Destination Wedding Florals: Italy

Petals recently had the privilege of designing for a fairytale wedding in Aosta Valley in Northern Italy.

Since I'm Italian by marriage and the bride and groom are both Italians (and incredibly good friends of ours) who are living abroad in California, a lot of the stress of designing a wedding from abroad and in a foreign language was alleviated.

The Wedding Ceremony

The wedding ceremony took place in the same church where the bride's parents were married and the reception followed at a medieval castle a ten minute drive up into the foothills--surrounded by apple orchards and wine vineyards. The bride and her father arrived at the church via a vintage yellow cinque cento. The ceremony was conducted by the local priest who is also the bride's cousin.

While the ceremony and mass were in Italian, readings were done in both English and Italian. The music perfectly captured the mood and was provided by an incredibly talented opera singer accompanied by the church's ancient organ. .

The Bouquet

For the bridal bouquet I used a single raspberry protea, blush roses, white dahlias and cosmos, eucalyptus sprays and sprigs of rosemary and grape vine that I foraged from the garden outside of the apartment we were staying at.

The Reception - in a castle!

After the ceremony, guests were shuttled into the hills to a nearby medieval castle. The entire castle was open to guests to explore while the reception took place in the castle gardens. Musicias played from the ramparts above until sunset when a DJ took over for the dance party.

Both the bride and groom are foodies and the bride's father owns Le Greniere, a renowned restaurant in posh Saint Vincent so the food was incredible.

The Food!

Rustinc food carts lined the outer edge of the castle garden and included an over-flowing cheese station, cured meat cart, wood-burning pizza oven, quesadilla featuring cheese sourced from the local farm, and about a million other things I cannot even remember. A full bar provided every kind of cocktail imaginable, though I stuck to the classic "when its summer in Italy" aperol spritz. Deserts included the best cannoli I've ever had (I'm told the secret is filling them on-site) and a magically light, three tier fruit tart with Bavarian cream.

The Flowers!

For centerpieces the bride chose to nestle giant king protea amongst dusty lavender, tapered candles in gold holders (with citronella candles to keep the bugs away - so smart!) and corked terrariums featuring delicate sprigs of dried florals. Abundant plumes of natural dried protea and giant raspberry ice protea dotted the landscape while blush roses and white dahlias melded old world textures with modern, bridal florals.

Talk about a dream-come-true wedding for a truly special couple. The venue offered so many picture perfect spots with the entire castle and surrounding grounds open to guests to explore.

As the sun set revelers switched from espresso to gin and tonics, grappa, and limoncello. Guests danced until midnight then sent the happy couple off with a shower of sparklers -- they didn't have far to go as the castle features a luxury apartment ensconced on the top floor of the castle!

And that's a wrap - the perfect end to a perfect day! Thanks for letting us be a part of so much love and beauty - we won't ever forget it!