When Allie emailed Brenda Babcock of Italia Celebrations in hopes of planning her destination wedding on the Amalfi Coast in four short months, she never could have dreamed it would come together this perfectly. From the opulent florals by Orazio for Italia Celebrations to the insanely beautiful Marchesa gown (I’m just a little obsessed with it!) to the stunning pops of blue, every single detail was sheer perfection. Trust me, loves, there’s no better way to start a Monday than with this gallery by Emm and Clau.
From the Bride… When we started planning the wedding in April, the most important thing was to have close friends and family at our side. My husband, Andrew, was just about to begin NHL hockey playoffs, and so he wanted me to deal with all things wedding related since he couldn’t dedicate himself to anything else at that moment. Having the responsibility of planning for the both of us made me stop to consider what he would want more than if he had been at my side planning along with me.
Location was key for us, and the prior year, we had the most amazing afternoon and dinner in the town of Ravello. We strolled through the tiny, ancient streets and gardens taking it all in. The night ended with a delicious meal at the Belmond Caruso. It was a perfect night in a perfect town. Discussing this with Brenda and mentioning our desire to have the wedding on the sea, she suggested having the wedding there, which is also one of her preferred locations. The memories, sights, and sounds came rushing back to me, and I knew immediately that it was the perfect place for us. We couldn’t wait to share it with our friends and families, who we knew would love it as much as we had! It was easy for us to have a destination wedding because, there was never one location that made sense. We knew we would have guests traveling from Canada, USA, Finland, Sweden, Israel, Australia, and the UK for our wedding.
It was really important to make each and every guest feel welcome, and so it was important to us to have three days of events where we included all guests. They had all travelled so far to be with us. We had a casual welcome dinner the first day, the wedding on the second day, and the third day we spent by the sea relaxing with all of our guests at The Clubhouse, which is a private club carved into the cliffs of the Amalfi Coast that goes straight down to the sea where we could go for a swim or take out one of their small boats. The day was amazing and may be the most talked about part of the wedding to this day, months later.
When planning the wedding, I wanted to use local vendors as much as possible. I found my wedding dress 15 minutes down the road from where I live; I designed the invitations together with a local California woman who designs greeting cards whose contact I got from my neighbor. I knew I didn’t want to fly photographers and videographers over to Italy, and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the local ones that Brenda suggested and hired on our behalf. All the vendors that she suggested and hired and all those on her team were exceptional and a pleasure to be around. The photographers, hair and makeup team, musicians, florists, caterers…everyone did a wonderful job. We LOVED Monsignor John who celebrated our wedding in the Catholic church and hope to have him baptize our children in the future. We can’t thank everyone enough.
It was important that the wedding reflected the particular tastes and style of Andrew and myself, which the intimate setting, eclectic decor, and amazing food did, 100%. The wedding planning was a dream because of Brenda Babcock of Italia Celebrations. She made our vision come alive and on such short notice. Aside from being visually everything I had hoped for, she and her team organized everything impeccably. This allowed us and our parents to spend all of our time with our guests, and so we were all able to relax and enjoy the thrilling three days without any stress!
I now suggest to people that they plan their weddings in just four months! The only down side to having the destination wedding was not having our chocolate Labrador, Charlie, at our side. Since we had included him on our invitations, he was always there with us in spirit, too.
Photography: Emm And Clau | Cinematography: Marco Caputo Films | Event Planning: Brenda Babcock Celebrations | Floral Design: Armando Malafronte | Wedding Dress: Marchesa | Invitations: Darla Marie Designs | Ceremony Venue: Belmond Hotel Caruso Amalfi Coast | Shoes: Alexandre Birman | Rings: Crowley's Jewellers + Goldsmiths | Rings: Noam Carver | Hair + Makeup: Brenda Babcock Celebrations | Bride's Earrings: great Aunt Margaret’s turquoise earrings (something old) | Veil: The White Dress