Mikaela, a fine jewellery designer, married Anthony, a carpenter, on 26th September 2023. With the support of their wedding planner, Fatima Palomares of Umbrias Wedding & Events, the couple opted for a traditional Catholic ceremony, followed by a glamorous reception at the beautiful Villa Fattoria di Vibio.
The bride wore two gowns, an Alena Leena design with detachable sleeves in the daytime, before slipping into figure hugging design by JLM Couture for the evening and dancing.
It’s such a pleasure to once again be sharing the photography of Stefano Santucci – enjoy!
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Venue & Location
At the heart of our vision, we wanted to honour our Italian families and heritage. We really wanted to show our guests the beauty of a slow life in the natural hills of Umbria, along with amazing food and wine. An al fresco culinary experience was essential for us.
This made Fattoria di Vibio’s infinity balcony an absolute dream spot for our cocktail hour, and their gardens the perfect location for dinner under the stars. We focused our catering on local Umbrian delicacies like wild boar and tried to match our decor to the colours of the sunset across the hilly horizon—a sea of olive green and deep oranges.
Bridal Beauty & Accessories
I layered two necklaces, in homage to Anna Wintour; one was an antique silver with paste stones and hand engraving. The other was a natural citrine riviere with closed backs to keep the bright and sparkly colour.
I wore a cathedral length veil from Blossom & Bluebird, with custom beaded lace trim that started at fingertip length.
I wore vintage silk pointed toe kitten heels by Christian Louboutin that I had revitalised by Cobbler Concierge on 59th street in NYC.
My scent was Le Labo, Baie 19. This is my everyday go to and my husband loves it! Its a familiar smell, and calming on such a busy day.
Babara Corso , owner of The Porfirio Beauty, is an incredible artist and amazingly calming during a busy morning.
The Dress
Alena Leena
I wore the Peony gown in champagne, by Alena Leena, for my ceremony and for after dinner dancing, I changed into the ‘32155 Jasmine‘ gown from the Lazaro collection by JLM Couture.
I kept to softer, off white colours that felt more authentic to the rustic venue, and not too ‘stark’ modern white.
I bought my Alena Leena gown at Alice in Ivory bridal shop in Chicago. It was the second shop I had been to, and their selection was fantastic. I don’t think I tried on a single dress there that I didn’t like, but when I put the Peony gown on, my sister and mom both knew this was THE one.
The kind and helpful attendant had me try on another ‘favourite’ pick after this, but once in another dress I knew immediately I just wanted to get back into that Alena Leena Peony gown.
The sparkling beaded lace and flowing sleeves were exactly what I envisioned as a bride, but I just didn’t know it until I had tried it on. I knew I didn’t want anything too modern or clean/simple looking, but many of the more traditional lace dresses felt too constricting. The Peony gown was a perfect marriage of romantic lace with sparkle, beading, and a little bit of drama.
How They Met
We met as children at 13 years old, we went to the same school, were in the same gym class, and lived in the same neighbourhood. We shared our first kiss under a streetlamp in our childhood neighbourhood, he was walking me home after dark.
We ‘dated’ in middle school (about 14-15 years old) but went our separate ways as we got older.
After about 10 years of having basically no contact, we ended up coincidently living in the same neighbourhood of Chicago, IL.
The Ceremony
Concattedrale della Santissima Annunziata
Our ceremony took place in a 13th century Gothic Romanesque cathedral, Concattedrale della Santissima Annunziata. A church centrally located in the tiny hillside town of Todi, in the Umbria region.
We fell in love with the large fresco painting inside & the antique original stained glass rose window. This church was actually featured in a large book of Italy my parents owned, along with many beautiful views of Umbria.
Anthony wore an Indochino olive suite with purple silk lining. I made him a custom gold and bronze lapel pin set with a 4.2 carat mined green sapphire and diamond baguette halo. The cut of the green sapphire is called a ‘shield’ cut, and I felt it was a fitting symbol of how I feel he protects and loves me.
I was blessed to have my father walk me down the aisle. We had a pianist play the church’s beautiful pipe organ with a violist accompaniment. They played all the traditional Italian wedding songs like Ave Maria and Canon in D.
Our officiant was Father Kishor. He was so heart warming and funny, and a younger priest as well. We absolutely loved his advice and guidance leading up to our wedding and his homily during the ceremony about love being the subject of marriage was great. I would recommend him for anyone needing an english or Italian Catholic ceremony.
During the ‘Nuptial Blessing’ , a formal prayer when the bride and groom kneel before the Priest to be blessed and ask for grace from God for a long and loving marriage, Father Kishor had both our mothers place an infinity rosary over our heads.
This was a very sweet and special moment to highlight our mothers in the ceremony and give us a moment to see them up close.
Anthony originally proposed with my wedding band, the ‘Rose’ band, from Erika Winters. Then I made my engagement ring at The Mae Jewels, using a Canadian Kao mined 1.01 VS1 Octagonal cut diamond from Misfits Diamonds, which featured a small halo of VVS H&A cut melee and a solid 20Karat yellow gold trim. The underside is also all diamond pave.
I had a friend and colleague at Ringed, hand fabricate my husband’s two tone ring, from a palladium white gold and yellow gold alloy. It features a small hand sawn bowtie that represents how we are tied together forever. In woodworking, a ‘bowtie’ is used to stop wood from splitting indefinitely.
Photography
Stefano Santucci’s style is so natural and authentic to intimate moments. I also believe he has a truly artistic eye that you cannot teach.
His talent in capturing our most special moments without intruding on said moment, is an absolute super power. I would implore anyone with the chance to work with Stefano to take it.
The Reception
Villa Fattoria di Vibio
When we found the villa Fattoria di Vibio nearby, this sealed the deal that Todi would be the perfect place for us to say ‘I do’. The relaxed nature of Umbria that is steeped in rich Etruscan history played a large part in us selecting this town.
Evening & Dancing
We hired Britpops to entertain. We chose the Beatles song ‘ Do you wanna know a secret ‘ from their ‘Please Please Me’ album for our first dance. We really love the Beatles and wanted to choose an upbeat fun song to start the dancing off.
We actually spent probably six+ months before the wedding dancing together every night and practicing/creating our dance routine. It was so fun to have a reason to dance every night and its definitely a fun memory from the wedding planning process and made us much less stressed on the day because we had already practiced so much.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Our best advice would be to consider the guest experience and stick together! We loved providing our guests with a pre-ceremony aperitivo, allowing them to arrive early for an hour of appetisers and drinks at a terrace restaurant (La Cantina Del Mercataccio) overlooking the Umbrian rolling hills. It gave them the chance to experience Todi in a relaxed, intimate way, and by the time they arrived at the church, they were well-hydrated and ready to sit through our hour-long ceremony.
Once Anthony and I were together after the ceremony, we didn’t leave each other’s side. The entire night was magical, and we got to share memories of how the evening unfolded. Lastly, be extremely selective when choosing vendors! Select professional, capable vendors and trust them to do their jobs. It ensures the entire day is a dream and runs smoothly. If a vendor is not meeting your expectations, trust your instincts and part ways early on!
