A Sottero & Midgley Gown For a Romantic and Sun-Filled Sorrento Wedding

I’ve just returned from my own summer travels, and while I’m battling jet lag, it’s wonderful to be transported to the sunny shores of the Italian coast for a gorgeously romantic Sorrento wedding.

Abisola, a solicitor, and James, an arts educator for a contemporary art gallery were married on the 7 July 2017 in a ceremony at museum and art gallery Museo Correale, Sorrento, followed by a reception at the breathtaking coastal Villa Antiche Mura. Both venues reflected the couple’s passions and interests – art galleries for James, and botanical gardens for Abisola, and the aesthetic for the day was inspired by their dreamy location – pastel blue for the Mediterranean Sea, and lemons, which the region is so famous for.

“I was an avid reader of the Love My Dress blog and Facebook page in the run up to the wedding. It was wonderful to see such a mix of different weddings, and to get reassurance when I worried that I might be mad for doing my own wedding make-up and when looking for tips on Italy-appropriate wedding favours! The Facebook page was an incredibly inclusive group, very much a judgement-free zone, and it definitely enriched the wedding-planning process.”

Videography by Moon and Back

“Having a videographer is one of the best decisions that we made! We could not be happier with the film – it is understated yet beautiful. As well as the highlights video, we have several hours of footage which allows us to re-live the day.”

To accessorise her wedding outfit, Abisola chose beautiful pieces from two of our wonderful Little Book suppliers, one being the subtle and lovely ‘Dot’ veil from the brilliant Britten Weddings.

Images by Adamo Morgese

The veil paired perfectly with the sparkling delicacy of the ‘Maisie’ hair pins from Debbie Carlisle, whose gorgeous designs and invaluable words of advice we love here at Love My Dress.

“I hadn’t originally planned on getting a plain veil. However, when I saw the Dot veil at Britten it was the perfect choice, as the polka dot design perfectly matched my dress. I loved the fact that the detail was subtle yet distinctive.”

Abisola chose the ‘Sandrina’ gown by Sottero and Midgley, purchased via Wedding Belles of Four Oaks, with delicate straps, a sweetheart neckline and beautiful floral lace and applique.

“I adored the detailing on my dress; the low back, lace appliqué flowers and subtle Swiss-dot material.”

James wore a fabulous navy blue tuxedo with contrasting black lapels from Skopes, with an elegant velvet bow tie and pocket square in burgundy from Mrs Bow Tie and shoes from Kurt Geiger.

The Best Man and groomsmen wore contrasting grey tuxedos from Next, with pale blue pocket squares and bow ties from ASOS, chosen to match the bridesmaids’ dresses.

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“James and I met in 2006 when we were 20 and 17 respectively (there are some fairly embarrassing pictures to evidence this!) We got engaged in 2015 in Barcelona. I have a long-held love for botanical gardens – we visit one in every country we visit – so it made a fitting place to propose.”

The bridesmaids were dressed to Mediterranean summer perfection in strapless powder blue dresses from Little Mistress via ASOS, paired with soft grey block-heeled sandals from New Look, also purchased via ASOS, and crystal earrings, likewise from ASOS.

 

To a violin and harp arrangement of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, Abisola was accompanied down the aisle by her father, resplendent in traditional Nigerian dress.

“We visited two wedding venues in the UK, but neither of them really stood out to us. Despite having never considered it before, we decided that having a 30-person wedding in Italy was a fantastic idea. We booked it without having seen the venue in real life and without either of us having ever visited Sorrento before!”

“I’d love to be able to say that Italy meant something to us as a couple, but we’d never visited it together– although many times separately – before we booked our wedding! Italy is obviously now a very special place to us and the wedding and reception venues were better than we could have imagined.”

“Our ceremony was held in the garden of Museo Correale and we had a drinks reception at the belvedere overlooking the coast. We then had our reception at Villa Antiche Mura which overlooks Mount Vesuvius and the bay of Naples. We were therefore incredibly lucky with our scenery and didn’t need much additional decor! We therefore kept it fairly natural with lots of flowers, lemons and fairy lights.”

“Given that we had been together for almost eleven years by the time of our wedding, we also thought it would be nice to have Polaroid pictures from our relationship displayed at the reception venue.”

The wedding ceremony was a favourite part of the day for Abisola, and she adored how relaxed and yet significant it felt.

