Among the trivia or the contest we can say that the simple and natural ones were more successful than the more elaborated ones.
Round shapes was preferred rather than teardrop or cascade bouquets.
Preferred colors were pink and white.

At the second position we find white hydrangeas bouquet from British couple Louise and Antonin who got marred to Villa del Balbianello on Lake Como.
Bouquet was reated by Figli dei Fiori and the photography is by Studio Morlotti – Milan.

Third prize went to roses of the bouquet of Italian couple Daniela and Mauro created by La Piccola Selva floral designers on Lake Orta.

On the contest page you can find the complete list of all votes for each bouquet.

A great thank you from Italian Lakes Wedding Team to everybody who joined our contest helping us growing and getting new and better ideas.
Next appointment for the contest is next year with Bouquet of the Year 2011.
Save the date!

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.

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!

The ceremony was held in front of few people and it was very touching!

After the ceremony bride and groom with their guests took they road in Orta to reach Maria Assunta church one of the pearls of this medieval village.

Maria and Chris arrived in front of the church on the top of the hill among Orta inhabitants’ congratulations and smiles.

In the church Maria and Chris wanted a blessing that was performed by their own parish priest who come directly from UK for the occasion.

Bridal bouquet was created by Monika Andenmattern, La Piccola Selva’s flower designer.
She followed Maria’s wishes and created a tear drop bouquet using colors Maria loved. It was made of red roses and cream lilies.

Wedding reception was organized in a traditional restaurant inside ancient part of Orta village. Here bride groom and their guests tasted a totally eco-firendly menu close to the local traditions.
Tables for reception followed the same style Maria wanted for the ceremony and bridal bouquet.
They were enriched with sweet favors for guests: little organza bags with delicious heart shaped chocolates.

An intimate and evocative party, in a real Italian style.
Wedding cake at the end was a romantic two tiers one prepared by Costantino Guardia, maitre chocolatier di Torino.

Is is Orta and its magic!

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.

Starting from today we will present here short posts in which you will know some couples that this summer chose Orta San Giulio.

Side to Orta as destination these couples all chose the same venue for their civil ceremony:
Villa Bossi the town hall of Orta San Giulio.

Villa Bossi is an extremely appealing venue. There is no other venue like this in Italy. Bride arrives with a rowing boat (or motor boat) with bridesmaids, by herself but most of of the times with her father.

Just after getting off the boat, bride walks on the aisle with a hundreds of rose petals on. Groom and guests are all waiting for her under the villa porch where the civil ceremony is going to be held.

Each of the couple that chose Orta and Villa Bossi for their wedding personalized every single detail of the ceremony itself and reception to follow making it unique and wonderful.

The first couple I would like to tell you about are Nathalie and Tim. The images you see here are taken from their wedding.

Theme color Nathalie and Tim chose was lime yellow wonderfully worn by pretty bridesmaid, the sister of the bride.

Both bridal and bridesmaid bouquets were lime yellow too. Nathaile chose a great color for her wedding!

Lime yellow organza fabric was used to decorate Villa Bossi’s gate and reception centerpieces to Hotel San Rocco.

Lime Yellow details together with lovely Nathalie’s smile are the the details I simply loved about Nathalie and Tim’s wedding!

A wonderful sunny day added a touch of happiness to this special day. An event that bride groom and guests will remember for a long time I’m sure about that.
As planner I’m truly glad about this!

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.

Loretta and Scott are a very nice couple from England who decided to get married at Lake Maggiore. Both have origins in Italy, both are born in London but the bride’s parents are from Parma and Piacenza and the groom’s father is British but his mother is from Salerno.

Both have Italian origins, that’s why they met for the first time in St Peter’s Italian church in London. After 9 years finally they wished to become husband and wife. Their decision to come to Italy for the wedding was crystal clear, but where? They wanted somewhere which is neither near his or her family backgrounds, so it was the beautiful setting of Villa Rusconi Clerici and the fantastic landscape around Lake Maggiore.

Their choice of photographer was also made with the highest attention, he had to be professional, very special and with a photo-reportage style. Indeed, it is very important to select a good photographer, because what he is producing will last forever.

So it was Luca Rajna, one of the most appreciated and best photographers in the lakes area.
Have a look yourself www.ajn.it.

The church for the wedding was San Leonardo’s at Pallanza, built in 1537, it overlooks the Piazza San Leonardo and the lakeshore.
For the flowers Loretta wanted a focus on the main altar with 2 large compositions of ivory Rose Vendela on some high basements of metal.

Then some smaller compositions combined with tulle and organza in white, emerald green and ivory on the ends of each row of pews. This was the colour theme throughout all the decoration, sometimes added by a touch of lilac.

