Alternative Aperitivo Inspiration: Tea Party

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Here in Italy, it's common to have an aperitivo before the wedding dinner. This consists of a drink which may be prosecco or a cocktail, and usually a large amount of delicious Italian finger food. Despite the huge amount of food available, this does not replace dinner, so make sure you leave space!

When getting married in Italy, why not embrace the aperitivo culture, while adding a fun and distinctly non-Italian twist with a tea party theme? This allows your guests to enjoy the great outdoors while the sun is out and to be able to mingle and chat before the more formal sit down meal.

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This idea is particularly great if your venue has various different spaces, as it gives your guests the chance to explore. It also breaks your day up into more little events, which can make the event more enjoyable for everybody, and of course means you can take advantage of the sunshine if your wedding is in the sunny season.

We love the idea of a tasteful take on an Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter's tea party. Think all your family and friends outdoors, sipping on colourful cocktails served from teapots and surrounded by pretty nibbles, while sitting on mismatched chairs or hay bails.

Photo Credit: Weddings by Nicola & Glen via www.wantthatwedding.co.uk

This theme easily blends in with an antique/vintage style wedding, and the quirky Alice in Wonderland theme can be played up or down depending on your tastes, but provides the right excuse to use plenty of fun colours, cute china cups and to incorporate the green garden element of your wedding. 

What do you think?

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Choosing your wedding stationery - what to consider

Well-designed, high-quality wedding stationery is a little obsession of ours. Although your invitations, menus, table numbers and the like may not sound like the most important part of your day, they’re such an easy way to tie your theme or colour scheme together, and to add some personality to your big day. So what should you bear in mind when you’re deciding what you want?

1.     First of all, remember that your save the date cards (if you choose to have them) or invitations will be the first clue anyone has as to what your wedding will be like. If you’d like to hint about your theme, now’s the time. If you want all your guests to know that your wedding will be simple and elegant, super romantic, or relaxed and non-conformist, your invites will do the work for you.

2.     Try to pick a theme or a feeling for your wedding before choosing the stationery. Even if you don’t want a ‘theme’ as such, at least decide if you want simple and elegant, colourful and fun, hugely romantic, or something different. If you send out bright, playful invitations and then your wedding features only neutral colours and is very minimal, your guests will be confused, and the rest of your stationery will look out of place.

3.     We always encourage our couples to spend a bit of money on stationery. If you’re on a tight budget, there are ways to save a little cash in other areas, but in our opinion it’s better not to cut corners here. Remember that if your stationery is great, it will effortlessly and subtly tie your whole wedding together, while badly-made or mismatched items will stand out like a sore thumb.

4.     Think about all the items you need, and make sure everything coordinates. Invitations are a given, but depending on you, your theme and your venue(s), you may need some or all of these other things; RSVPs, ceremony programmes, a table plan or escort cards (to direct guests to their tables), table numbers, place settings, guest book, maps to the ceremony, and/or from the ceremony to the reception venue, labels for the confetti flavours and/or favours, other signage (to the bathrooms, or to help your guests find their way to different parts of your venue), and of course: thank you notes.

5.     If you think invitations/menus/table plans could be a fun, DIY project: STOP! Unless you are a fantastic graphic designer with years of experience, the results will never be as you imagine. Don’t get me wrong, I love home-made and crafty touches to a wedding, I really do, but trust me when I say there are some things best left to the professionals! Table numbers and guest books, with the right planning and level of expertise, can be DIY’d, but please, please don’t risk it with anything as important as your invites.

6.     Remember that your stationery doesn’t have to be too matchy-matchy. It should co-ordinate without every piece looking exactly the same. A great stationery designer will know how to carry one colour, or a particular feature or theme across all aspects of your stationery.

Photo Credit: John Schnack Photography via greenweddingshoes.com

7.     There’s no hard and fast rule about when you should send your save the date cards or invitations. If you’re getting married close to home, you could even wait until 6 weeks before the wedding but a destination wedding, as you know, requires a little more notice! Depending on where you’re coming from, where exactly in Italy you’re getting married and at what time of year, guests may require more notice in order to keep flight prices low and guarantee finding enough space in local hotels. Especially if you’re coming from across the Atlantic, more notice might be the difference between your nearest and dearest being able to be there on your special day or not. Talk to your wedding planner about when the high or low seasons are in the region(s) you’re looking at if you want to guarantee the best prices for your guests.

8.     ENJOY the process. Choosing stationery is a great way to be creative, and although it does force you to choose themes & colour schemes and stick with them, when you find the perfect design for you, the sense of satisfaction will be worth it!

