A Bride in a Sequin Dress for an Intimate Italian Wedding In A Medieval Oratory

It’s not often I come across such a small and intimate wedding but when I do, it reminds me of how beautiful they can be and brings home the meaning of a wedding in the first place; to be married to your best friend and the one you love for life.

Today’s couple headed to the Italian Province of L’Aquila for their nuptials, celebrating only with their close family and friends in a small and intimate ceremony.

Images by Zonzo

Pattern maker Alessia and Tailor Andrea were married on 5th May 2018 at their church Oratorio of San Pellegrino in Bominaco, Italy.

“This venue just seemed like the perfect church for our intimate wedding. The outside is very simple, but the inside is unique because of the murals there from the Benedictine period (the end of the 8th Century). The church was our starting point with the whole wedding, then the flower arrangements (using neutral colours to bring out the natural beauty of the location) and the rest came by itself.”

The couple chose Italy based destination wedding photographers Zonzo to capture their day, for their discreet and professional way of working and their soft and beautiful candid style of photography.

“Andrea and I met around 10 years ago in Pescara (our home city). We dated briefly but broke up and then years after, we met again and this time fell in love. We were engaged in October 2013 and we moved in together in December 2014.”

 

“I made my wedding dress in my atelier with help from my mum. It was hand stitched and I really loved the fabric of the bottom half. The bodice was really simple and the skirt sophisticated and fun fact, there were 64 buttons on it altogether!”

 

“I chose not to have a veil, but my shoes were from Chantal and my perfume Hypnotic Poison by Dior.”

   

Alessia’s beautifully perfect waves were created by hair stylist Gidigi Parrucchieri and her artfully done make up by Il Tempio del Benessere.

“This venue just seemed like the perfect church for our intimate wedding. The outside is very simple, but the inside is unique because of the murals there from the Benedictine period (the end of the 8th Century).”

“The church was our starting point with the whole wedding, then the flower arrangements (using neutral colours to bring out the natural beauty of the location) and the rest came by itself.”

The ceremony took place in the utterly stunning medieval oratory in the Province of L’Aquila. Alessia walked down the aisle to Gymnopedie No. 1 by Erik Satie and Adagio by Johann Sebastian Bach. The couple chose 3 extracts from the Bible as readings for the ceremony and decided against having traditional bridesmaids and groomsmen in lieu of a small and intimate wedding.

The groom looked smart in a two-piece blue suit from Fama Shop, worn with a pair of Louis Keyton shoes, white shirt and silver tie.

With such a stunning location on the hill tops of Italy, there was little need for extravagant decorations or over-the-top flowers, so instead the couple chose to keep the flowers simple and elegant, with their florist Top Flora opting for green eucalyptus and simple white flowers.

 

“We printed the day booklets for the religious ceremony ourselves. We didn’t need a table plan or place cards etc. because it was such an intimate wedding with only 11 of us, including our parents, brother of the groom and his girlfriend.”

Following the ceremony the couple headed for the hills with their photographer for the couple’s portraits, where the weather treated them to the perfect romantic atmosphere in the clouds.

 

Congratulations Alessia and Andrea and thank you for showing us how to do such a beautiful and intimate wedding. A big thanks also to Zonzo for capturing it all on camera so perfectly.

Until next time…

Much love,

Holly x