Hello you lovely lot! Well, I’m happy to report that there has been much progress in the wedding plans of late. As well as the minor decision of picking the dress (!), we also squeezed a 2 night stay at the venue in Italy into our chaotic week at home back in the summer. On the to-do list was:
- Food tasting (this was such as chore…as you can imagine)
- Meeting with the florist
- Organising rentals (marquees, tables, chairs etc.)
- Nailing down a room allocation plan (and I thought table plans were hard!)
We were lucky to have a dream team accompany us in the form of my Mum and Dad. No-one knows good food, good wine, and how to throw an awesome party quite like these two, and they were in full blown “this is a production” mode. Blimey, and there we were just thinking that it was all very pretty! Happily, the trip wasn’t all work and no play. We managed to squeeze in a long lunch in Siena with plenty of good Italian wine, all in the name of research of course…ahem!
Seeing the venue again was really special. This was only our second trip and our first had been back in autumn. Now it was summer and in its full glory – the gardens were spectacular, and the whole place just seemed to glow. It was everything we remembered and more, and it was wonderful to be able to finally share it with my parents.
Happily, they were both blown away by how beautiful it was. My Dad even commented that it smelled like his grandma’s house that he used to spend his summers in as a little boy….I’m assuming this is a good thing? Italian pine trees and lavender, rather than old lady??
How do you say “poufy” in Italian?
The absolute highlight of the trip for me was meeting with the florist. The wonderful Nadia and her team at Stiatti Fiori are some of the warmest and most welcoming people you could ever wish to meet…
…at least I think they were! There was the minor problem of their lack of English and my very little (and shockingly bad) Italian. And yet, it was such good fun! I had come armed with plenty of pictures of blousy, poufy white blooms which she oooh-ed and aaah-ed at in all the right places, and there were lots of hand signals and pointing at flowers going on. At one point we even had my poor, un-suspecting great-uncle on the phone to translate!
We had great fun rifling through her supply room looking at all the possibilities. At this time, the only Italian we really needed was ‘sì’, ‘non’ and ‘AH PERFETTO!!’ The rest could be deciphered simply by sticking an ‘o’ on the end – “poufy-o”? How could this possibly be wrong??
In between Nadia’s regular cooing over “bellissima Simone” (cue a very red Simon) and her mother bringing in plates of delicious meringues and rocket-fuel espressos, we actually, against the odds, somehow managed to pull it together. Her work is just beautiful and despite the language challenges, the laughter which we shared and her obvious love for her work (at one point, I swear I actually saw her kiss a peony) means that I have complete faith in her.
I owe her huge thanks for putting up with a customer ignorant enough to assume “they’ve done enough English weddings to probably speak some English”. Shame on me. But it was hugs and kisses when we left so luckily I think I’m forgiven. Note to self – learn more Italian!!
Anybody for a game of musical chairs?
Next on the list was logistics. Whilst we’re lucky to have pretty much a blank canvas at the venue, I’m learning that there’s something to be said for venues which give only limited options – less to figure out! The venue normally only sleeps 35-40 but we have 60 in total, with some guests staying in the surrounding area. This means bringing in extra tables and chairs, so there was a lot of rearranging of furniture going on to see how, and more importantly where, things fit.
The venue has so many wonderful spaces that we want to maximise our use of them, but the challenge is whether or not we can fit everyone into the preferred space. In theory it works but it’s going to be tight, and now we’re just going to have to wait and see when the furniture arrives on the day whether or not it will feel that bit too tight. The only option we have is to be ready with the alternative location, but that will mean laying the tables out in a different formation, and that means (dare I say it? Here goes…) not one, but TWO table plans!!!! I must have been really bad in a past life. Those things are complex and fragile eco-systems.
Being there for 3 days also means that we want to make sure that the wedding day itself is special, and doesn’t just feel like any of the other days with just the addition of a person floating around in a big pink meringue (Simon has terrible taste in clothes…)
The best decision we made during those precious few days in Italy was taking a detour to a rental company’s showroom, which had laid out example tables and chairs available for hire. Luckily, all 4 of us had a similar vision on the style of setting, and we gravitated to the same display. Tables and chairs – done! And many other fun things were spied in that show room which we have our eye on. We’ll just have to see how far the budget stretches!
Food, Glorious Food
There is so much I could say about the food we sampled, but it can also be summed up quite easily – simply divine! Not fussy or too contrived – just simple, rustic, local, and delicious Italian fare. When I spied ‘Mama’ out in the garden that afternoon cutting bunches of fresh rosemary and sage from the bushes, I knew we were in for a treat and it didn’t disappoint. It tasted like my dear Grandma’s food, and that is honestly the best compliment I can give it.
Ooooh and the cake! There will be no-tiered wedding cake for us, which came as a surprise for many or our friends because I make cakes as a hobby and love nothing more than the opportunity to create a tiered confection. Instead, ours will be a traditional Italian wedding cake consisting of layers of chantilly cream, fruit and pastry (basically a giant cream puff) which will be constructed there-and-then during the dinner, to be cut as soon as it’s finished. Ok, so they’re not exactly works of art in terms of sugar-work, but they are flipping delicious! Buon appetito tutti!
Well that’s all from me for now. Next time – accessories! As they said in Steel Magnolias “The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize”. Hmmm, I might be in trouble…
Love Sophie x