Laura & Connor

In this Article

Share

Connor proposed on a rooftop in Rome, at sunset. It was our first time in Italy but we fell in love. We decided on an Italian wedding in the airport waiting for our flight home, merry from the airport prosecco and dizzy with excitement. We didn’t look back.

The venue

Funnily enough, the venue we chose didn’t have one of what we thought was a key criteria, and wasn’t even on our shortlist. I’d envisioned a venue with a courtyard for the meal, like Villa Catignano. We spent a week in Tuscany viewing venues (Catignano included) and every single one was to die for… but either they didn’t feel like ‘us’, or something was missing. It was eventually Connor who suggested we revisit the longlist and we booked a very last minute appointment to view Casa Cornacchi. I immediately knew it was ‘the one’; it was beautiful, I loved the ‘family’ feel we got from the owners and I really liked the different areas for each part of the day. While we were viewing I remember praying Connor felt the same. He turned to me as soon as we got in the car and said “if they have availability in 2024, shall we book it?” They had, and we did.

The dress

I wanted something soft and romantic, that matched the vibe of our venue. I originally thought I wanted an Essence of Australia or Martina Liana, but then my mum pulled a different designer off the rail. It was a Madi Lane – I’d never heard of them but now I’m obsessed with all their dresses. I loved that it wasn’t ivory, loved the sparkle (something I never thought I wanted) and the romantic lace paired with the split. The ladies at Brittany Ann Bridal  made me feel so comfortable too, as well as making some small adjustments for me (I added thicker straps.) My dress was the Madi Lane Keegan and she was everything.

The suits

Connor had used an outfitters near to where we lived the last time he’d needed a suit, and had such a good experience he wanted to get his wedding suit from the same place. All the destination weddings we’d seen seemed to have the groom in beige suits, so we wanted something different and settled on brown – which was harder to come by than we expected! The guys at Squires Gentleman’s Outfitters helped him choose his Cavani three piece, which he paired with a Marc Darcy tie.

The service

We had a civil ceremony, with Gemma Blessings as our celebrant. Our violinist Laura played me down the aisle and I walked to the Glastonbury 2013 version of Mardy Bum – an unusual choice, I know! She also played songs that were important to us throughout the ceremony, and we exited to a string version of ‘Don’t you worry child’ by Swedish House Mafia – Connor’s choice!

We didn’t write our own vows – I would have done but Connor is dyslexic and would have struggled, so I didn’t want to put that on him on top of a speech! My sister read “Everything I know about Love” by Dolly Alderton.

The touches

It was so important that our wedding was personal to us. My mum made the macrame arch, chair covers and table runners by hand – two years of work in the making! They were so worth it and absolutely made the styling. Our flowers were by Stiati Fiori – I told them I wanted neutrals but with hints of pinks and oranges to evoke a sunset feel, because Connor had proposed at sunset.

I made the menus and signage myself and we shipped them over (which I actually don’t recommend doing!) and we had a Gelato cart with unlimited gelato for our guests.

But by far my favourite touch was our memory tree. I lost my dad when I was 21 and we honoured him throughout. In his memory, we gave out macrame feathers (also made by my mum) and asked people to write the names of their loved ones on the label. Then at sunset we hung them all on an olive tree and lit it up.

The speeches

My mum, maid of honour, Connor and his best man all did speeches, which we opted to do before we served the food. Nothing about our wedding was traditional, and the speeches were no exception.

The food

The food was provided by our venue and it was simple to die for. We served aperitifs at our cocktail hour, then crespella, wild boar ragu, and fiorentina steak. Our dessert was served buffet-style with a selection of so many delicious Italian delicacies.

The cake

We didn’t have a cake! Instead we opted for a prosecco tower and it was one of my favourite parts of the wedding. My mum bought us cold sparklers for this moment, in memory of my dad.

The party

After the prosecco tower we moved inside where The Puppets played our first dance, which was incredible. They performed for the next two hours until a DJ took over. This part of the day went the fastest and is when I danced so much my hair completely dropped and my make up had seen better days, but I was so happy I didn’t care.

The other events

We welcomed everyone with a pizza party at Casa Cornacchi, and ended the three days with a pool party and bbq. Spicy Sax provided DJ and saxophonist at the pool party and it was the perfect way to end our celebration.

Recommended Planning Tools

You don’t want to be without these planning tools if you’re getting married in Italy. From trackers to templates, and detailed step-by-step guides… these are the resources that will help you level up your Italian wedding.

Next Articles