Inspiration Shoot - the magic of Piedmont

Just for a change, today we're bringing you one of our inspiration shoots, which we think perfectly shows off what Piedmont has to offer - obviously thanks to a wonderful venue, a gorgeous model, and all sorts of delightful little details. We hope you love looking at the photos as much as we loved doing the shoot!

We chose a stunning 18th century villa - an old aristocratic residence which just oozes the magical atmosphere of Northern Italy in the 1700s. We wanted to let ourselves be completely carried away by the fantastic features of the venue - the grey, peach and cream palette was inspired by the colourful wall panelling and charming marble floors. We opted for clean lines and an almost modern feel in order not to overwhelm the already incredibly rich surroundings.

          

     

We love to give our brides and grooms great wedding stationery - we think it's a small touch that can add so much class to a wedding and can bring everything together perfectly - and obviously this shoot was no exception! We were inspired by the patterns of textiles inside the villa, and we absolutely loved the romantic and classy results.

As you can see, we were even inspired by our surroundings when it came to the desserts and even the wedding cake. We drew inspiration from the stucco work around the splendid ballroom when it came to the dessert decorations.

        

       

We loved the floral decorations too - the muted colours drew just the right amount of attention to the tables, and the bouquet perfectly complemented the bridal gown and was in-theme with the whole day. 

We think the end result was romantic and incredibly elegant, and we had great fun being inspired by such a fantastic place right in the heart of Piedmont. We hope you're feeling inspired too!

         

       

These photos are property of Il Giorno Che Vorrei.../Married in Italy and may not be used without permission.

Getting married in Italy: Your questions answered: 2

Once again, we're here to answer your questions about getting married in Italy. Today, we bring you 5 more frequently asked questions. If there's a question you'd like answered, let us know by email, by leaving us a comment, or by writing to us on Facebook.

Q1: Why should we involve a Wedding Planner in our wedding in Italy?

A: Involving a Wedding Planner is something that many couples think about. Obviously, this service represents a cost that must be considered, but especially for a destination wedding, a Wedding Planner can be an irreplaceable figure. Fundamentally, your Wedding Planner can take care of four main tasks.

• Firstly, she manages your budget. Holding the purse-strings can be one of the most stressful parts of planning a wedding, and you Wedding Planner knows how important it is to make your budget stretch as far as possible. She’ll prioritise the things that are most important to you, putting money where it’s needed, and will give you guidance about what you can have within your price range. She knows what a ‘reasonable’ price for each service is, so she can tell you if something is extortionate or even suspiciously cheap, and can help you make informed choices. She’ll deal with when and how to pay suppliers, and will be level-headed and make sure you don’t get over excited and blow your budget!

  

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• She also gives you more time and takes the stress off you. She will deal with all of the vendors, meeting them or arranging meetings for when you come to Italy, and asking all the right questions. She will be a point person for you so you only have one contact to deal with – this way you don’t have to juggle hundreds of e-mails and manage everyone on the day. Researching, asking questions, coordinating, visiting, booking, making payments and even emailing and calling are very time consuming, and your Wedding Planner will probably dedicate hundreds of hours to getting everything just right, so you don’t have to worry! On the day itself, she’ll have everything under control and will make sure everything runs like clockwork, so you two can relax and completely enjoy your special day.
• She puts in a lot of creative input. She knows what she’s doing, and she has experience of planning and executing large-scale events which are always personal and creative. She will be focused on what you want and what you need, will always keep your vision in mind, and will keep you focused when necessary, too! This way, you won’t get carried away with all the amazing things you’ve seen on Pinterest and end up with a fussy, jumbled wedding! She’ll provide you with tons of suggestions and ideas, and will make sure your wedding itself looks imaginative and gorgeous.
• Finally, she acts as your alter ego here in Italy. Because you can’t always be here, she will be. She’ll get to know you really well so that she can always find the ideal things, whether that be a florist who will understand your vision perfectly, or little bits and bobs that will add a touch of your personality to the reception. 

Q2: How long before the wedding should we contact a Wedding Planner?

A: There’s no set-in-stone rule about how much time is necessary to plan a wedding, and one planned two years in advance is not necessarily any more wonderful than one planned in two months. Couples usually get in touch with us about a year or a year and a half before their wedding date, giving us loads of time. This means that they can have a wide choice of venues and suppliers, and we have plenty of time to get to know them inside out. However, we can easily plan a whole wedding in two or three months – obviously, with this time frame, some venues or suppliers will already have been booked and will therefore be unavailable, but this doesn’t mean you will have to compromise on quality – there are plenty of lovely locations and superb suppliers around… if you know where to look! 

Q3: We want a church ceremony – how do we go about this?