The bridal bouquet of Loretta was round and very compact and resembled the colours used in church, from the white and ivory of the roses into the emerald green of the ribbons that hold it all together, decorated with some pearls here and there.

A fantastic advantage of this church was the small walking distance to Villa Rusconi Clerici, just 300m.
For Loretta and Scott it was easy to decide for the Villa Rusconi Clerici, they were in love with the location from the beginning. It is really a wonderful place as the villa is situated directly on the shore of the lake, has splendid views and a huge garden. As the wedding day was very warm, the welcome drinks were prepared outside on the lakeshore. Accompanied with some wonderful music from a string quartet.

The dinner itself was inside the white gazebo, this is an elegant structure of tents finished with metal that was normally used at the beginning of the 19th hundred century.

Here the theme of the wedding was taken from well known Italian-American films like “La dolce vita” from Federico Fellini, “Once upon a time” from Sergio Leone and “Cinema Paradiso” from Giuseppe Tornatore.

For the decoration on the tables we used compositions that were based on glass structures and around them petals of roses and tealights. But I surely will return and speak more about this part of the marvellous decoration.

When the dinner ended, everybody went over to the tavern where they danced until the early morning.

During the evening, Villa Rusconi Clerici has a very special attraction with all the lights you see along the lake and with a quiet island in front of the villa that gives a romantic touch. What is more exciting for a flower designer than to work in such a wonderful location?

Click here to see the PHOTO GALLERY of the whole wedding, 40 fantastic photos may be admired which were chosen by the photographer Luca Rajna as the best of this splendid wedding.

I would like to finish off with a citation of what Loretta and Scott did tell me after the wedding day: “This day was much nicer then we ever were expecting it, this day was a dream”.

We wish Loretta and Scott all the best and much happiness; this comes from all of our Italian Lakes Wedding team.

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 at Villa Rusconi Clerici please contact us.

Today I am going to talk to you about Yvonne and Savino’s wedding event: she is German and he is Italian, both living in Milan, and they are among the many couples who this year have made Lake Orta their chosen venue for their special day.

The wedding ceremony was performed against the enchanting backdrop of Orta’s Sacro Monte while Yvonne and Savino chose the elegant Hotel Ristorante L’Approdo in Pettenasco.
The photographer who recorded the event was Alessandro Balossi, certainly one of the best portrait photographers on Lake Orta. The two pictures we have published here are a splendid example of his ability to capture his subjects spontaneously and naturally.

I was asked by Yvonne and Savino to be their flower designer and to take care of every aspect of the floral decoration for their wedding. The color scheme was white and lilac , certainly one of the most popular combinations over the last year. Yvonne particularly wanted a bouquet which featured these colours but which at the same time would be special and quite unique, elegant but natural.

This gave me the idea to use the flowers of the lilac Hebe, which has always been one of my own favourite flowers.
The Hebe grows wild in New Zealand but can also live quite happily in our own gardens, above all the lilac flower is one of the most delicate and natural we can find in existence. Quite perfect for the bouquet that Yvonne wanted!

Apart from the Hebe, the other lilac flowers I used for Yvonne’s bouquet were Freesia and Lysanthius, while the white flowers were Avalanche roses and the Cymbidium orchid .
I also used the same colours as Yvonne’s bouquet for the gentlemen’s buttonholes, white roses and lilac Lysanthius.

The floral arrangiaments in the Sacro Monte at Orta, were Yvonne’s choice of large Lilium Longiflorum, which I find are particularly fine in this church. Notice two arrangements I created for the two sides of the main aisle leading to the altar: two stylised vertical arrangements Lilium Longiflorum with a large lilac ribbon. A simple solution which is most effective… and above all quite economical!

The bride and groom’s car also features the same theme developed for the church with Lilium Longiflorum, greenery and lilac ribbon: in this case a long festoon transversally covers the whole bonnet of the car.

After the ceremony, the party went on at the Hotel L’Approdo in Pettenasco: elegant cuisine, a superb position on the lake shore and value for money are the keys to success at this prestigious location run by the Primatesta Family, historical leaders in the hospitality industry on Lake Orta.

The wedding reception is held in the elegant spacious Calle Room at the Hotel L’Approdo: you will see that the table centres and fancy sweet boxes have the same color scheme chosen by Yvonne and Savino, white and lilac.

Something special the Hotel Ristorante L’Approdo does is to offer the bride and groom a trip on the private motorboat to the island of San Giulio, a unique opportunity to admire Orta San Giulio and take some wonderful wedding shots!

The Hotel L’Approdo and the florists La Piccola Selva wish to thank Alessandro Balossi for having allowed us to use the pictures of the wedding and our best wishes for a life happiness to the bride and groom, Yvonne and Savino!

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 wedding flower arrangements on Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore please contact us.

First of all pretty Kerry opted for a trendy wedding dress for sure.

