I’ve written posts for each of our wedding anniversaries but I never wrote about our wedding day. I hadn’t watched our wedding video in ages and to get inspired for my writing, I had a look at it and it made me emotional. Definitely the hormones, but it was the beauty of togetherness, of family, of being gathered, happy and carefree. Pretty much the opposite of what this year has been.
It was a beautiful and dreamlike day for me, seeing all my family from all over the world and my friends all in one place but it was also very very hard because my dad passed away that same year 4 month before. It was difficult to plan something that is meant to make you happy and excited whilst also living the uncertainty and fragility of life. We were helped by an amazing team @cerronenozze who allowed us to make quick decisions which also ticked all the boxes. My dad had told me once in hospital to carry on with the wedding planning like we would have in normal circumstances.
So it was with that thought in mind that we picked our flowers, the food menu, the wedding favours made out of Liberty fabric, the invites, the music, the location. And I wouldn’t have changed anything from that day.
We had a little informal dinner with whoever had travelled to Rome the day before just so people could meet. It was just a pizza night in Testaccio. The day of the wedding we were blessed with sun yet there was still a cool breeze from the rainy days before. My mom, my sister and I went to the location to get ready some hours before and enjoyed the quiet of the house. Luca and his family arrived a couple of hours later but we didn’t meet as the tradition in Italy is that the groom only sees the bride for the first time as she’s being walked down the aisle. I could see guests arriving from the balcony and felt a bit of nerves stiffening my smiling for the photos. My mom was wearing a dusty pink dress and my sister like the rest of my bridesmaids was wearing a dress of their choice in navy.
My mom walked me along the garden to an instrumental version of “Secret Garden”. We had some of our closest family and friends share some readings with us and we then exchanged our vows. I was already a flood of tears by then (thank god for waterproof make up!).
Luca and I took off for a couple of hours to have our photos taken on Via Appia which is where the house was. The pine trees so typical of Rome, the cobblestone so difficult to walk on with high heels! In the meantime the guest gathered around the pool for the buffet of canapés. We missed out on it but I was told the buffet was really good.
The music was playing in the background whilst people mingled and drank in the garden. The sat down dinner took place in the house gazebo where the tablescape looked amazing. Every table was named after a place in London that meant something for us and our relationship. The band gave us moments of entertainment in between courses, singing songs in the different languages our guests spoke. They were absolutely brilliant. We didn’t do traditional speeches, we asked friends and family who wanted to so we had a LOT of them but each of them was filled with love and joyful memories, a good laugh and heartwarming anecdotes.
Luca and I had our first dance to “This is your song” one of my dad’s favourite Elton albums. We kicked off the dancing and it was so much fun seeing my side of the family going all wild on the dance floor. They do know how to party! We had a break from all the dancing when we moved to the gorgeous and delicious cake. My best friend who has a patisserie surprised us with a cake topper of me doing Tree pose in my wedding dress standing next to Luca on his wedding tux with his kite and surf board just behind him. Such a cool detail!
I changed into my comfy Liberty print slip dress I had made and ditched the heels. The dancing and chatting carried on till late at night and as the guests started trickling away taking with them our wedding favours as a souvenir, we started to slowly take in how beautiful that day had been for all of us. Luca and I felt so much love and we would have done it all over again.
Enjoy our wedding video here: https://vimeo.com/180804374
The opening song is That Girl by Paolo Nutini. This is the song Luca sang when he surprise serenaded me outside our garden a couple of days before the wedding.
Can’t stop the feeling by Justin Timberlake was definitely the song of that year for me and because you know I looooove Justin, it had to be the feel good song of our wedding!