A: From our experience, the majority of couples having a destination wedding in Italy choose a civil ceremony, but a church wedding is also possible in many cases. The vast majority of churches in Italy are of course Catholic, and getting married in a church here doesn’t require residency, unlike in many other parts of Europe. Having a Catholic church wedding is by no means impossible, but requires a certain amount of paperwork and dedication, and some churches are more or less willing to perform ceremonies for non-Italians.

The basic necessities are as follows:

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• Either the bride or groom must have been baptized and confirmed, and will need to provide religious certificates of Baptism, Holy Communion, and Confirmation.

• You’ll also need a formal letter from your local priest to confirm you’ve fulfilled all Pre Cana procedures, and to grant his permission for the ceremony at the particular Italian church on the particular date. Your priest will need to get a similar letter from your Bishop, stating that you have no impediment to get married here.

• You’ll also need the original of the prenuptual enquiry with all the church seals and signatures.

• If one of you is not Catholic, a Permission of Mixed Religions document – usually obtained from the local Bishop – will be necessary.

• After 6 months, these documents expire, so timing is essential!

• It is not possible to get married in the Catholic church if either of you has been divorced (if a marriage has been annulled, this is not the same). 

For non-Catholic or Protestant church weddings, you may have to be more open to suggestion with regards to the venue, because while these are possible, the number of churches where they can be performed are limited. Protestant ceremonies are easier to organise thanks to less paperwork, but are not officially recognized in Italy, meaning you will need to have a civil ceremony as well.

Church bureaucracy here in Italy is a little complex and depends a lot on the individuals in question. Whether Catholic or non-Catholic, if you’re planning a church wedding in Italy, it’s very important to let your Wedding Planner know so that she can figure out the details based on your particular situation.

Q4: How many times should we come to Italy before the wedding?

A: This depends a lot on you. In general, we advise visiting at least twice (two weekends, for example) before the day itself. One visit will allow us to show you around some different venues and talk in person about the specifics, and another visit closer to the event will let us finalise other details together. If you’re able to visit more, even better, but you can trust us to arrange everything without you being here every step of the way, and we’ll always keep you updated on developments by e-mail, phone, or Skype, as you prefer.

Q5: Where should I get my dress for a destination wedding?

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A: There are both pros and cons to buying a dress at home or here in Italy. As far as prices are concerned, within Europe you’ll probably be looking at similar figures for wedding dresses. We generally advise overseas brides to find a dress at home, because this way they can easily manage fittings and alterations. However, with a bit of organisation it is also possible to schedule fittings while you’re visiting Italy for other reasons (see #4), so it’s by no means impossible to get your dress over here. Finding a dress in Italy also means that you won’t have to transport it in an aeroplane. Again, this doesn’t have to be impossible, but if you find your dream dress at home, remember to choose a fabric very carefully – you need something that doesn’t crease or get damaged easily – a good sales assistant at a wedding boutique will be able to advise you. Of course, if you want to find a dress in Italy, we’ll be able to take you to tried and trusted boutiques where you’ll be able to find the dress of your dreams and can be there in person – if you’d like us to be – to help you out with language or anything else!

We've almost finished this summer's wedding season, and we're finally taking a little break! 

So we're putting the blog on hold for a couple of weeks, but don't worry - we have plenty of ideas to share with you in September, so come back and check out what's new then. Of course, we'll put links to all new posts on our Facebook page.

Of course, if you'd like to contact us about your wedding in Italy, we'd be more than happy to get back to you as soon as we possibly can, so don't hesitate to send an email to: info@ilgiornochevorrei.it

Happy holidays, you lovely lot!

Cocktail hour: What are we drinking?

Blood Orange Negroni
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A cocktail hour traditionally plays a big part in an Italian wedding, or indeed any wedding in Italy. When everyone arrives at the reception venue, this is their opportunity to chat, congratulate, and mingle with you and your other guests in a more relaxed setting than the sit-down meal which follows. The drinks served are accompanied by plenty of food (traditionally cured meats, cheese, bread and dips, and other delicious finger foods) and the cocktail hour is known as aperitivo.

But what to drink? People tend to go for something other than wine, especially before a wedding lunch or dinner, where wine will be served throughout. Italians love aperitivo, not just at weddings, but every day after work in the city too. For this reason, barmen are totally used to spending hours making cocktails (and mocktails), and as a result they’re really, really good at it! If you have a fruit, flavour, or even colour in mind, the Italian cocktail whizzes will be able to come up with your own signature cocktail that’s perfect for your special day.

