Italian Lakes Wedding Planner

After Diane’s wonderful post I would like to come back on Siobhan and Stuart’s wedding to tell you about the floral arrangements of the event that officially opened Wedding season in Villa Bossi on Lake Orta.

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! Continue Reading »

Wedding color schemes are often based on trends or bride and groom’s tastes and wishes. But not always! Sometimes brides and grooms decides about their theme basing on something they are very close to such as colors of their region or home country. Do you remember about Cristina and Derek and more recent wedding of Sonja and Allard. Today is Nicole and Euan‘s turn.

Nicole is Australian and Euan is from Scotland. It is just for Euan’s home country that the couple decided for a blue and white schemed wedding.

Blue and white recalls the legendary St. Andrew’s Cross national flag of Scotland. This is one of the most ancient flags in the world dated back to 800 a.c. Flag is made of a diagonal cross representing St. Andrew Martyrdom’s cross on a blue background. St. Andrew is the patron saint of all Scotland. Blue and White are in all national sports wears of Scotland starting from national soccer team.

In Nicole and Euan’s wedding blue and white were just everywhere: in floral arrangements, on flower girl’s dresses and in Nicole’s bridal bouquet. This was a special cascade bouquet that Monika – La Piccola Selva Floral designer – created with white roses and blue gentianas.

The event was coordinated and planned by our wedding planner Valentina Lombardi who works on Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore. Valentina will tell us more about this event.

A very special interesting and sweet couple!
Euan is Scottish and beautiful Nicole is Austalian they both live and work in Dubai. For their special day they opted for Italy because they simply love the food the rustic and quaint atmosphere and also because Euan worked here for about one year.
Nicole also wanted a wedding by the waters of the sea or the lake. Putting all these elements together we thought that Orta could be perfect, so intimate, medieval, romantic and just on the lake shores!

Continue Reading »

Cinzia and Giovanni always dreamt about getting married in a little church, in a tiny village with few relatives and friends. A simple but elegant wedding, cosy and magic. They did not want just a wedding but two days break with the people they love.

BEFORE…
Thinking about the location, finding it, the church, the restaurant.
They travelled across many little villages but non of them was exactly what they had in mind.

THE EPIPHANY…
On a Sunday of the beginning of April Cinzia and Giovanni (Ci and Gio) reached Orta San Giulio village….just a sight….the place they were looking for! The one of the dream, a tiny cosy village. Just amazing! And what about St. Julius Island with its legends, monastery?… This is only the beginning…

THEN…
How to arrange it all living at more than 100 km far from home?
How could they find the church, the restaurant, the priest, the best florist and photographer? Now the dream need to come true!

INTERNET…
Italian Lakes Wedding is site where you can find a lot of wedding planning information it is only a web site. This is not true and it is just here were we found our guardian angels. They are professional, discrete and most of all new Ci and Gio’s friends.
Continue Reading »

Dear Brides and Grooms,
today is Valentine’s Day and many of you are surely celebrating it!
We wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day!
On this special day we would like to introduce our brand new contest: Bouquet of the Year 2010.
This is a new on line contest to choose the best bouquet of the wedding we had on our Lakes region on 2010.

We selected 33 bridal bouquets….they are all wonderful!
Would you like to be the one to choose the best one with us?

Our selection is has been made among all bridal bouquets of the wedding Italian Lakes Wedding Team planned in 2010 and presented on our blog.
For Valentine’s Day lovers and brides and grooms to be on Italian Lakes it could be a great opportunity to get inspiration for your wedding flowers!

Which is your favorite? You can choose up to 3 bouquets checking the box side of the name of matching bride and groom’ s names.
The contest will end in 3 weeks at 0.00 of 7 March 2011.

Thanks for vote your favorite bouquet! Continue Reading »

Italian Lakes Wedding blog ended 2010 with a great post about Lina and Borja’s wedding Lake Maggiore’s Wedding of the Year.
We really wanted to begin this fabulous 2011 with another wonderful wedding that we all keep in our hearts. We are talking about Eve-Marie and Roland’s wedding on Lake Orta.

This time we want to tell you about that in a unique way: Eve-Marie and Roland’s wedding will be described directly by bride and groom!

Roland and I are both from Dublin. We met in college and had been great friends for almost a year before we starting going out and that was seven years ago now.
We had planned a big wedding in Ireland and were ready to start paying deposits when we realised that we didn’t want a big wedding with lots of people who we hadn’t met or who didn’t know us. We sat back and really thought about what we wanted and decided we’d love to have a relaxed wedding in Italy with those that matter most to us both. We focused on the northern lake region of Italy because it would have lovely weather in September when we wanted to get married and it was close to airports.
We started searching for planners online and Valentina kept coming up.
The Italian Lake Weddings site instilled us with confidence that these planners were the real deal, so we started emailing Valentina and arranged to come over and view some possible venues on the Italian Lakes.

Roland and I arrived in Orta the night before we were due to meet Valentina (and her colleague and husband Ernesto) and decided to go for a walk down the town. Within 5 minutes of walking through the cobbled village with the beautiful coloured buildings on either side and entering into the stunning piazza with it’s view of the lake and San Julius island, we had decided that Orta was the prettiest place we’d ever seen, that we wanted to share it with all our friends and family. We just had to get married there.

