and Swiss couples coming to the lake Region for getting married.

She herself got married 10 years ago and choose an Italian husband. Enjoying to live here in Bella Italia and coming from 14-years-experience in international advertising and marketing, she liked to change her job into becoming organizer of weddings for german-(and english-) speaking people coming to Italy for their marriage.

Coming from Germany and knowing what to expect in Italy, she is the perfect organizer between bride and groom and the Italian service partners. Correctness, flexibility and a easy hand to plan all details around a wedding make her work very appreciated.

The most emotional part is, when I become almost the best friend of the bride during all the planning time you share with each other. So we both do enjoy the wedding day in its best form and this is important for my work.

As floral designer I met Siobhan and Stuart through Valentina, our wedding coordinator specialized on weddings on Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore.
I leave to her introducion this lovely couple:

Shiobhan and Stuart are a nice couple coming from Scotland.
I never met them before they came here for their wedding. We planned all details via email and our collaboration started more than one year ago!
Sibhoan is a wonderful and sweet person. She faced every step of the planning with a deep joy and enthusiasm and it was a pleasure and honor for me helping her and her groom to make their dream come true.

They decided for an intimate wedding on Lake Orta because they wanted to share the perfect atmosphere of this quaint corner of Italy only with their close friends and family. They spent some days in Orta taking also the occasion to enjoy the lake in a special period of the year: Early Spring.
This moment is special here, flowers and plans and blooming and the tourists are still few.
A perfect choice!

From the floral point of view Siobhan and Stuart’s wedding was really unusual, they chose a theme based on pink and yellow.

For the bride and grooms who wish to celebrate their wedding outdoors in a garden or by the lake shores a colorful palette of pink and yellow could be a trendy solution! It can be dynamic and out of classical choices making the atmosphere warmer colorful and charming!

Yellow is a joyful, energic color which brings optimims light and transparency.
On the other side Pink is very feminine and fine, it recalls elegance, class, refinement, sensuality and seduction.
The final effect is absolutely gorgeous and unique just as for Siobhan and Stuart’s wedding.

Every floral arrangement Siobhan and Stuart chose recalled pink and yellow. Villa Bossi columns arrangements, flowers on the table of ceremony, petals on the aisle and centerpieces for reception to Hotel San Rocco.

In order to create this lovely scheme we opted for Aqua roses in a deep pink shade and some yellow gerberas with a delicate touch of Alchemilla.

To match light yellow bridesmaid dress we opted for little bouquet of Aqua roses that in its semplicity gave a natural and smooth appeal to all.

Have a look to Siobhan’s arm sheaf bouquet. We realized it in the same shades of the entire event!
The arm sheaf bouquet is more or less like a bunch of flowers created to be carried on an arm, just like a baby.

Let’s not forget about the Royal table arrangement in Rotary room of San Rocco Hotel.
We realized it with little candles, roses and floral arrangements in different shapes and dimensions to give a dynamic and joyful aspect just like Siobhan and Stuart wanted.

If you would like to give a special and different touch to your wedding being far from usual schemes then a pink and yellow themed floral arrangement could be a great idea!
The colors need to be matched with taste and elegance to create smooth and charming arrangements!

As flower designer I think that a theme matching sensual pink and lightful yellow could be the perfect choice for a joyful happy and bright wedding!
After all it is just like this a wedding should be! Fun joy and a wonderful sweet party!

Monika Andenmatten is La Piccola Selva’s floral designer.
Based in lake Orta, has worked with brides for over 20 years to create floral arrangements for weddings in the Italian Lakes district.
His wedding arrangements are creative, elegant and sophisticated. Monika will be able to help you choose how best to incorporate floral design into your wedding celebrations. From the initial consultation to the wedding day, she will make your wedding flowers truly an expression of your dreams.
For any information about wedding on Lake Orta please contact us.

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.

For the reception we worked a lot at Cernobbio Villa to create a perfect atmosphere. It had to be perfect!
After a long preparation the result was magnificent.

The cocktail was served in a lateral terrace which was adorned with tables, buffets and flowers, while the dinner was arranged on the main terrace, with a long table for the couple and their close family and friends, surrounded by many other round tables.

Centerpieces were something to be remember. High chandeliers totally covered with greenery and enriched with cascades of precious orchids and ivory candles.

Antonin and Louise wanted a real party where music, dance and scenery had a leading role.
For this reason, the band chosen for their event was great! It was made up with 11 musicians who involved the guests in dances and entertainment since the beginning of the aperitif.
Wonderful Italian Food, dance and lot of fun!

