Hello lovely ones! Everything about today’s wedding is picture perfect and I can’t wait to share it with you. From the decor to the bride’s stunning gown, and the style of photography to the exquisite choice of venue, this bride and groom pulled off a truly gorgeous day true to their own personal style as a couple. Want to know more? Then we better not wait any further…
Blogger and social media consultant Vanessa and marketing director Micha said their I Do’s on 6th October 2017 at the historical Villa Alceo located in Viggiu, Italy, a small village in the province of Varese.
Photography by Foxografie
Vanessa’s beautiful sheer gown with floral applique came from designer Kaviar Gauche and was perfectly in keeping with her Mediterranean setting.
“I love that every dress by Kaviar Gauche has very delicate details. The dresses are all very feminine but also appropriate, without being too sexy. I chose not to go down the route of a veil but chose a delicate diamond and hair headpiece by Juvelan and a pair of nude and glitter Jimmy Choo shoes to accessorise with.”
“We’re both from Germany but neither of us had ever wanted to get married there. We thought about places we’ve enjoyed together over the years and Italy, the northern region in particular, came to mind quite quickly.”
“Once we had decided on having the ceremony in Italy, the challenge then was to find a location where we could not only celebrate the wedding, but could also stay with our family during the week. We found Villa Alceo and all of our dreams came true. Luckily for us, the villa’s property manager was also a wedding planner so we took on their help to plan the wedding too.”
“Micha and I met in my last years at school when I worked in a small boutique to earn some money. He came in one day and came back the day after too to invite me out for a cup of coffee. This was exactly 13 years ago. He finally popped the question whilst we were on holiday in Mexico in spring 2017, after we’d been a couple for 11 years. Six months later we celebrated our civil wedding ceremony.”
“Italy inspired us the most when we were planning our wedding. From the moment we decided to celebrate in Italy, we knew the decor and food should all be inspired by the Mediterranean lifestyle.”
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“We kept it all quite simple and the decor mainly consisted of lemons, rosemary and olive branches. We also used wooden boxes, a vintage zinc tub filled with blankets for the guests to make use of when the sun went down, vintage style drinks dispensers and jars as our candle holders.”
“We used stationery designer Stefanie H for our wedding invites, menus and welcome sign, and Moira from Hello Honey for the name cards and the cards on the hand fans. As mentioned earlier, we gifted each guest a small bottle of wood sage and sea salt by Jo Malone as the favours, as well as a small bottle of olive oil with a name tag each. We filled these ourselves and they were used as the place names too.”
“My scent on the day was wood sage and sea salt by Jo Malone. It was the scent I had chosen as a present for our guests too. I wanted them to always be reminded of our wedding whenever they smelt that particular scent, so of course I chose this for myself on the day too.”
“Micha wore un jardin mediterranee by Hermes. It smells very fresh but special and even the name of it was perfect for our Mediterranean wedding.”
“As I only wear super delicate jewellery, I also wanted a delicate wedding ring. Besides my engagement ring (a delicate ring with a diamond shaped like a heart), I had a ring for the civil ceremony and another for the Italian wedding.”
“I loved the idea of having three rings rather than two, because each ring stands for a very special moment. Micha hardly wears any jewellery so he just wanted a very simple ring and opted for a ring made from platinum.”
“We hardly had any flowers because of all the lemons we opted for instead. Our local florist from Viggiu just went for a handful of white delicate flowers and some peonies for my bridal bouquet.”
Unfortunately Vanessa’s dad was unable to attend the ceremony in Italy for health reasons, so her father in law stepped in to accompany her down the aisle to the sounds of If I Should Fall Behind by Bruce Springsteen, performed by an acoustic guitarist.
Bavaria based photographer Carolina from Foxografie captured the whole wedding day on camera just perfectly for the couple, and got the tone just right when it came to the photography style.
“Carolina and I met through blogging several years ago now. We share the same sense of humour, have had several photography projects together and became good friends over the past few years. Of course I wanted to have her as our wedding photographer on our special day.”
Following the outdoor ceremony, guests were led to the outdoor wedding breakfast banquet tables to feast on a Mediterranean inspired spread provided by Venanzio. Candlelight lit up the tables as the sun when down and guests were entertained with speeches from the bride and grooms family and friends.
The wedding cake was a stunning and huge affair, decorated with chocolate and summer berries, made by a local patisserie.
“To be honest, we were quite shocked when we first saw our wedding cake. I’d been looking at lots of inspiration on Pinterest that I then sent to our Italian wedding planner.”
“They were all normal wedding cake sizes but the cake that was delivered to us by the patisserie was HUGE! Nevertheless, it was very pretty with lots of berries, macaroons and chocolate. It was also really delicious and I guess that’s the main thing! In the end, everyone was laughing at the sheer size of it and I know the story will be told by our families still for years to come.”
“For our first dance track we chose Holdin’ My Own by Eric Church. We listened to several songs that we like and this was the one that was best for us, because of both the text and the melody.”
“The whole week, never mind just the wedding day, was more that we could have ever imagined! I think our favourite part in particular was the moment we saw each other in front of the wedding arch at the beginning of the ceremony.”
Words Of Wedded Wisdom
“Try not to be too much of a perfectionist. Not everything will work out perfectly, but what matters most is that there are two people who have decided to spend the rest of their lives together.”
“Who cares if there is a missing vase, or if the spoons for the dessert aren’t the ones you had originally chosen. Just enjoy the wedding day and the incredibly special atmosphere. It will all be over far too soon and it’s true what they say, it will be gone in the blink of an eye.”
What a superbly stunning day – a big congratulations to the happy couple for pulling it off, and to Foxografie for capturing it all so beautifully on camera.
Until next time…
Much love,
Holly x
Credits & Thanks
- Photographer - Foxografie
- Venue - Villa Alceo
- Wedding dress - Kaviar Gauche
- Headpiece - Juvelan
- Shoes - Jimmy Choo
- Perfume - Jo Malone and Hermes
- Groom - Hansen Garments
- Catering - Venanzio
- Favours - Jo Malone
- Stationery - Stefanie H and Hello Honey
Holly Grocott View all Holly's articles
Holly loves nothing more than getting her fill of beautifully styled weddings and couple's individual stories. After living in London for 6 years, she's now moved back North and settled in the leafy suburbs of South Manchester with her husband and much-loved pet pooch. You'll mostly find her reading in a corner, writing or creating a moodboard (or five).
