Four Day Italian Destination Wedding at Fattoria Mansi Bernadini

It's so special to be able to gather all your favourite people in one place and have them celebrate you vowing to share your life with another person. Especially when the celebrations come in the shape of a four-day Italian destination wedding. There was authentic Italian food, BBQ's in the sun and most of all a couple bursting with joy. Capturing the love was Cecelina Photography, who whisked the couple off during dinner for some jaw-dropping golden hour portraits. Just wait until you see them, your heart is going to burst. If the idea of feeling love in your heart, and warmth on your face sounds like the perfect wedding to you too, you should definitely check out more of our beautiful destination weddings.

Our Story

Amanda & Joe: I was on a night out comforting a friend who had just been made redundant and was also out to meet my brother for his birthday. Through a mutual friend who was also out that night, I met Joe. Little did I know that he would be the guy I married! 7 years on and we were planning our big day. Both of us didn’t particularly want a big wedding, but we also wanted to spend more time than just one day with the people we love.

Four Day Italian Destination Wedding

We had been to many friends weddings over the years, and working in weddings myself as a hair and makeup artist, I knew how quickly the day goes, and I was hoping we could do some form of celebration over the course of a few days. When we started initially wedding planning after getting engaged in South Africa, we were looking at venues here in the UK. I found it so hard as I had been to so many incredible venues, but I also associated them with work. It had always been my dream to get married abroad but I wasn’t sure if Joe was so keen. However much to my surprise, Joe was totally on board and so the fun really started to begin. We realised we were so much more excited about the prospect of getting married abroad and we really wanted to make it totally unique to us and throw a really good party.

Wedding Planner

We had always loved Italy, and our first holiday together was in Venice, and we loved the idea of getting married near a vineyard. I found Emily our wedding planner through Bridal Musings - I was being featured myself and was having a browse. She just spoke to me with her words of “Personal touches” that I was having so much trouble finding with other wedding planners in Italy. We instantly hit it off and pretty soon our vision was becoming a reality.

Stella York Bridal Gown

Being a bride after being a part of so many bride’s big days was quite surreal. Trying on wedding dresses for me was so strange, but I did love every minute. I can’t thank Bridal blessings in Brighton enough they were brilliant at finding my Stella York dress for me and they were so welcoming and friendly. It’s been a family business for over 20 years and I love supporting small businesses if I can.

Bridal Hair & Makeup

As a hair and makeup artist myself, I wanted someone I could trust to do a good job on my hair. My wonderful friend and colleague Antonia from Elle Au Naturel, really captured what I had envisioned perfectly and was so lovely to have a friend around me on the morning. I wanted to do my own makeup, as I knew I would find this calming and therapeutic.

Italian Wedding Catering

The important things to us as a couple were for everyone to just have a good time – a real party. We were truly spoilt with our catering. After a traditional Italian 4 course meal and a round of pizzas at 11 am, I think everyone was happy. Since we came back everyone has been raving about the arancini balls they had as canapes.

Wedding Entertainment

With a good party comes good music and so we decided to have both a band and a DJ! We had our band outside which was one of my most special memories, dancing looking over Lucca and Tuscany in the olive groves. We then had our DJ in an old cellar that is part of our incredible venue Frattoria Mansi Bernadini. This really became the party and it went on until 4 am!

Wedding Photography

We also can’t thank Cecelina, our photographer, enough. I had become good friends with Cecelina after working with her on shoots and real weddings. She has this ability to capture light in such a beautiful way that it was a no-brainer for me to fly her over to Italy and be a part of our day. I just knew that she would capture these memories we will cherish forever in such a special way.

Special Wedding Day Moments

It was so special to celebrate with guests over 4 days, including a Pizza party and a BBQ and we got our dream of extended celebrations. We still felt it went way too quickly. But it really was the best time of our lives and one I only wish we could go back in time and repeat."