Stop whatever it is you are doing at the moment and point your peepers in the direction of this Villa Cimbrone wedding crafted by Exclusive Italy Weddings. I promise you it is beyond all wildest dreams. From a show-stopping Marchesa gown to museum worthy portraits by Simply Sarah, the backdrop of the Amalfi Coast (also reflected in the painterly stationery by Momental Deigns) and the move-you-to-tears video by Lovely Valentine, there’s so much to love about this celebration. Pore through every last detail and if you’re still yearning for gorgeous Italian style imagery, check out this couple’s engagement session right here!
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The Proposal…
After just over a year of datinh Theo and I went on a vacation with my family to Iceland. On the third day of our vacation, March 27th, we went on a tour to look at waterfalls that culminated in snowmobiling up a glacier. It was a magical day. We migrated up the glacier to a cave which we toured with a guide. It was a very romantic place, and there was even a wedding chapel inside with benches. As we were gearing up to leave, we stood in front of a radiant wall with color changing lights. He said, “Let’s take a selfie!” Those words were music to my ears since I never turn down a good selfie. We took two pictures but the lighting was terrible so we gave up. But as I was putting my phone away, he grabbed my hand, turned me to face him, and got on one knee. He asked me to marry him, and I just nodded my head because I was I was so in shock I couldn’t speak. It was so unexpected, especially inside a glacier!We celebrated on the mountain. He had apparently been lugging a champagne bottle all day in a backpack with the help of my family, and he kept the ring hidden in his snow pants so I couldn’t find it. The day was such a fairytale and got even better with a surprise solar storm that night that allowed us to see the Northern Lights in all their splendor. We couldn’t have asked for a better day!
Wedding Planning…
We always talked about wanting a small wedding surrounded by the people we love the most in a magical place. We are both foodies and love wine, so we said, why not Italy? I scoured the Internet looking for the perfect place that we would both fall in love with and the perfect planner to help us put together the most perfect weekend wedding. We chose to work with Laura Frappa from Exclusive Weddings Italy, and we absolutely loved her work ethic, attention to detail, creativity, and positive energy. With her help, we looked at many great options but ultimately chose Villa Cimbrone in Ravello, Italy. Neither of us had visited, but we decided it was our ideal location. It had history and romance and just as importantly a Michelin star restaurant with an incredible wine cellar.
Pretty quickly the pieces started falling into place, and all of our 5 AM Skype calls to Italy proved fruitful. A few months into the planning process, we still hadn’t found a photographer to capture our special day. We had interviewed countless photographers, but we never really clicked with any of them. However, one day on Instagram while shoe shopping of all things, I happened upon another photographer named Sarah. I immediately fell in love with her work and sent some of her photos to Theo to get his opinion. As a photography junkie himself, he was in charge of one thing and one thing only – choosing the photographer. Theo is one of the busiest people I know, so it took him awhile to review what I’d sent. But when he did, he knew immediately she would be our top choice. I will never forget when he finally had an opportunity to speak with Sarah by phone for the first time while we were shopping in New York City. She asked him to describe me, and he ran through my height, weight, ethnicity, and all of the physical features. I nearly died laughing. She laughed very hard as well, then followed up, “No, who is she on the inside?” I could tell she would be a great fit just based on that conversation.
The Wedding Weekend…
Our wedding weekend was an absolute fairy tale. In creating the decor, we drew inspiration from Italian tiles. Our favorite color is blue so we incorporated that into the theme of our wedding.
The weekend started out with a Welcome Dinner, and the theme was a classic Italian pizza party. We had pizzas to order and ate family style with our guests while enjoying some amazing music from a lively Italian quartet. We danced and sang along and even listened to some touching speeches. We just took in the warmth and cozy feeling of what a special moment we had created not only for us, but for all our loved ones. It seemed like it would be hard to top the Friday event at the wedding on Saturday!The next day was the big day, the day we had planned for the past few months. The morning seemed to breeze by, and by the time I knew it I was walking down the aisle into the hand of my dream man. My favorite memory of the wedding day was walking out of that church hand in hand with my newly official husband being showered by flower petals. It seemed like a clip out of a movie, but it was our movie. We met with all our guests in the town center for a toast and then proceeded the march to the villa with some Italian music playing for us until we arrived at Terrazza Dell’infinito, the infinity terrace where we hosted our cocktail hour. The view was breathtaking. We were stunned with how much more magical our day had become watching a sunset full of oranges, pinks, and blues. Walking into our reception space before our big entrance was another of my favorite moments. I could not believe how our vision for the reception had become reality. We danced our first dance under the dreamiest display of a chandelier and hundreds of candles hanging above us. We also had looked forwards to our wedding meal so much, and it did not disappoint. The wines I had so carefully picked out to pair with the dishes went perfectly. We couldn’t believe that we had pulled it off the wedding of our dreams.
Everything from our wedding was our favorite moment! The festivities did not end there because after two perfect days we had another on Sunday. We sailed to Capri with all our friends and family to relax, live in the moment, and take it all the priceless memories we had created together. We are truly so blessed to have been surrounded with so many people that love us, who wanted to share the start of our journey with us.
Recommendation to other brides…
We would absolutely, unconditionally recommend Simply Sarah to everyone that we know, and already have! She is one of the most professional, talented, and fun to work with people we have ever met. She immediately made us feel at ease as she shot photos of us throughout the city and went for shots that felt very natural. She’s efficient, too, and moved so quickly and effectively so that we had plenty of time to really enjoy the events throughout our wedding weekend. We LOVE Simply Sarah, and we couldn’t imagine anyone else capturing our magical wedding so magically!!! We can’t wait to invite her to our next big event!!!
Photography: Elizabeth Lanier Photography | Cinematography: Lovely Valentine | Event Planning: Exclusive Italy Weddings | Floral Design: Flower Addicted | Wedding Dress: Marchesa | Bride's Shoes: Dolce And Gabbana | Wedding Bands: Cartier | Hair & Makeup: Lara Navarrini | Wedding Venue: Villa Cimbrone | Bridal Robes: Plum Pretty Sugar | Invitation Suite: Momental Designs