Romantic Destination Wedding in Tuscany with Kilts and Bagpipes

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This morning we’re sharing a beautiful destination wedding in Tuscany, with a decidedly Scottish feel.

Gillian & David are a Scottish couple who chose to ditch the unpredictable weather at home for an alfresco party under stars and string lights for their wedding.

Beautifully photographed by Purewhite Photography, and expertly planned by Weddings in Tuscany by Chiara Sernesi, their day was romantic, chic, traditional, and so fun.

With a ceremony that brought their guests to tears, and a rustic feast in the garden of their villa that turned into a late night party and left the bar dry, Gillian & David were able to bring all the spirit of a Scottish wedding to the rolling hills and sunshine of Italy.

If you’re looking for ideas to give your overseas wedding a homely feel, let Gillian & David show you how it’s done…

Our Love Story

We got engaged in the summer of 2015 whilst on holiday in Marseille in the south of France.

We went on a boat trip to an island for the day and took a picnic. It was a beautiful day and we enjoy nothing more than relaxing in the Mediterranean sunshine.

David proposed on a secluded rocky beach with the waves crashing against the coast. The next day we were heading along the coast to Nice where we went to pick out the ring together before a celebratory meal and drinks in our favorite restaurant, Juliet, situated within the old town of Nice.

It was a fantastic end to our holiday and we couldn’t wait to share the news with everyone at home!

Our Wedding

We settled on Italy quite early on in the planning process. Having lived in Scotland all of our lives we knew we couldn’t rely on the Scottish weather, no matter how beautiful the scenery is.

We had visited Italy on several occasions previously and fell in love with the country, the food and the people.

Although planning a wedding from hundreds of miles away was daunting we were delighted when we found Chiara from Weddings in Tuscany who could guide us through the complete process.

Chiara helped us to find our beautiful wedding location at Villa il Santo, local hotels and BnB’s for our guests, our florist, catering company, celebrant and photographer as well providing countless numbers of emails reassuring us and providing advice.

Approximately four months before the wedding we flew out to Florence for couple of days to meet with the vendors and check out our villa. I will never forget the moment we first saw the villa and location in person, we were stuck for words it was so beautiful! The time in Florence was the reassurance we needed and when we flew back to Scotland we couldn’t wait for our big day to arrive!

Our theme for the wedding was’ rustic Italian countryside’ combined with ‘Scottish tradition’. We wanted our guests to enjoy everything Tuscany has to offer whilst still paying true to some of our Scottish traditions. It was a trip no one will ever forget!

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Favourite Moments

Gillian: My favourite moment of the day was when David read his poem during the ceremony. The emotion in his voice was evident from the start and I knew he meant every word. It was absolutely beautiful and there wasn’t a dry eye to witness it!

My not-so-favourite moment was towards the end of the night when the bar was demolished (in keeping with Scottish stereotypes).

By this point everyone had had a little too much and while dancing David feel backwards pulling me down on top of him. Thankfully we bounced back up and laughed it off with everyone else!!

The Photography

We were recommended Purewhite Photography by our wedding planner, Chiara.

Once we had a Skype call with Elisa & Adriano to discuss our wedding and our photography ideas we knew we had made a great choice.

On the day, Elisa & Adriano could not have been more helpful. Our wedding photographs are fantastic and captured the entire essence of the day – they will be treasured for years to come.

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Advice for Other Couples

Our main tip to any couple planning their big day is to budget…..and then add on 20%!

When it comes to your wedding you don’t want to have to cut back on items, but likewise the purse strings could run away from you if you are not careful.

As long as you feel you are getting value for money you won’t grudge paying of the extra things you want – it’s your big day and it only happens once!

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The Honeymoon

As we were already in Italy for our wedding we decided we would be staying for our honeymoon too!

After a blissful week at Villa il Santo with our family, we headed north to Verona. We spent two days in Verona enjoying the culture and history the city has to offer. From there we picked up our hire car and made a trip to Lake Garda and then onto Lake Como, spending approximately five days at each lake.

We had a trip to remember with incredible food, wine, scenery, ice-cream, spa treatments and lots of activities on the lake such as kayaking and speed boat trips. It was the perfect end to our dream Italian wedding!