A Made With Love Dress & Floral Chuppah for a Sun-Drenched Villa Wedding in Sicily

Festoon lights wedding italy

We’re taking a trip to beautiful rural Sicily today for a celebration inspired by the country’s natural beauty – fragrant lemons and eucalyptus, olive and orange groves, bright bougainvillea, cypress trees – set against the dramatic backdrop of the slopes of Mount Etna.

This effortlessly elegant day wove the heritage and culture of both the bride and groom throughout, too, which is always so lovely to see.

Made With Love Bridal + Follow

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It also features two of our wonderful Little Book members – Heart Aflutter Bridal Boutique, where our bride discovered her incredible Made With Love Bridal dress.

Ania is a Marketing Manager, and she married her love Danny on the 30 May 2019 at the spectacular country estate of Commenda di San Calogero, in North Syracuse, Sicily.

“As soon as we got engaged we both knew that we wanted to get married in Sicily. My dad’s side of the family comes from there originally, and we fell in love with the island on one of our first long holidays together.”

Deborah Lo Castro + Follow

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“The night that we got engaged I actually found a picture of the venue on Pinterest, and said that it was the place I wanted to get married! I didn’t realise that it would actually come true.”

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I just adore the intricately beaded design of Ania’s Made With Love Bridal dress, which was the ‘Harlie’ from their MWL Vintage Collection, and it definitely has a lovely Art Deco feel to it, doesn’t it? Ania chose her dress at East London boutique Heart Aflutter, where she had a wonderful experience with the lovely team there.

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“The girls at Heart Aflutter were amazing, really friendly and helpful. The studio was really nice too, as you are the only client there, you don’t feel rushed, and it felt really special.”

“I had been to visit a few bridal boutiques, and after trying on a few styles, I knew that a more traditional wedding dress wasn’t for me. I’d seen the Made With Love brand on Instagram and had fallen in love with one of the other dresses that I knew Heart Aflutter stocked.”

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“However, when I tried on my dress I knew it was the one. The sequined beading looked incredible in the light, and the shape and flow of the dress was so flattering.”

“For me, being comfortable is also important, and even though the dress looked so special, it was so easy to wear and felt very ‘me’.” 

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“I was most worried about getting my hair and make-up done abroad given the language difference, but Modhair were amazing. Myself and all of the bridesmaids, the mothers of the bride and groom, showed the type of hair and make-up styles we liked, and they made everyone look absolutely amazing.”

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Ania’s shoes were by Jimmy Choo, and she accessorised her look with a simple cathedral length veil by Made With Love Bridal. She also wore a sparkling crystal hair vine, which she bought from her hair and make-up artists, Modhair.

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The bridesmaids wore Monsoon multiway dresses in silver-grey, which they each styled their own way, and all looked amazing in!

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Danny kept his wedding look smart casual – a wise yet stylish choice given the warm weather! He wore a cream jacket with blue trousers and a simple white shirt, with monk strap shoes [we sadly don’t have any details about Danny’s outfit though – apologies].

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Ania carried a lovely bouquet of white blooms, which included roses, peonies, gypsophila, lisianthus and veronica, with eucalyptus and sprigs of olive, whilst the bridesmaids carried cloud-like posies of gypsophila.

Florists Fiorelli Wedding did a wonderful job, including the creation of a spectacular Chuppah for the ceremony.

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“Our wedding planner recommended Fiorelli Wedding, and we couldn’t recommend them more highly enough. They have an amazing studio in Catania, where we spent a morning talking through the style that we wanted to go for.”

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“As Danny is Jewish we wanted to be married under a traditional Chuppah, which Fiorelli Wedding provided for us. For the Chuppah we used a lot of white flowers with greenery, which looked stunning with the backdrop of the fountains in the garden.”

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Ania, her dad and bridesmaids walked through the villa, out into the garden, and down the aisle, to Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Waiting to begin the ceremony was Danny’s cousin, who delivered a beautifully personal service, with specially tailored vows for the couple.

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“We met in our first year at Bristol Uni. Danny popped the question after about 10 years (we’ve lost count!). We were engaged for about a year and a half before the wedding.”

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Ania and Danny made their vows, surrounded by their nearest and dearest, and in the midst of beautiful orange trees. They exchanged rings (no details provided about these) and concluded the ceremony by breaking the glass.

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All of these moments (and more besides) were captured by Deborah Lo Castro, whose exquisite work we’re featuring for the first time on our pages today.

“We’d looked at a few photographers, but Debrorah’s photography really stood out for us. Deborah and Gaetano capture the most beautiful, artistic shots that don’t look like your usual wedding photography.”

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“They are able to capture such beautiful natural shots without you realising they’re taking the picture.”

“On the day they made us feel so comfortable. They even stayed way later than we expected them to, capturing some epic photos from the evening reception and dancing! I would definitely recommend Deborah – the photos have turned out incredibly.”

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To help them plan every element of their day perfectly, the couple hired Wedding Sicily, and were ably supported by Alessandra and her team.

“We wouldn’t have been able to manage a Sicilian wedding without them. They made everything incredibly easy for us, and we didn’t have to worry about anything.”

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“I ideally wanted a venue that could host close family and friends in the days leading up to the wedding, and with beautiful outside space for the wedding to take place. The venue ticked all the boxes. We went out to Sicily in March 2018 to search for wedding venues, and looked at 11 in total.”

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“The Commenda was the last venue we saw, and as soon as we drove through the blue entrance gates, down the long driveway with Italian Cypress trees lining it, with views of Etna in the distance, we were already sold.”

“There was a special feeling from the start. When we were viewing the venue it just got better and better. The owner of the venue, Gabriella, was also wonderful and made us feel so at home.”

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Dinner was held in the shade of the venue’s olive grove, with one long table laid with simple, elegant white cloths, and a garland of flowers and foliage running down its centre.

“Given the beautiful surroundings of the venue I wanted to go for a neutral, rustic flower design, with a lot of greenery and white flowers with a nod to Sicily with the lemons.”

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“We used Sicilian lemons for our place names. It was a team effort, with Danny’s cousin bringing across all the name badges from America, and Danny and our friends heading to a Sicilian market to pick up 200 lemons the day before the wedding!”

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Candles were lit, and everyone sat down to a feast prepared by the in-house team at Commenda di San Calogero. The elegant meal began with homemade pasta with pistachio pesto and courgettes, followed by beef with caponata or a vegetable quiche. To finish, guests helped themselves to a dessert buffet.

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“Our favourite part of the day, I think, was walking out to dinner and seeing the set-up of the long trestle tables under the olive grove, with all our family and friends waiting for us there.”

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As evening fell, speeches were enjoyed in the warm glow of candlelight, and festoon lights strung from the trees overhead.

“The florists and wedding planner included little touches that we didn’t even realise until the night, for example, at the bar there was a wheelbarrow with beers inside, which was a lovely added touch.”

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Ania and Danny’s first dance was to What You Won’t Do For Love by Bobby Caldwell, which was followed by Danny’s Best Man DJ-ing for most of the night!

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Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Don’t stress the small stuff, it’s the moments and memories that your guests will remember.”

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And with that, we say thank you very much to our couple Ania and Danny for giving us this glimpse into their day, and many thanks to talented photographer Deborah Lo Castro for the beautiful way she captured it all.

Until next time!

With love,

Laura

Credits & Thanks

Laura Callan

Laura Callan View all Laura's articles

Laura is a freelance writer and content creator who loves telling stories. She has keen eye for photography and art, and lives with her husband, cats, and huge amounts of books.

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