But our couple still wanted to surprise their guests with stunning fireworks on the Lake, accompanied by touching and romantic music.

And we do not have to forget the cut of the cake! It was totally unusual.
For this special moment they decided to get on a stage and cut the cake at the rhythm of a Samba.

After this special moment the party continued until late at night: a night that nobody will never forget.

All images © Morlotti Studio – Lake Como. All rights reserved.

Alessandra Fabi is the Italian Lakes Wedding’s coordinator for Lake Garda and lake Como area. If your idea of wedding is refined, sophisticated and with a special attention to details, she’s your perfect wedding planner!
She makes each client feel unique and she treats each wedding as if it were her own.

For any information about wedding to Villa del Balbianello and Cernobbio – please CONTACT US.

For the first time we will talk you about the main theme Nicola chose for the wedding and this is the first time we are presenting here a gold themed wedding on Lake Orta!
Such and original choice Nicola and Bryan did for their wedding in italy.
As we told you Nicola and Bryan decided for an intimate wedding for no more than 25 people.
In the afternoon of a gold sunny day on the lake Nicola arrived to the church with her father and her sister.

They were perfect! Nicola’s dress was amazing with all laces and the fist touch of gold was given by the sweet ivory and gold dress her lovely sister had on.
Bridal bouquet and decorations in the church were of course ivory themed to keep them simple and elegant. Chic and delicate gold touch was kept for the reception to the reception.

The arrangements of the tables were surely a touch of good taste Nicola has indeed.

It was made up with just some ivory floating flowers, ivory tablecloths and chairs to begin on the three round table in Rotary Room overlooking the lake.

On top of these lovely arranged table were three gold organza runners and three ivory candelabras with gold candles on top.
Nicola’s wedding stationery was gold themed too, menus, namescards, and table names were just simple but elegant. Have a look to Nicola’s ideas we are sure you will love them.

The party ended again in Villa Gippini with wedding cake cut and some sweets buffet that bride and groom and their family and friends just loved.

Valentina Lombardi is the Italian Lakes Wedding coordinator for Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore area.

She follows Italian and foreign bridegrooms who wish to celebrate their wedding in Piemonte and Italian Lakes area.
Valentina is Italian; she has worked in event organization business for years before becoming a wedding planner.

For any information about wedding on Lake Orta please CONTACT US.

All Images © Valentina Lombardi – except photo 1 and 2 © Enrico Mocci photographer.
All right reserved.

Eve-Marie and Roland are coming from Ireland and they chose Italy and its romantic Lake Orta for their love dream!

A great sunny day was the perfect frame of the event. Religious ceremony was held in Sacro Monte church in Orta one of the most beautiful churches in the area.

Eve-Marie arrived to the church on an amazing vintage Bentely together with 4 elegant bridesmaids dressed in light blue.

Eve-Marie color scheme was based on ivory cream and light blue.
You can notice it in floral arrangements and bridal bouquet created with light blue hydrangeas and cream ivory Vendela rose.

In the church Eve-Marie wanted tall candles for the aisle to get to the altar. So original!

We do not want to ruin the surprise! We will come back soon telling you more about Eve-Marie and Roland’s wedding with details and many amazing pictures! Stay tuned!

All images © Italian Lakes Wedding. All right reserved.

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.

All was simply perfect! People, mood, food, flowers, candles, everything!
After the dinner they danced, had some coktails and had lot of fun…

Villa D’Este is always a very special and elegant wedding venue, also with a rainy day!

All Images © Desdemona Varon photographer. For more information please contact us.

Alessandra Fabi is the Italian Lakes Wedding’s coordinator for Lake Garda and lake Como area. If your idea of wedding is refined, sophisticated and with a special attention to details, she’s your perfect wedding planner!
She makes each client feel unique and she treats each wedding as if it were her own.

For more information about weddings at Villa D’Este – Lake Como – please contact us.

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!

Bridal dress was wonderful rich of pearls, and delicate laces. Have a look to groom’s suit too! It perfectly matched wedding color theme with is tie and purple details.

In bridal bouquet, side of scented herbs, I added Vendela roses, dendrobium orchids, lavender blooms, purple Lisyanthus on a base of apple green hydrangeas.

After wedding pictures bride and groom with their guests went to Grand Hotel Majestic just few minutes drive from Villa San Remigio.