We decided to stay in the hotel San Rocco with our 45 guests. The hotel staff were so accommodating. As a special treat they gave Roland and I the suite in the Villa Gippini which really made the start of our wedding visit magical.

Our wedding was a 3 day affair and the Italian Lakes Wedding Planners helped us to organise all.
We had a Welcome Lunch for our 45 guests in Due Santi Restaurant in the centre of the piazza looking out over the lake. Later that day we took 2 boats across to the island for an amazing rehearsal dinner on the terrace at the Restaurant on St. Julius island, in the middle of the lake. The day after the wedding, we went for a leisurely pizza in La Campana Pizzeria, before we headed home.

Continue Reading »

As the administrator for Italian Lakes Wedding it is rare that I have the opportunity to meet our brides and grooms ‘to be’ in person. Face to face meetings are usually the perogative of the wedding planner, floral designers, photographers and other professionals involved with the wedding day itself. I was fortunate enough to have met Lina quite by chance during Melanie and David’s ceremony at Villa Rusconi. In my modest opinion Lina and Borja’s wedding at Lake Maggiore was indeed the event of the year, making July 17th 2010 a memorable date!

Lina is a young girl of Chinese origin but 100% Italian. Born and raised in Verbania, she has travelled extensively including Japan, China and The United States before choosing to live with Borja in Spain. What struck me most about Lina was her great enthusiasm and profound affection for her home town and the surrounding area of Lago Maggiore. This played a huge part in her decision to select Verbania as the destination of her wedding day, also because it was an opportuntity to share her love of the area with guests, in order that they too could experience the pleasure of discovering the extraordinary beauty of this area.
Her emotional attachment transformed Lina into a kind of honourary Ambassador for Lake Maggiore, at least for a day!

Lina and Borja’s wedding was indeed a fantastic blend of different cultures and traditions: more than 200 guests coming especially from all over the world attended, notably those from Spain, America, Japan, Italy and China (some of whom are also residents of Italy).

We felt extremely fortunate about how things turned out and had decided that it would be wonderful to marry in my home town, especially because we will spend most of our time in Madrid.
For me Verbania is the place in which I was born as well as a beautiful location. I feel so proud to have been able to share this wonderful place with others who have never visited and perhaps didn’t even know about its existence. All of our friends from elsewhere were very impressed by what they saw and by all the close attention to detail.
- Lina

Great attention to detail was definitely a main feature of Lina and Borja’s wedding. Nothing was left to chance… from the wedding decorations for the ceremony and dinner, the video set up complete with steady cam and crane, to the flower arrangements, music and above all… the bride’s especially designed wedding dress and groom’s unique apparel.

My wedding dress was designed by Rosario Diaz, a stylist from Madrid. Rosario Diaz is an expert in designing and creating individual wedding dresses. We chose Rosario because he exclusively designed a wedding dress for Borja’s sister.
The hunt for my own dress started with other ateliers but none of them convinced me completely. Rosario showed us various kinds of fabric that had just arrived and I completely fell in love with material with a floral motif and ‘shredded’ effect made by laser that became the base of the gown. Continue Reading »

Instruction for use: take Mariana and Matteo’s wedding Get married… and have a good time on Lake Orta, then take Browen and Josh’s wedding… do you remember it?
The young couple who eloped to Lake Orta secretly? Let’s shake… and here we are Rebecca and Marcus’ wedding a perfect mix of romanticism, intimacy and… fun.

Just like Bronwen and Josh, Rebecca and Marcus are coming from Australia too.
They always had a deep love for Italy and they choose it for their wedding!
First they opted for Rome but then Rebecca found out intimate atmosphere of Lake Orta and that was their final choice!

Rebecca and Marcus a love elope for an intimate wedding on Lake Orta!
It was romantic but also fun and you can really feel it from great pictures taken by Maren Ollmann and Piero Ottaviano who perfectly took the spirit of the event!
The photos you can see here speak from themselves but we invite you to have a look to the amazing PHOTO-GALLERY with the entire service this lovely couple of photographers realized for the event.

From a photographic point of view a wedding for two could be difficult. The only characters are bride and groom and nobody else. There is no reception, emotion of the guests, flower girls, bridesmaids and their wonderful dresses and all the typical atmosphere of a wedding.
In spite of that Maren and Piero are able to do a lively photo service where you can see emotion and lot of joy. This is not common at all! Continue Reading »

Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore are very close to each other.
They are divided just by a mountain: Mt. Mottarone. In spite of being so close they are very different from each other. Lake Orta is small and tiny with quaint villages, gardens and narrow roads for romantic walks and lovely sights on the lake. Lake Maggiore is wider and more touristy, with many 1800 villas and palaces with Italian gardens and great views.

What happens when you fall in love with the romantic atmosphere of Lake Orta and breathtaking panoramas of Lake Maggiore? You choose both! Just like Cassy and Gary did.

