Gabriella & Joe

If you're after a destination wedding with movie star quality, gorgeous photography and a seriously stylish bride and groom, then Gabri and Joe's stunning Umbrian wedding day is going to be right up your street. There's a delicious bohemian vibe to the luxe styling too which just makes everything all the more special. These lovebirds have already featured on RMW in the form of their engagement shoot, so I knew their wedding day was going to be epic. There are flowers, fashion and food in abundance so get comfy, this is a wedding to truly savour from start to finish...

The Couple

From the couple: We have a love of the outdoors, we like to travel, enjoy art & design, going on ski trips, listening to music and enjoy spending time with friends & family. We wanted our wedding day to reflect all the things we love to do. For the wedding day, we want a relaxed, happy day where everyone could really enjoy themselves. We chose to have the wedding in Italy as we have a love for all things Italian; the food/wine, scenery & sunshine...Joe also lived there and speaks the language which helped massively with the planning process, so it made perfect sense!

The Wedding

Our wedding took place in the Italian region of Umbria, in a tiny hilltop village. The wedding had stunning views over the Umbrian hills, with confetti and the first toast held on the panoramic roof terrace. Guests soaked up the view, shading themselves with white vintage umbrellas, Prosecco and homemade popcorn were flowing while the fiddler serenaded. The bouquet was thrown from the historic imperial staircase and the guests gathered around to see us zoom off in our Fiat500 classic getaway ride! The fiddler lead the guests down the cypress tree entrance to the bohemian garden where aperitivo was served!

The Venue

The garden was a bohemian dream with chandeliers in trees, long banquet tables flowing with greenery & flowers and fairy lights everywhere! A vintage antique mirror provided the table plan, with attention to detail in the ‘family tree’ corner, dedicated to those passed but never forgotten. Tables were decorated with gold candelabras, tree slices for placemats and white & gold hand painted feathers for name places. The sun was setting during the dinner banquet and created a beautiful golden glow through the trees highlighting the idyllic views. We fell in love with the location when we were venue hunting on one of our trips to Italy, it had the wild romantic feel we were looking for & was intimate and unique...the views were an added bonus!

The Food

We enjoyed a few wine & food tastings with different caterers in Italy but when we met I Giardini di Ararat we knew it had to be them! Everything about them was special and unique, they even made two miniature decorated wedding cakes as tasting samples! They pride themselves on homegrown locally sourced produce, the Aperitivo was a large spread of Italian cuisine, with whole salami stations, cheese tables, a table for local homegrown produce such as vegetable homemade quiche, salted cod lentils, risotto with ricotta cheese & zucchini. For the sit-down banquet, the truffle & roman hazelnut pasta was hand made in the garden so guests could watch, the second was wild boar with chicory, raisin and pine nuts, to follow was a dessert buffet and a toast of limoncello!

The Decor

Gabri designed all the styling for the day and our planner Emmanuela Tardani did an amazing job at sourcing decorations and making it a reality! The flowers were wild and overflowing, greenery and candles draped up the stairs of the ceremony and down the aisle, pops of orange/peach flowers added colour to the banquet tables and a tipi with dream catchers created a chill-out area.

The Entertainment

The ancient stone floor made for the perfect dancefloor with chandeliers in trees framing the stage for the band. The first dance was sparkler lit and led into guests dancing the night away to the talented swing & rockabilly band while specialised cocktail makers provided the drinks!

The Fashion

I wanted a less traditional dress, something with more of a modern romantic vibe. Many designer gowns I loved were based in Australia or California so were not available to try on in the UK. After trying many dresses that didn't have the style or feel I was looking for I decided to work with a bespoke dress designer called Tatiana Porembova and get an haute couture dress designed from scratch. We designed it together from initial sketches right up to hand picking french lace and silk with numerous fittings until it was perfect! Joe wanted a smart outfit that wasn't a suit, something with a bit of personality that would wear well with the Italian climate. He opted for a made to measure outfit from The Drop and shoes from Loakes.

Special Moments

We are very fortunate to have so many talented family & friends, we were blessed to have them add special touches to the wedding day. From the bride’s sister Francesca singing a heartfelt Ellie Goulding ‘How long will I love you’ during the ceremony, friends doing duets and an acoustic guitar soloist weaving in and out of the tables during dinner. Our entrance to dinner was one of the highlights with music building up, getting louder and louder while guests were cheering and waving napkins above their heads! Since Gabri is a designer she decided to design her own wedding ring, the ring design was an 18K pink gold with scalloped edge & milligrain finish with white diamonds. Joe wore his late father’s wedding ring and got it re-sized and polished, this was incredibly sentimental and special for us both.

The Wedding Party

Gabri wanted the girls to all have their own individual style, so we let them pick their own dresses. The colour theme was dusky pink & slate grey/blue, they found that Jarlo had some incredible dresses which stood out more so than traditional bridesmaid dresses. The flower girls wore matching vintage white lace dresses and flower crowns. The groomsmen and page boys had matching bow ties from a cool independent boutique in Shoreditch called ‘Le Colonel Moutarde’, they picked the fabric and then they custom made miniature bow ties for the little boys so that they could all match!

The Photography

We first saw Andrea & Federica’s work on Instagram and instantly fell in love with their style of photography. The photos really captured true emotion and we loved the relaxed natural feel. The husband and wife duo were born in Umbria, live in Umbria and shoot worldwide! They were hands down one of the best decisions we made about our wedding!