16 October 2016
Giulia and Fabrizio were married on a sunny day in mid-October. The Umbrian origins of the bride led them to choose the ancient Abbey di San Pietro in Valle, a magical place surrounded by greenery and overlooking the Valnerina which allows you to gaze without boundaries.
The beauty of this venue is that it allows the newlyweds and guests to say in the abbey for as many days as they want, and you are able to organise the ceremony and the reception in the same place. This avoids having to change locations, having to go back in a car…in short, they made their guests very comfortable, and offered to all of their closest guests, including me, a friend of the bride since we were at school together.
The evening before the wedding, we - close friends and some relatives arrived at the venue and after dinner, whilst Giulia was having her hair blown by the hairdresser, Fabrizio began to serenade her in the courtyard of the abbey. It was a very sweet moment that surprised Giulia a lot. We were all looking out the windows listening to an excited and red-faced groom. But the emotion of that evening was to be nothing compared to that of their big day.
From the first light of dawn, the bride and her bridesmaids met in the bride’s suite to get her hair done and styled; in the meantime, my great friend and photographer Max D’Alessandro and the incomparable Fulvio Greco, had begun to immortalise the preparations. In the meantime, with the staff of Lucaroni Catering, we were organising the spaces for the ceremony while I looked after the church preparations with Antonella Cricchi. The couple had chosen to use the warm tones of autumn, combined with olive trees… and in this trailer you will be able to appreciate the mood of the day.
The ceremony was celebrated in an ancient church of the 1300s and was made special by the musical choice: the groom in fact opted for non-traditional music but adapted it for the harp and flute duo. After the ceremony in the abbey courtyard, buffets rich in every delicacy were set up, decorated with wooden boxes with aromatic herbs and seasonal fruits such as pumpkins and clusters of grapes. The soundtrack was managed by my band Musicarancio assembled according to the couple’s requests.
The tables were all ready to host the 150 guests which had been prepared in the large garden in front of the ancient walls…a pleasant warm sun made the lunch truly enchanting. The bride had given the women warm blankets, for when the sun would hide behind the mountains.
A truly extraordinary gem was designed by the groom, a great lover of comics. The handmade wedding table portrayed the historic couples of comics that are famous all over the world, and as names of the tables the newlyweds had prepared mini booklets, always in the theme with the comic characters where you could leave your messages to the bridge and groom.
After the cutting of the cake, most of the guests returned home whilst we – the closest friends stayed for the evening party…with a new set up, open bar, change of clothes and DJ who made us go wild until late at night. A splendid wedding… the whole day was exceptional.
A small personal note: organising the wedding of your best friend and being at the same time the wedding planner of this event was really tiring, but incredibly satisfying!!!