Her designer made it for her and she did such a wonderful job.

It was an ivory prom dress with little details in yellow, just like the sun: a little embroidery on the bustier, a big ribbon at the back and lovely details for the under-skirt.

Kerry also wore a tiara with veil and pretty rounded pointed shoes.

For her bouquet Kerry decided for a round classic shape which has always appeal. Monika Andenmatten floral designer created for her a perfect match between white and yellow roses to go with the same colors of the dress.

The groom too, Alistair, was really handsome in his light grey kilt as Scottish tradition wants.

For their religious ceremony Kerry and Alistair chose Sacro Monte church on the top of the hill just up Orta village.

Group was very intimate. In order to reach the church bridegroom and their guests decided to use traditional Orta touristy train.

First to take it were the guys and then the girls with the bride.

Scenery you can see from Sacro Monte is so evocative. Panorama is just breathtaking, St. Julius Island seems like drawn on lake’s waters.

Sacro Monte church was built during 1500 and it is dedicated to St. Francis, who is also the Saint who protects Italy.
It is located at the top on a Natural Reserve park where you could find secular trees and wonderful paths to walk in.

Religious ceremony has been really intimate with just the sound of a celtic harp in the background.

After some wedding pictures around the chapels of Sacro Monte, group take again little train to get back to famous piazzetta of Orta village (main square) where boats pier is.

Some other pictures across traditional roads of Orta villa…

…and then a wondeful boat trip with aperitif served on board.

Staring Orta from the waters could be even more lovely. A new fairy tale perspective even more colorful, pretty.

Romantic wedding dinner was held to the little restaurant on St. Julius Island the only venue there. View is simply amazing and receptions can be held on the terrace directly on the shores.

Terrace was decorated with colors Kerry loved and chose. There was a wonderful royal table with yellow organza table cloth, romantic fairy lights and celtic harp sound in the backgrounds.

A real Italian atmosphere, rustic but elegant at the same time. Just like the couple was.

Wedding party had the occasion to look at an unforgettable sunset on the lake and taste a gourmand dinner with traditional Piemonte courses and wines.

Just a new and undiscovered corner of Italy!

All images: Estella & Diego photographers – Photo27.com © All rights reserved.

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 symbolic weddings on Lake Orta – please contact us.

In the first one you see one of my classical compositions, rose cube with crystal gel. Skilled usage of flash gave to my arrangement new life! It has a great impact thanks to to soft light photographer caught.

I think that lights photographer was able to create are absolutely great! Look at the picture taken in Sala del Bertelli of Castello di Miasino: bride and groom at the table with centerpiece I created and all around just a soft and smooth atmosphere.

Third example shows the table chart from a different side.
Photographer was very inspired and was able to catch the event from another point of view which is very different and unusual.
Naturally these are just three teasers from Sandra and Mirko’s wedding to Castello di Miasino. I will come back to you talking about it very soon. As soon as the entire Alessandro Ambrosetti’s gallery of images will be ready you will have a complete vision of it!

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 wedding flower arrangements on Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore please contact us.

I personally thank Italian Lakes Wedding wedding planner Valentina, Diego and Estella photographers and San Rocco Hotel for the stunning floral images they put on disposal.

I never met Bevin before her wedding.
All we did was dealing via email. Bevin wrote me from United States telling here wishes.
I got her back trying to advice at my best always keeping in mind her needs.

Bevin decided for a simple but elegant arrangement which was perfect for such an intimate and cosy wedding.

At the very beginning we thought that tulips were the right choice. Tulips are very seasonal in April.

At the end her big love for roses came out so we decided to go with them.

So it was all about Red Roses! Red was Bevin and Steven’s theme just like LOVE.

Red was the color of Bevin’s bouquet. I created it with Red Berlin roses. This kind of roses come with blooms. They are round shaped petals. But most of all they are deep red.

Bevin wanted a Nosegay style bouquet without any greenery where Red Berlin roses were the main character.

Red were centerpieces for the reception to Hotel San Rocco. I used Red Berlin roses too.
The shape was rounded but a littel bit wider than the bouquet. In order to obtain this effect I used acid green Alchemilla and Chamaelacium greenery. All was laid down on a base of deep green ferns.

The only different color I used was white.
I used Iceberg white roses for the four bridesmaids’ bouquets, too. I loved Bevin’s choice to create a lovely contrast between bouquets and beautiful cherry red dress.

I used it to decorate columns at Villa Gippini, too. I realized it with long festoons of Ruscus embellished Iceberg white roses and Gypsophilia.

As floral designer I think that sometimes a simple and sober flower arrangement could give even a better final results, just like it was for Bevin and Steven’s wedding. What do you think about that?

All Images © Estella & Diego, Photo27.com – Milan.

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 wedding flowers arrangements on Lake Orta 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.