For James, his favourite part of the day was seeing Abisola for the first time as she appeared at the aisle to begin her walk towards him.

“It may seem obvious, but it was poignant that I could only remember her smile and us making eye-contact. She could have been wearing anything; it felt like there was no-one else there.”

 

Being part of the private Love My Dress Facebook group, Abisola picked up a great idea for favours.

“We didn’t want to give favours which would be left behind, and knew that a wedding which was set entirely outdoors in July in Italy would be incredibly hot. We therefore thought that providing the female guests with hand-fans and the male guests with panama hats would be very welcome!”

Abisola’s elegant hair style was created by a stylist at the Villa Antiche Mura, and she chose to take care of her own radiant and lovely make-up, complete with vibrant red lipstick.

Abisola carried a neat bouquet of pastel blue hydrangea blooms and grape hyacinths, accented with white roses, while the bridesmaids carried posies of roses and gypsophila, all undertaken by Sorrento Fiori (no details provided).

James chose a beautiful poem by Thomas Hardy – I Said to Love.

“He has great memories of his parents reading Thomas Hardy, and holds his work in high regard alongside the Romantic painters. I adore Margaret Atwood and chose one of my favourite poems entitled Variations on the Word Sleep. I’m often teased for my love of sleep and, to me, it’s an incredibly romantic poem.”

Not only was Abisola lucky enough to win her wedding earrings, both she and James also won their wedding rings, from Diamond Heaven, based in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.

“Diamond Heaven was a few minutes walk from where we lived at the time. Getting to pick the perfect wedding rings a few days before flying to Italy to see our venue for the first time was magical.”

“James and I chose a reading each. We wanted to avoid choosing traditional wedding readings, and therefore looked at poems have special significance to us.”

These joyful and sunny images of Abisola and James’ day come courtesy of photographer Adamo Morgese, with editing undertaken by James.

“As a keen photographer himself, it was important to James to have access to the RAW images in order to edit them and be part of the creative process.”

For her other accessories, Abisola wore crystal teardrop earrings, which she won in a competition by Liberty in Love, as well as a back necklace for the evening, which fastened to the straps of her gown.

“I really liked the idea of having a perfume that I had never worn before so that, after the wedding, smelling it would immediately take me back to our wedding day. I wore Jo Malone’s Mimosa and Cardamom and James wore Dark Amber and Ginger Lily. We now save those fragrances for special occasions and every time we smell them they take us straight back to Italy.”

The couple credit Villa Antiche Mura’s manager, Michele Savarese for undertaking much of the organisation and planning for their day, including booking their ceremony venue, organising catering, flowers, entertainment and decor.

“He managed all of the paperwork…not to mention that he answered my many, many emails very promptly. He was also with us the whole day and ensured everything ran smoothly. We can’t speak of him highly enough.”

Everybody sat down to a wonderful feast at the elegantly decorated table laden with flowers and dotted with fragrant lemons.

“The food was one of our favourite elements of the day. We had a traditional long four-course wedding breakfast, complete with limoncello with the dessert! It was important to us, in keeping with the intimate theme, to have one long table for all of the wedding guests in true Italian style. In place of the typical UK evening food, we had huge pizza slices.”

Villa Antiche Mura created a fantastic two-tiered lemon and vanilla cake with buttercream icing, and the wedding party were serenaded by a traditional Neopolitan Posteggia (violin and mandolin player) against the magnificent coastal backdrop.

As the sun went down, guests savoured the setting and the views as Abisola and James made their way down to the beach to watch the sunset over the Mediterranean Sea; a romantic and wonderful ending to the day.

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Despite the fact that I am not known as the most laid-back of people (!), I found our wedding incredibly stress-free to organise. I owe that to the fact that planning a wedding in Italy was surprisingly relaxed.”

“Ultimately, we wanted a wedding that was chilled-out, intimate and true to us as a couple. We didn’t compromise on that and, as a result, there isn’t a single thing I would change about it. We basically got to spend a week by the sea in Italy with all of our favourite people, have a big celebration at the end and then enjoy a further two weeks on the Amalfi Coast.”

Congratulations, Abisola and James, and thank you for sharing your gorgeous, chic and sun-drenched day with us. Huge thanks also go to Adamo Morgese and James for a magical set of images, which have been truly captivating to look through, and Moon and Back for their glorious film. If you’re searching for more Italian wedding inspiration, take a look here.

Until next time!

With love,

Laura