Wedding party begun with a nice aperitif under the columns porch overlooking the garden and Lake Maggiore.

The picture you can see below taken during the aperitif is one of my favorite of Photo27 service. Please take a look to the spontaneous and deepness of the shot.

As floral designer most challenging task was the creation of centerpieces to decorate the elegant Grand Hotel Majestic Toscanini Room. A two days long preparation.

In the center of each table I placed a big round mirror with tall vases on. On top of them I put my floral decoration that matched bouquet style. In this case I mostly used Dendrobium orchids to get a falling and light effect.

On the top table I placed a big composition made of Aspidistra leaves and Bear Grass that made it even bigger.

The details all these arrangements had in common were the great use of aromatic herbs: mint’s deep scent together with rosemary, lavender and sage gave to Toscanini Room a real mediterranean atmosphere.

A wonderful scent that will stay in everybody memory for long time as Jennifer wrote in wonderful and kind email.

A little memory of their dream wedding on Lake Maggiore that that Jennifer and Oliver will keep in their heats for forever.

Monika Andenmatten is La Piccola Selva’s floral designer.
Based in lake Orta, has worked with brides for over 20 years to create floral arrangements for weddings in the Italian Lakes district.
His wedding arrangements are creative, elegant and sophisticated. Monika will be able to help you choose how best to incorporate floral design into your wedding celebrations. From the initial consultation to the wedding day, she will make your wedding flowers truly an expression of your dreams.

For more information about weddings on Lake Maggiore please contact us.

My first wedding of Summer Season 2009 was Amy and Tom’s: 3rd July 2009. Amy arrived some days before to settle in Orta and define some last details.

She spent some lovely days before the event, with her parents and family in a lovely villa on the lake that I often suggest to my couples. It is just in front of Ortello Gulf.

And finally the wedding day came!
Amy and her father took a nice walk from the lovely house on the shores to reach village church. Tom, flower girls, purple dressed bridesmaids and all guests were all waiting for her there. Lilac was the theme of whole wedding.

Amy choose this wonderful color for her main theme and Monika Andenmatten from La Piccola Selva created wonderful arrangements to accomplish her desires. She based her work on a color palette going from white to purple-lilac. Monika created wonderful church arrangements for the balusters and external columns of the church itself.

At the end of the ceremony… just a lovely kiss of bride and groom! Photographer Andrea Dapueto took a wonderful shot of it. Andrea Dapueto was the perfect reporter for such a wonderful event.

Amy and Tom walked to Orta Main Square to congratulate with relatives and friends.

After many kisses and hugs, Amy and Tom decided to take some time for themselves on a motorboat to reach St. Julius Island.

St. Julius Island is the perfect setting for unforgettable wedding pictures. Have a look to this wonderful “stolen” shot taken by Andrea Dapueto Photographer!

A very special mention to bride’s dress. Amy choose a simple dress for sure but it was very detailed indeed! It had on laces and bright crystals matching tiara in her hair. Tom had on a wonderful Italian suite, what else? Perfect Italian style.

We can not forget about bridal bouquet! Simply amazing!
Monika created for Amy a romantic teardrop bouquet based on bride’s colors. It matched perfectly bridesmaids’ dresses, groom’s tie and many other details. Monika used mainly Roses, Lisyanthus Eustoma in many shades from white to purple-lilac. Final touch were falling Bear Grass and ivy greenery that gave a romantic and vintage touch to the bouquet. All was studied in perfect harmony with bridal dress and style of the event.

Right after their boat trip, bride and groom reached their guests to Hotel San Rocco for a nice aperitif on the terrace accompanied by classical music and followed by a gourmand dinner prepared by skillful chef and his staff.

Monika Andenmatten created lovely centerpieces for dinner reception. They were simple but elegant with floating candles and flowers such as rose blossoms, Hyrdangea petals and Steel Grass on a base of little stones similar to little diamonds.

Thanks to wonderful a summer night, party continued on the terrace with music, dances and lot of fun under a wonderful sky of Lake Orta.

A fairly tale scenery for a very sweet couple!

Valentina Lombardi is the Italian Lakes Wedding coordinator for Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore area. She follows Italian and foreign bridegrooms who wish to celebrate their wedding in Piemonte and Italian Lakes area.
Valentina is Italian; she has worked in event organization business for years before becoming a wedding planner.

For more information about weddings on Lake Orta – please contact us.

Even if these couples chose similar options they personalized their wedding making it unique and very different from each other.