Cassy and Gary opted to have their civil ceremony to Villa Bossi on Lake Orta and their reception to Villa Rusconi on Lake Maggiore. The two most beautiful lakes of Piemonte region together for a wonderful event!

Cassy ang Gary came from United Kingdom with their relatives and friends and decided to have their accommodation in Orta San Giulio.

Before the ceremony all guests met Gary in Orta main square for wonderful pictures with
St. Julius island in the background and some drinks. Then all of them walked to closer town hall.

As soon as main square was empty Cassy arrived by foot with her dad and 4 pretty and blond green-dressed bridesmaids. Continue Reading »

Flowers and balloons? Why not?
If flowers are a very important element in a wedding balloons could add a touch of fun to the event going out from the schemes.

First of all I would love to introduce you the main actor of wedding I will tell you about: Desiree and Sander a very nice couple coming from Holland.

For their Italian wedding Desiree and Sander chose Villa Bossi and magic atmospheres of Lake Orta.
Enrico Mocci from Artefoto Arona was their photographer. He took a fresh and dynamic reportage. Just have a look to Desiree and Sander’s PHOTOGALLERY to experience Enrico Mocci’s unique skills.

As for Mariana and Matteo, wedding took place in three different places. First Villa Crespi where bride and groom got ready and came back.

For their first night as married they choose Suite Regina Vittoria. Just a dreamy rooms embellished with red fabrics, furniture dated back to 1700 and a fine marble bathroom with Jacuzzi bath.

After a short walk Desiree and her friends reached Orta Main square. From here bride and father got on the traditional rowing boat to reach Villa Bossi where Orta town hall is located. Here a lovely civil ceremony took place. Continue Reading »

Today I have the pleasure to introduce you a lovely Italian couple: Marialisa and Matteo.
Their wedding was a real mid summer wedding arranged between Mountains and Lakes.
First the ceremony on Church of Madonna del Boden and then down to Stresa on Lake Maggiore shores.

Church of Madonna del Boden is located on the road leading to small village of Ornavasso (close to Verbania – Piemonte). It climbs on top of one of the most spectacular Alps mountain: Monte Massone. From Mt. Massone peak the view is gorgeous. You can see Mt. Rosa, Mt. Weissmiess, Mt. Adamello and Mt. Bernina. On South view runs over River Po Plain and on 5 lakes such as Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore. Just amazing!

Church of Madonna del Boden has been built on 500 mt of altitude right inside chestnuts woods. A fresh oasis that Marialisa and Matteo simply loved during the hot August day of their 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 »

Among all past Autumn weddings Chiara and Stefano’s wedding was one of my favorites. Bride and Groom were very nice and they choose a wonderful location for their wedding… but most of all Chiara’s dress was simply amazing.

As floral designer I really appreciated bride’s approach towards me. Even if she gave me precise information on her color scheme, she totally trusted me giving me wide freedom on style and shapes for her floral arrangement. This gave me the opportunity to express myself without being to tight on fixed schemes. I believe that for a floral designer is could be the best way to create and express her skills.

Chiara and Stefano’s big day was arranged on Lake Maggiore. Photographers Manuele and Laurence of Studio Foto Benaglia followed the days with their pictures. The followed the group from the early hours of the day until very late at night. This great italian-french couple of photographer realized a lovely natural and spontaneous reportage service taking every single detail of the day. Have a look to the nice Photo Gallery on Chiara and Stefano’s wedding relized by Foto Benaglia.

From Veneto to Piemonte region: Chiara and Stefano reached Lake Maggiore from Treviso in Veneto region, just like at least half of their guests. Chiara was born in Arona and her heart was set here and Stefano fell in love with this lovely town too. So they opted for Lake Maggiore for their destination wedding. All guests loved this choice they did not know how beautiful could be our magic lake.

Chiara choose red for her wedding theme color. Deep red for flowers, invitations, and wedding shoes. Cherry red for a fantastic organza roses fall on her wedding dress. A very original dress for sure! Chiara designed it and she could realize it thanks to the help of Rosanna, the owner of a little atelier in Feltre on foot of Belluno Dolomites.
The shoulder cover, bustier and part of the skirt were mad of laces with plisse’ tulle. Main feature was roses fall in cherry red that started from waist point to create a little train.
Simply wonderful!

Groom opted for a tailor made suit, too. He was surely elegant and handsome.

Chaira and Stefano got married on October 10 on a wonderful warm day similar to summer time. Religious ceremony was held in Santi Martiri Church in Arona, also known as San Graziano church. Church is located in highest part of the town and has a baroque facade and Gothic nave inside. One of the most beautiful detail is the lovely staircase that from San Graziano square leads to church’s entrance.

Floral arrangement was really detailed. On side of aisle red carpet I placed a series of balloon shaped Buxus enriched with red roses and white Gerberas. I also added scattered rose petals on the floor and little bouquets on the pews.

On white marble balusters I created different height arrangements, just in the middle between ancient and modern style. On a white Gerberas and Monstera leaves base I placed Passion Roses on different levels and on side of them I added some Bear Grass. Continue Reading »