Search Results for: italy

Cinque Terre Italy Wedding Photography| Alex & Sarah

April 11, 2014 | Leave a Comment

Some of my favorite weddings are small destination weddings with international couples and Sarah & Alex’s intimate Cinque Terre elopement was just that!!! I have the upmost pleasure of letting Sarah, my beautiful bride herself telling you about their big day today:

My husband Alex and I were married in June of 2013 in the most romantic setting–the Cinque Terre off the northwestern coast of Italy in the region of Liguria. We both have a passion for traveling and always new we would want an intimate destination wedding in an authentic location. During an internet search of Italian wedding destinations, I came across this beautiful and fairy tale-like place that I knew would be perfect for our big day. The Cinque Terre is composed of five villages dotted with pastel colored homes nestled among terrace-vineyard hills looking down over the emerald waters of the Mediterranean. The villages are cut off to cars and are connected only by trails, trains, and boats. The pristine, almost surreal, beauty of the area is best observed from the hiking trails along the coast that connect all five villages. These views will assure you that it rightfully earned a listing as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

We made the picturesque seaside town of Monterosso the home base for ourselves and our party of 15 guests. We stayed at Il Giardino Incantato Bed and Breakfast where inn keepers Fausto and Mariapia displayed the most gracious hospitality we have ever encountered in all of our travels. The beautiful enchanted garden cared for by Mariapia was the perfect setting for our garden party before the wedding. My husband and I traveled by boat to Vernazza with our amazing photographer Gabby and got lots of great shots to show off the romantic and unique Italian qualities of the region. We held our ceremony and reception at The Belforte Restaurant in Vernazza on the private seaside terrace which perched over the emerald waters of the Mediterranean. Alessandro, the head chef/owner, prepared a magnificent Ligurian style seven course meal with the freshest seafood we’ve ever tasted. Each course was paired perfectly with local wine. After sunset, we released Thai paper lanterns into the sky for good luck with an audience of the town’s children looking on in awe of the sight. We departed by train back to our bed and breakfast with pure happiness in our hearts and memories to last an entire lifetime. It was the perfect day.

Sarah & Alex, thank you so much for taking me to Italy with you, inviting me to taste some delicious wines with you and letting me capture your could-not-have-been-more perfect day! 🙂 Looking through your images again fills my heart with sunshine and laughter!

Emily + Gael | Trash the Dress Session Italy

October 8, 2012 | 7 Comments

It has been on my dream shoot list to do a proper jumping in the water trash the dress session for some time now and when Emily and Gael agreed, I was excited like a little girl on Christmas morning! It’s sometimes difficult to convince couples to go wild, which I totally understand considering that we are talking about your precious wedding dress, but when the wedding is over wouldn’t you rather do something crazy and awesome with your dress instead of just hanging it in the closet? I WOULD! 😉 Thank you Emily & Gael for being the awesomest everest! I LOVE THESE PICS <3 (and maybe I shouldn’t say that about my own images, but what the hell.. ;))

Wedding Photography Cinque Terre Italy | Emily + Gael

August 13, 2012 | 3 Comments

I love all my weddings but some of them make me feel like I´m living my own personal fairy tale and Emily and Gael´s beautiful Italian wedding extravaganza was definitely one of those. Driving through the olive grove in the balsamic sunset and reaching the old monastry, our home away from home and the venue of the intmate Chinese-Italian wedding, we troughly felt fortunate and overjoyed with our profession with Syl. Emily and Gael have that passionate love that is romantic, beautiful and fun, sharing 3 beautiful days with their friends and families was throughly one of my highlight of the summer. Thank you guys for welcoming us as friends, sharing your love with us and being such great sports with all of our crazy photo ideas! I wish you a lifetime full of happiness together! <3

Emily has impeccable taste and her Jimmy Choo shoes were definitely blowing my mind, not to mention her gorgeous wedding gown.Just stunning!!!!The boys had some fun getting ready too! Emily´s lil sister Lili was just the cutest little flower girl!They couldn´t have found a better place for their nuptials than the San Eremo Monastry… just gorgeous!Beautiful reception/dinner area made the celebration unforgettable.Queen Elisabeth´s Italian cook was in charge of catering… no comments! YUMMM
Cigar party preceeded the most fun pool party I ever took part in! 🙂Overall an awesome wedding with awesome people! THANK YOU GUYS for making this wedding unforgettable!

Emily + Gael | Engagement Session in Italy | Cinque Terre

July 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment

I don’t even know where to begin describing the 3 amazing days we spent photographing Emily and Gael’s wedding in Cinque Terre, Italy.

From the moment we arrived to the old monastry which served as the wedding venue and our home away from home for the next days, we felt like part of their family eating our weight in delicious pasta and drinking some of the most exquisite local Italian wines. On our first day we ventured out to the beach town of Levanto for their pre wedding session and I cannot emphasize how awesome Emily and Gael were! Jumping in the water? No problem! Running on sharp rocks? Let’s do it! They are not only awesome as a couple but as models as well and it sure shows on their pictures!

More from our amazing Italian weekend including their wedding and fabulous post wedding session including some wedding dress meet pool action coming soon!

