Sarah & Calum

Oh me oh my, Sarah and Calums weddings was just so beautiful. Sarah of Blush Cake Company, took her inspiration form the colours, textures and tones abundant at the beautiful Malcesine, Lake Garda venue. The soft pastels and warm glows just sang and were perfectly echoed in the fashion, florals and decor of their intimate and perfectly executed Italian destination wedding. There is a real focus on their beautiful children too, with so many gorgeous captures by Georgina Harrison Photography of the siblings interacting and with their parents. Everybody looks totally at ease and utterly fabulous to boot. So sit back, relax and get ready to swoon and sigh.

Dress

Sarah the Bride: Having known Diana and her beautiful boutique for a number of years, The Little Pearl was my first choice when starting to look for my dress. My Enzoani gown was only the second one I tried on and I knew right away it was The One. I loved the lace and classic shape and that the train added some drama! I also got my beautiful veil and gorgeous Rachel Simpson shoes from Diana. I wanted to wear some of my late Grandma's jewellery on my wedding day, but I couldn't find anything that would work. So I had some of her pearls made into rose gold earrings, a necklace and stunning hair comb by Alice of Alice Clarke Jewellery. I love her unique style and was over the moon with them all, it felt so special being able to wear them on my wedding day.

Groomsmen

The groom's suit was french blue with contrasting wasitcoat from Next with tan brogues, white shirt rose gold collar bar and blush pink tie, Calum chose this as it had a classic yet contempory style. The Best Men and Dads wore the same suits and ties.

Flower Girls & Page Boy

Our 2 year old daughter Ava wore a gorgeous dress from Monsoon. It was more difficult to find one for 13 year old Teigan as everything we looked at seemed either too young or too old for her. In the end we went with a maxi dress from H&M which she looked stunning in, and it worked with everything else beautifully. Frankie looked so handsome in his navy blue shorts and short sleeved white shirt, slip on tan boat shoes all from Next with matching blush pink bow tie and brown braces.

Venue

We chose to get married overseas because we wanted an intimate wedding with an extended family holiday. As I have worked in the wedding industry for 15 years, it felt more special to chose an overseas venue. We searched online, and narrowed it down to Italy, and after further research and a couple of personal recommendations, we decided that Malcesine was the perfect location. We visited in June 2016 and one look at the Castle and we fell in love with the location. An added bonus was that it is only around a 2 hour flight.

Ceremony

The ceremony took place on the roof terrace of Malcesine Castle which is breathtakingly beautiful with views of the Lake. It was a traditional Italian ceremony conducted by a town hall official and translated by our wedding planner Sara. We loved that the ceremony was very family orientated and we chose to say our I Dos in Italian (si lo voglio). A string quartet added a very special touch and played music we had chosen in advance including Tale as Old as Time and Can you feel the Love Tonight chosen by our children! It was very special to have a poem written and read by Calum's mum and religious blessing by my mum who is a Methodist minister.

Reception

We initially felt that we wanted an outdoor reception venue, and fate led us to Al Cervo which was just what we wanted, with a terrace area lined with olive trees and a traditional italian feel, located 5 minutes out of malcsine up Mt Baldo we fell in love with the restaurant and the food and service are both amazing! On the day there was a storm just as we arrived at the restaurant so they had to move our table under a canopy but it didn't affect our day at all, it was still just perfect.

Wedding Planner

Lake Garda Weddings were recommended by a friend who had used them to plan her wedding some years ago. We honestly could not have done it without them, we are so glad we found them! They took care of all of the legal side, provided us with lots of advice and recommendations, and Sara was amazing on the day. Me and my Dad were taken to the castle on a Tuk Tuk which was great fun. It then took Calum and I to the lakeside toast which made for some great photos! The guests enjoyed delicious Gelato ice creams while we had photos (Calum designed the vouchers to match the stationery at the last minute!). We also had a delicious buffet of pizza, stuffed olives, crab claws and fresh fruit with prosecco by the lake, a private boat trip on lake garda with more Prosecco, which everyone loved and was a highlight of the day. We went for a traditional Italian style heart shaped gateau cake with fresh cream and strawberries. As I own a wedding cake business everyone expected me to make my own wedding cake, but I loved that this was so different!

Colour Scheme

We chose a colour scheme of ivory and blush with a hint of gold & rose gold as we wanted a classic and timeless look, a traditional Italian feel with some metallics adding a hint of glamour.

Flowers

Lake Garda weddings organised the flowers with a local florist. I chose ivory roses and white lisianthus with olive foliage and absolutely loved my bouquet and all of the flowers.

Decor

We ordered personalised fans for the female guests from Etsy which were handed out at the ceremony and were much appreciated! For the reception, we bought local handmade rose soaps for favors for the female guests which matched our colour scheme beautifully! And mini Limoncello bottles for the male guests. We bought persoanlised activity packs for the children which we put in little bags with sweets and gifts. We had a poloroid camera to take a picture of every guest and mount on each page of guest book for them to write in. We had little gold tealight holders from Dunelm, and candlestick holders from John Lewis with beautiful nude coloured taper candles from Curious Egg. We also ordered brass rings from there which we dressed with green foliage and used to display the menu and polaroid photos of our grandparents and parents on their wedding days.

Stationery

Rich Storey Designs designed our invites and menu. He was so helpful and we were really pleased with them.

Photographer

Having worked with Georgina and known her as a friend for a number of years, we had to take her to Lake Garda! I'm slightly obsessed with her stunningly beautiful style and lighting, and love that she shoots with film. We knew it would be a perfect fit. Neither of us like having our photos taken but we were so at ease with her. I can't put into words how thrilled we are with our photos, Georgina has captured every element of the day so beautifully and to be able to relive the day forever through the photos is so very special.