WEDDING BLOG

Fabulous Floral-Inspired Florence Wedding at Villa Medicea di Lilliano

February 13, 2019 | Junebug Weddings

Over-the-top florals and the elegant Florentine vibes of Villa Medicea di Lilliano were a match made in heaven for Rebecca and Riccardo’s romantic wedding day! This beautiful couple and their planning team at Design Anarchy Studio did an unbelievable job of combining a classic Italian feel with nods to American traditions.

The floral installations and table centerpieces created by Floralia are incredible pieces that can only be described as art. From the bride’s pre-ceremony-entrance walk through the Piazza to the candlelit al fresco reception to the giant Tuscan wedding cake that was made before the guests’ eyes, Erin & Gabri Photography managed to capture every incredible moment of this Italian wedding perfectly!

The Couple:

Rebecca and Riccardo

The Wedding:

Basilica di Santa Maria Novella and Villa Medicea di Lilliano, Florence, Italy

Walking from our hotel to the church with my best friend, my sister and my father was an exciting and surreal part of the day. Arriving at the ceremony is an emotional and reflective time for anyone, and I felt lucky that I could travel by foot across the piazza, from our hotel to the Church, with 3 of the people that I love most. Piazza Santa Maria Novella is large and beautiful, but, on that day, it was even more festive because there was a parade going on for the annual “Calcio Storico.” The day celebrates a famous medieval sports match, and the parade begins in Piazza Santa Maria Novella with hundreds of performers dressed in different 16th-century costumes. There were drummers, dancers and acrobats swirling around and interacting with us, and as we approached the front of the church, the drummers formed a line to usher us in. It was truly a memorable beginning to the day of our dreams!

The planning of the wedding can be so exhilarating and make the day go by in a blur as you anticipate the next step. On the wedding day, try to steal some moments alone with your partner, to slow down and really enjoy. After the ceremony, my husband and I drove in a vintage Fiat 500 to the reception venue, just us two. It is a really nice memory of a moment during the wedding where we could enjoy the day together, take a breath, and prepare for the rest!

Food is very important to Italians — especially to my husband and his family — so we gave this aspect a lot of attention. Each region of Italy has their specialty cuisine and, for the wedding day, we wanted to showcase Tuscany’s best while letting the guests feel a part of the process. When guests first arrived at the reception venue, they were greeted by an Italian-style Aperitivo with several stations: a station of cured meats, a raw fish and carpaccio bar sourced from the Tuscan seaside, bread, vegetables, and a cheese station where we had an amazing chef show-cooking the mozzarella live. This was something we saw at another wedding in southern Italy and, being huge burrata lovers ourselves, we knew we needed to share this with our guests.

Riccardo’s parents also surprised us with the wedding favours for our guests. We are building a little home in Puglia Italy in a field of olives, and they managed to organize the oil harvest from these trees into little bottles of oil for every guest to take home. It was a very special gift that holds a piece of the life we are building together.

For us, the most important part of wedding planning was bringing together aspects of Italian and American culture in order to celebrate both of our backgrounds and our families. We had our wedding in Florence, which allowed us to incorporate many aspects of Italian culture. But we also included many American touches, such as the rehearsal dinner, toasts a plenty, bourbon (we are from the south after all), wedding-themed beer koozies, and so on.

Italy is not a place where they hold back on the details (just look at their churches), and I wanted our style to reflect a similar type of decadence and elegance. My dress was handmade by a fabulous designer out of Tel Aviv called Chana Marelus. I was immediately drawn to their designs because of the beading, embellishments, and great detail that they put into every piece. I also knew I wanted something very unique!

For the bridesmaids, I wanted to match the ornate feel of my dress, so I chose a mix of Needle & Thread dresses and plain satin gowns that matched each girl’s personality. Our flower girl was dressed in an amazing brand called Tutu Du Monde from Australia (where she is from) and she matched with the other girls perfectly. If I ever have a daughter, I am definitely buying her one of these dresses!