Laura and Kieran chose for their wedding cranberry red as theme color. They added a touch of this shade of red in every detail starting from bridesmaid dress. She was nice Laura’s sister.

Cranberry Red was the color that Manuela the flower designer used to create bridal bouquet. It was made of wonderful Lily Stargazer.

At the end of the ceremony newly weds and their guests had a pretty walk along the pretty roads of Orta village up to the main square to take wonderful wedding pictures.

I have to really thank Laura’s brother for the simple but very pretty decorations he did for the wedding! He was really kind and creative!

He created for Laura and Kieran’s lovely reception centerpieces to Hotel San Rocco.
They were made with many candles, rose petals, sparkling crystals and butterflies.

After few weeks Laura and Kieran’s wedding another couple chose red as theme color: Shawn and Raul.
Even if they chose the same color it was really different again! I will talk about them soon!
See you there!

Valentina Lombardi is the Italian Lakes Wedding coordinator for Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore area. She follows Italian and foreign bridegrooms who wish to celebrate their wedding in Piemonte and Italian Lakes area.
Valentina is Italian; she has worked in event organization business for years before becoming a wedding planner.

For more information about weddings in Orta San Giulio please contact us.

Victoria is an kind English girl, very nice and simple. She is literally in love with Italy and its lakes. This was the reason because she choose to organize her wedding in our lovely country. It took almost a year, traveling across all lakes to take the final decision for her destination wedding. At the end she picked up Lake Maggiore.

Religious ceremony was held in San Martino church in Lesa, a tiny village on Piemonte side of Lake Maggiore, between Stresa and Arona. San Martino church is beautiful cosy and intimate and it is just few steps from the lake.
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Villa Muggia was elected as reception venue. It was simply stunning! Villa’s park was embellished with all spring blooming that bridegroom and their guests really loved. Villa Muggia ‘s park is full of azaleas and camelias. These are all lake plants that are exceptionally beautiful in Spring.

As floral designer I would like to tell you the most importan part as far as my job is concerned of Victoria and Daniel’s wedding: floral arrangements!
From the very first meeting Victoria was really decided on her wedding theme. She wanted a solar theme that really could recall Italy.
So we choose together LEMONS as main theme of the wedding. I think Lemons could be the right element for all that Victoria was looking for!
Since the color theme was really strong, I decided to smooth it a little in order to match wedding feeling of such a wonderful day.
I suggested Victoria some pastel colors she agreed with me.I picked up Vendela roses and peonies. I love peonies they make me think about vintage style, romanticism, Belle Époque, fascinating ages and elegance.
This flower is really delicate and it has a limited blooming period: April/May until mid June. Of course nowadays we can have flowers like this in every single period of the year, but consider that ordering them out of season could be very expensive and most of all the flower itself will last for very few time. Peonies cannot stay for long time under summer sun and in just 2 hours they will be totally burned.
At the end Victoria had her Lemon theme wedding with cream peonies and Duchesse de Nemours roses that have a light yellow shade on. This was all integrated with light green of Viburnum that was the real trait-d-union among all the elements.

As for the big church compositions and aperitif tables arrangements I used entire lemons or cut ones to play with different shades of their color, from darker shades to lighter ones inside the fruits.

Bouquet decoration was the most difficult part. I cut lemons in different dimensions and inserted them on several tiers and positions. They had to be seen in the entire floral arrangement. I paid a lot of attention creating it, considering that it had to be made just few moments before the ceremony in order to keep fresh every single element of it. Lemons needed to be fresh and colored until the end of the ceremony and the event!

Last but not least centerpieces! Considering Victoria wanted her reception outside under the wonderful marquee in Villa Muggia garden, I opted for two simple and informal decorations that could match the atmosphere. I choose some short glass vases with water in and floating candles and lemons to match church decorations and most of all bridal bouquet. A minimal style centerpiece that had a lovely effect. This kept the budget lower with respect of another kind of arrangement. This is something we need to consider too!

When I think about Victoria and Daniel’s wedding, after almost a year, I really believe that was my milestones as floral designer. A real challenge that made me proud of my job! This is the reason I wanted to share it today with you.
Our best wishes for their first anniversary to Victoria and Daniele!

Monika Andenmatten is La Piccola Selva’s floral designer. Based in lake Orta, has worked with brides for over 20 years to create floral arrangements for weddings in the Italian Lakes district.
For more information about weddings on Lake Maggiore please contact us.