If you’d like something more traditional, here are five of our favourite Italian drinks choices that you might like to consider for your cocktail hour:

1. Prosecco is a fairly common choice for cocktail hours in Italy. This sparkling wine is Italy’s answer to champagne, and tends to be a little bit lighter than its French counterpart. As we’ve said before, wine and food in Italy varies a lot based on the region, so you may find Piemontese proseccos a little sweeter and those from the Veneto reason to be a lot more dry, for example. Served in flutes, this is obviously a great choice for making a toast to the newlyweds!
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2. The Bellini cocktail came about in the 1930s or 40s in Venice. It’s made up of sparkling white wine or prosecco, fresh peach and peach juice. Fun fact: It is said that the name was coined by the head barista of Harry’s Bar (where it was invented) who said that the colour of the drink reminded him of the colour of the clothing of a saint in a painting by Giovanni Bellini. This cocktail is refreshing and fruity for a summer reception, and would be ideal if you had a peach colour theme, too!
Photo Credit: unsophisticook.com

3. A common and equally scrumptious variant on the Bellini is the Rossini – the name is said to come from the composer Gioachino Rossini, but maybe it’s also something to do with the colour of the drink – in Italian ‘rosso’ means ‘red’. Like the Bellini, this is a fruity and refreshing drink with a prosecco or sparkling wine base, only this time the fruit is strawberry. Yum!

Photo Credit: bellalimento.com

4. The Spritz is the ultimate Italian aperitivo drink. Although Campari exists abroad, and Aperol is slowly making its way into foreign shops and bars, outside of Italy these drinks haven’t had the same popularity. Enter the Spritz. Made from Italian bitters – choose between Campari (dark red in colour, quite bitter) or Aperol (bright orange, less alcoholic and a little sweeter) – along with white wine or prosecco, and fizzy water or soda, the Spritz is your introduction to these bitters. Although many foreign people don’t like their first sip of Spritz, they are soon converted, as it’s a very refreshing drink which goes well with the finger food provided at cocktail hours here.
Photo Credit: sabato.co.nz

5. The Negroni came about in the early 1900s in Florence in the honour of the Count Camillo Negroni. Made with gin, Campari, sweet red vermouth and a little slice of orange, it’s a drink not for the faint hearted as it has a bitter taste, but like the Spritz, it can be a perfect accompaniment for food and is warming in the winter yet cooling in the summer.
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Real Weddings: In Flight

We’re very busy at the moment putting the finishing touches to this summer’s weddings for some fantastic couples, and we can’t wait to see the end results!

So, we thought it would be nice to look back on some of our weddings from the past. Today we bring you some of our memories of one very special day, which was truly one of our favourites.

Not only did it take place in the always-beautiful Langhe region (you can read more about the Langhe by clicking here, if you missed our post a few weeks ago!) but the theme and colours inspired us to create a sophisticated, elegant wedding with a little hint of playfulness too.

We worked with the couple along two main guidelines: white hydrangeas were to be the flower du jour – in September, there’s no need for bright colours in flowers or decorations, as the colours all around the Langhe are so spectacular – and there was to be a theme of flight running through the wedding to honour the groom, who is a pilot and proud!

The Ceremony:

The couple opted for a traditional church ceremony, and we decorated the church with the famous white hydrangeas, using cascading compositions to frame the sanctuary where the religious ceremony took place. The couple also wanted to include some cream roses in their ceremony to add a touch of romance.

                  

Little touches:

We created a clean design for the invitations which echoed the theme of flight through a little paper aeroplane, which in fact ended up becoming the symbol of the whole event – there were even two little planes perched on the simple, white wedding cake at the reception.

A selection of the flight-themed wedding stationery

Rice confetti and the information pack the guests received when they left the church, all in-theme, naturally!

When the guests left the church, they found some adorable baskets filled with cones of rice to use as confetti, as well as ribbons for their cars, maps to help them find the reception venue, and a program for the whole day. All of the stationery was, of course, coordinated with the invitations they’d already received.

The guests were blown away by our unusual idea for the seating plan, which brought a touch of fun to the occasion – each friend or family member was given a boarding pass which told them where to go, and at the dining room entrance there was even a check in!

The Reception:

The meal and the true celebrations took place between hillsides and vineyards, in the heart of the Langhe (have we mentioned we love it there?). The venue is located inside a park, and although the meal took place inside, there were plenty of touches of the outdoors. Hydrangeas once more took pride of place decorating the tables, accompanied by gypsophila, candles, and plenty of paper aeroplanes. Green spheres were suspended from the ceiling, bringing together nature and flight.

We hope you can see why we enjoyed this wedding so much – we love creating unique weddings with a personal touch, and we think you’ll agree that the results looked pretty fantastic!