For the dinner, the guests started with a Primi (first course) of pasta with wild boar and sage ragu. Wild boar is one of the staples in Tuscan cuisine, and we couldn’t have our wedding dinner without a delicious plate of pasta. For the Secondi (main course), we chose the signature dish of Tuscany: Bistecca Fiorentina (Florentine steak). These large pieces of Chianina beef were grilled for guests to view next to the dinner reception, cut into slices, and served with traditional Tuscan vegetables on the side.

For the cake, my favorite part, we chose a mille-feuille which is the traditional wedding cake of Tuscany. It was also made live by two chefs with layers of pastry, mascarpone cream, and berries. Delicious!

The Wedding Team:

Photography – Erin & Gabri Photography
Event Planning – Chic Weddings in Italy
Ceremony Venue – Basilica di Santa Maria Novella
Reception Venue – Villa Medicea di Lilliano
Floral Design – Floralia
Catering and Cake – Galateo Ricevimenti
Live Music – Gatsby Band
Videography – Produzioni Evergreen
Stationery – Lamplighter
Hair and Makeup Artist – Marcela Bantea
Wedding Dress – Chana Marelus
Bridesmaids’ Apparel – Needle & Thread
Flower Girl’s Dress – Tutu Du Monde
Groom and Groomsmen’s Apparel – SanterasmoCinque
Rings – Ming Jewellery
Favors – Lights and Audio Setup – Kaleydo

Congratulations to Rebecca and Riccardo, and thanks to Junebug member Design Anarchy Studio for sharing this incredible Villa Medicea di Lilliano!

Want to see more from these talented planners? You’ll love this Moroccan-inspired boho chic wedding in Southern Italy.

This Magical Race and Religious Wedding Began with the Sweetest Surprise Gift from the Bride to the Groom

February 12, 2019 | Junebug Weddings

coral gold ivory light pink sage green

When Madeline and Sam’s Race & Religious wedding made us cry even before we reached the ceremony photos, we knew this was going to be a wedding we’d never forget! Honoring the fact that Sam had sold all his guitars to move from New Zealand to the United States to start their life together, Madeline surprised him with a new one during their “first look” — and Cody & Allison Photography were right there to capture every ounce of emotion. After all the happy tears, it was off to Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church to say, “I do,” and then party New Orleans style at the iconic Race & Religious venue! The bride’s talented sister/MOH, who works for Mint Julep Productions, helped the couple bring relaxed elegance and a chic, vintage feel to their courtyard reception. The result was nothing short of magical and perfectly suited to the fun-loving and heartwarming vibes of this extra special day!

The Couple:

Madeline and Sam

The Wedding:

Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church and Race & Religious, New Orleans, Louisiana

We both wanted our wedding day to be as unique, special, and loving as our relationship is. Sam and I met while teaching abroad in Taiwan. He is from New Zealand, and I’m from New Orleans. We wanted our wedding to be a beautiful blend of our cultures and traditions. It was very important to us that our big day was both relaxing and incredibly fun.

I surprised Sam with a new guitar! We met before the ceremony to exchange handwritten letters to each other. At the end of my letter to Sam, it instructed him to look under the bed, where the new guitar was hiding. When Sam moved to America from New Zealand, he had to sell all of his guitars and worldly possessions to be able to move and start our new life together in New Orleans. Music is very important to Sam, so it was important for me to be able to show him my appreciation for all of his sacrifices for our relationship. I love listening to Sam play and sing, so it was a gift for me, too!

Our best piece of advice would be to not sweat the small stuff. Focus on a few things that are the most important to you, and everything else will fall into place. Guests don’t usually remember the little details, but they will remember the overall feel of your wedding and if they had a good time.

Cody & Allison Photography are incredible, and having them there to document our wedding day was so special because it felt like we were hanging out with old friends. They made us feel so comfortable, and we have such a genuine connection to them. They are so easy and fun to be around and blended into the day so perfectly. The pictures they produced are everything we could have asked for and more!

I was lucky enough that my sister and maid of honor, Meredith, works for the best wedding planning business in New Orleans, Mint Julep Productions. She has incredible style and taste, and such an eye for design, it was easy to trust her with all the details of our big day!