THANK YOU EMILY AND GAEL FOR HAVING US!!!!!! I hope you’ll love your images as much as I do! 😉

Wedding Wednesday: Costa Brava Destination Wedding – Liza and Philippe

January 20, 2016 | Leave a Comment

Some weddings are impossible to describe… IMPOSSIBLE… especially without total cliches and words of absolute admiration. I love it when I fall in love with a bride through her first email, and Liza was just like that… love at first email, and it only got better from there. After an amazing brunch date and very long emails the wedding day has finally come and it was much better than I could have ever expected (and I expected a lot). Not only was Liza drop dead gorgeous we had such a great time photographing her getting ready that at one point I almost wasn´t able to photograph anymore from laughing too hard. SO SPECIAL. And because I cannot do it any other way… the venue was amazing, their families a bliss, the ceremony tear wrenching and their photo shoot… we did´t only shoot around the venue but we even nipped away to the magical coastal town of Calella de Palafrugell as it was their dream to shoot at the Costa Brava, the place they met at 8 years ago… and from here on, I´ll let Liza tell you a bit more about themselves and their beautiful day:

How did you choose your wedding and reception venues?

Our guests are spread around the globe (the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia), so we couldnt just invite everyone for dinner or one day event! We needed a place where we could all spend some time together , therefore, villa was a great option. The location was easy – we are sooo much in love with Spain (have been to Spain at least one time every single year since we met), particularly Costa Brava, its small beaches, Spanish food. To narrow it down, we wanted to have a wedding somewhere close to Lloret de Mar where we met. Weeks after searching we came across Mas Torroella and just literally FELL IN LOVE! The masia was just perfect in every respect – secluded, surrounded by greenery, flowers, beautifully decorated, large enough to accommodate most of our guests (plus nearby hotel). In addition, it had many facilities for our small nieces and for all the adults to ensure a great time together. It was also close to beautiful beaches of Calella de Palafrugell. Silvia (the owner) was just so fantastic too, so we made our mind very quickly.

Where did you get your dress and how did you choose it?
I never liked big wedding dresses and I wanted something I could feel light enough to dance, have fun and not to feel restricted during the day. In addition, we planned a beach photoshoot, so flowing, simple dress was something I was looking for. Where I would one day get my wedding dress was decided long time ago when my best friend from childhood, Victoria Kapriz, started studying fashion design in Italy – she said she really wanted to make the dress for me (how lucky am I??). I did my research, sourced all the fabrics, flower motifs, decorative accessories in the UK, Victoria produced the dress for me in Warsaw. Personalised dress sewed by my best friend`s hands – what could be more special?

What inspired your colour palette?
We wanted to have an intimate ceremony and a cosy, family-feel dinner surrounded by our loved one. We both love whites, rustic styles and simplicity. I love field flowers. Greenery of the villa`s surroundings, plants and flowers on the grounds added to a perfect romantic, rustic style of the wedding. We didnt have any particular theme/colour palette in mind – everything fitted together naturally.

How did you choose your hair and beauty looks?

Nothing but simple and natural look. I wear minimal make-up on a daily basis, so I didnt want to look any different on the wedding day – Philipp is used to me this way, why to change it all of a sudden for a wedding day? I have very straight hair and there is not much I can do with them – they wouldnt even curl… So just a nice blow-dry with some volume was an ideal look. It turned out exactly how I wanted and it seemed Philipp was pleased too 🙂

How did you decorate your venue?
We hired a local florist who decorated the ceremony, reception and dinner area with flowers in clear glass vases, creating a very natural look. The main colour was white, including crispy white linen, napkins, sofas, candles, etc. We also used white tulle for ceremony altar and dinner area which was beautifully flowing and fitted perfectly to the surroundings.

What were some of the challenges of organising a destination wedding?
We faced many challenges on the way, but were very lucky to have worked with such professional, caring and accommodating vendors, starting with Gabby (En Route :)) to the owner of the villa to priest, catering company, florist, etc. All of them were trying to help as much as they could, answering our endless questions, contributing to our decisions, assisting with any additional queries and all together helping to create a perfect running order of the day. Lucky enough all of them spoke perfect English which definitely eased the process, however, bringing everything together was a huge challenge, especially distantly! Secondly, the logistics of having all of our guests arriving from 5 different countries on the same day was stressful as we needed to make sure everyone knew how to find the villa/hotel (the villa is situated in the middle of nowhere!), our wedding website was definitely of a great help here! Finally, keeping a constant track of all the costs was exhausting.

What’s your top tip for anyone planning a destination wedding?

It is all about a certain connection. Truly falling in love with the venue or having some sort of a personal attachment to the area will make the whole experience even more special. Sourcing the vendors you really connect with in term of personalities and the way you communicate is very important too. For instance, it really felt like Philipp and I have known our photographer, Gabby, for ages from the first emails we have exchanged which resulted in us almost having a friend documenting the wedding – fun, easy and very relaxed, despite the fact that Philipp never met Gabby and I only met her once before! Although you might not have the chance to meet all the vendors face-to-face, but the styles of their websites, portfolios, the way they communicate with you will tell a lot about them. Choose vendors who really touch and excite you, who are similar to you. Then everything will naturally fall into place and you will have the best time of your life!

For more on their wedding you can check out THIS feature on Fly Away Bride