Grace Loves Lace for an Elegant and Bohemian Wedding in the South of Italy

Lovely readers, I have the most  gorgeous destination wedding that’s brimming with love, light and absolutely beautiful, elegant, bohemian inspired decor to share with you today. Meet Anton, who works in retail merchandising, whilst Erica works in web and digital marketing. The couple tied the knot on 10th October 2015 at Masseria Potenti; a white-washed rustic farmhouse, nestled amongst olive groves and wine vineyards in the quiet and rural area of Apulia in the South of Italy.

Erica’s gown was by Australian designer Grace Loves Lace. It is utterly divine and I completely understand Erica’s love of wearing the exquisite, light material.

“It was a photo of the ‘Hollie’ dress that captured my attention. It was unique, beautiful and so light and easy to move in. The girls at GLL were so lovely, kind and incredibly helpful.”

“We were inspired by the venue itself and Apulia as a region. We tried to keep many Italian wedding traditions as possible to give the guests a real sense of life and culture in Apulia.”

Photography by Cinzia Bruschini

The bridesmaid’s (or as Erica calls them, her ‘bride’s angels’) wore the same olive branch bangle, their own shoes, fresh flowers in their hair and floor-length Dessy gowns in a range of pastel shades. And the little flower girl was ever so sweet in her pretty white Monsoon frock and flower circlet.

“Our wedding photographer was Cinzia Bruschini Photography – Cinzia and her team were amazing to work with and captured the day perfectly.”

“Francesca from Chic Weddings in Italy was our wedding planner and stylist. Francesca and her team were incredible on the day and in the months of planning.

We were so lucky to have the most beautiful venue to work with. The decor theme was very bohemian with ethnic highlights. After the wedding ceremony, we moved onto the Aperitif, which was styled to reflect an Italian village food market including stalls of Italian meats, cheeses and a prosecco bar. We had a low boho table decorated with fruits, flowers, kilim cushions and a Moroccan wedding blanket. The dinner tables included hanging floral elements, olive branches and candles everywhere. Vintage lace and ribbon that I had sourced from fabric markets and lace dreamcatchers handmade by my mum and I gave an ethereal feel.”

Erica added sky-high YSL heels, a spritz of ‘Coco Mademoiselle’ by Chanel, diamond earrings which were a wedding gift from her mother and father-in-law, a delicate silver olive branch bangle – and pretty fresh flowers in her hair.

“Alice Oliver transformed me with her incredible hair and makeup styling. I opted for very natural makeup and a loose, braided low bun with wild flowers for my hair.”

Amsicora Fiori designed the most stunning bouquet for Erica with the king protea the star of the show.

“My bouquet included white and pale pink wild flowers and king protea, tied with lengths of white lace ribbon that I had sourced from the fabric markets in Hong Kong. It was beautiful. My mum and I both cried when we saw the flowers. I didn’t want to part with my bouquet, so I carried it with me on our honeymoon.”

“Anton and I met at work. The very first time we met Anton actually interviewed me for a job. Of course, I got the job! Over time we became more than just friends. We visited Rome for a city break and after a long morning of sightseeing, Anton decided to book a table for lunch at Michelin-star Palazzo Manfredi overlooking the Colosseum (when in Rome). After a three-course lunch and a few proseccos, Anton popped the question as the sun was beginning to set – it was very romantic and emotional. We then had eight months to plan the wedding.”

 

“I walked down the aisle with my dad to ‘How Long Will I Love You’ by Ellie Goulding, and the ceremony included short but simple and meaningful vows, and three heartfelt readings.”

Our little niece Ella composed and read a brilliant reading. My maid of honour also read a beautiful extract from Captain Corelli’s’ Mandolin, one of her favourite books. My godfather read a beautiful reading – here is an extract:

And with luck, all your hopes and dreams can be real. May success find its way to your hearts. Tomorrow can bring you the greatest of joys. But today’s the day it all starts.

 

A very cool touch was the addition of tambourines as part of the decor, which ended up being favours for the guests (along with bottles of limoncello). I love the scene in the video of everyone playing their tambourine and grinning from ear to ear.

“We asked Emily from The Little Press, who created our beautifully letter pressed wedding invitations, to hand-draw intricate mandala ethnic patterns onto tambourines which we hung around the venue. The tambourine theme continued right through to our seating plan and each guest received a tambourine with their name to help them to find their seat. I worked with an amazing calligrapher, Lauren from The Blackline by Lauren, who wrote all of our guest names. The tambourines went down really well and these were a lovely token for guests to take home.”

“The Masseria Potenti baked our wedding cake. We opted for a lemon naked cake decorated with fruits and olive leaves and it was delicious.”

The Apulia region of Italy is famed for its folk dancing, so Anton and Erica had an incredible folk band, Kalascima, with folk dancers who set the tone for the party and provided the tune to the couple’s first dance.

“‘Everywhere’ by Fleetwood Mac was planned to be our first dance song. However, the Italian folk band played during the Aperitif and we had a very impromptu first dance to one of their most uptempo songs. It was exhausting but brilliant!”

“There were too many memorable moments: the ceremony, the surprise first dance, the speeches. But more importantly, it was so amazing being surrounded by the most important people in our lives who had travelled such long distances to attend our special day. It was all incredible and very overwhelming.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“My tip for future brides is to consider creating a wedding website to provide your guests with all the information they need. The website can also serve as a platform to send your guests updates and keeps everyone connected. My bride’s angel, Lucy, created our amazing website as our wedding gift.”

If you’re planning your nuptials right now and thinking of adding boho touches, I’m sure that Erica and Anton’s day will be of huge inspiration. Thank you so much to the beautiful couple for sharing their special moments with us. And a huge shout out to Cinzia for these incredibly heartfelt and emotion-filled images.

Be sure to bookmark this link for viewing later – the latest collection ‘Blanc’ from Grace Loves Lace – I’ll take one of each please!

Love Jo -x-