The Wedding Team:

Photography – Cody & Allison Photography
Event Planning – Mint Julep Productions
Ceremony Venue – Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church
Reception Venue – Race & Religious
Floral Design – Poppy & Mint
Catering – Calcasieu Catering
Oyster Bar – Two Girls One Shuck
Cake – Chasing Wang
Custom Cocktails – Cocktail + Creative
Live Music – Phunky Monkeys
Videography – Bride Film
Makeup Artist – Glam Nola
Hair Styling – Argerie Villalobos
Wedding Dress – Lovers Society via Paperswan Bride
Bridesmaids’ Apparel – Jenny Yoo via Bella Bridesmaids New Orleans
Groom and Groomsmen’s Apparel – Generation Tux
Rentals – Lovegood Rentals
Lighting – Luminous Events
Custom Poetry – Cubs the Poet

Our biggest congratulations to Madeline and Sam, and an extra special thanks to Junebug members Cody & Allison Photography for sharing this magical Race & Religious wedding! Want to see more from this talented duo? This Ace Hotel Palm Springs wedding gives us retro California vibes!

Naturally Elegant Burgundy and Cream Estes Park Wedding at The Stanley Hotel

February 11, 2019 | Junebug Weddings

black dark red ivory

As history buffs and Rocky Mountain lovers, there was no better place for Julian and Robert to start the beginning of their forever than at one of Colorado’s most historic and iconic venues, The Stanley Hotel! Nestled in Estes Park, the epic views and old-world charm of this hotel fit the couple’s understated yet impeccably designed vibe brilliantly. Not only did it offer an intimate indoor space for both the ceremony and reception, but it allowed Julian, Robert, and all their guests to have a true “wedding vacation,” complete with yoga, a ghost tour, and herds of elk! Prisma Events did a phenomenal job planning a magical affair, tying in all the DIY details with the naturally elegant floral designs from The Simple Petal and making it all complement the space perfectly. With so much visual beauty happening, we’ll be eternally grateful that Wild Jasmine Photography was there to capture it all!

The Couple:

Julian and Robert

The Wedding:

The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado

“Honest & Magical” was our mantra as we planned our wedding. We really wanted our wedding weekend to reflect our individual styles but also highlight and share the common things we love. We put together thoughtful welcome baskets of all our favorite things for our guests to enjoy throughout the weekend and handed them out during our welcome reception. The following morning we planned a group yoga class to get us centered, stretched, and ready for the family vs. family softball game (which ended up being our favorite activity we planned). We ditched the traditional rehearsal dinner that night and opted to treat our guests to some local BBQ delicacies at our favorite whiskey distillery followed by a spooky late night ghost tour back at The Stanley Hotel. On our wedding day, we woke up to fields of wild elk at our front door and ended the night with a surprise drag show … it was so magical and perfect!

Our families and friends live all over the US, so we knew traveling would be inevitable. Letting our guests make a fun, memorable vacation out of our wedding was really important to us. We wanted our guests to explore the local sights in Estes Park, which ironically was inundated with elk that time of year, or stay in bed if they wanted. So our wedding invitations and website both had a timeline of activities and events that would be occurring throughout our wedding weekend so that our guests had the option of opting in or out and making the vacation they wanted.

We DIY-ed as much as we possibly could from Miami and shipped/flew with everything to Colorado a week before the big day. For décor, I searched in thrift stores and online for brass candle holders and terrariums (for our table numbers) to place on our tablescapes. We repurposed them after our wedding and now have a few macramé hanging terrariums and candle holders sprinkled throughout our home! All the DIY work was truly a labor of love, so much so that I even began my own Etsy account, Yonder Paper Co., to share and continue to make handmade pieces of work.

Our advice: stay authentic, go for the different, and try to be unique. You can get lost out there with all the wedding planning tools you have at our fingertips, from Pinterest to Instagram to bridal magazines and blogs. The best advice we have is to stay honest and focus on a few things that are really important for each of you to have or see at your wedding and make that the priority. Also, lots of candles is always a good idea!