A Sweet Italian Wedding with an Ode to All Things Greek

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Today we’ve got a gorgeous real wedding in Italy, that’s inspired by all things Greek.

Sara & Pietro at a couple who, despite living just a few kilometres apart in Italy, first met on holiday in Greece over a decade ago. Since then, they’ve gone back to explore a different part of the country every single year.

So it was fitting that their favourite place played a key role in their wedding day, from the music to the decor, and the stationery to the favours, they created the traditional taverna vibe. Thankfully Greece-themed decor is pretty gorgeous, with fresh white linens, pretty blue details, and lots of olive branch touches throughout (spot Sara’s gorgeous upstyle!) along with a few sweet vintage elements too.

Dreamy photography by Infraordinario Wedding capture how this couple had eyes for only eachother all day. Not only is this wedding giving us major couple goals, it’s inspiring us to go to Greece and Italy in equal measures.

But most of all, it’s showing us that going all in on a wedding theme, can still be stylish, atmospheric, and so romantic.

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Our Love Story

“Nothing happens by chance” this is the quote for our story.

We live in Italy but we met in Greece, about 11 years ago. I had decided not to go in Greece with my family but at the last minute there was a vacancy and I decided to go.

Greece made us an amazing gift and our story began!

Every summer we visit a different Greek island, up to Mykonos where I had the sweetest proposal ever. Just me and him on an hidden beach at the sunset.

No ring but a heart-shaped stone that he found right on that beach and later a pic of us hand in hand in front of the church that dominated the bay.

An indescribable happiness, I said YES! I could not imagine a proposal in a different way and place, only where our love was born.

We decided to get married on July 30, 2016, the day of our tenth anniversary!

Our Wedding

The inspiration for our wedding could only be Greece, we tried to recreate a Greek wedding in Italy. White, olive and blue naturally became the whole colour palette for the wedding.

The atmosphere had to be of a Greek tavern in the evening, with a large table in U-shape setup under the trees, lighted up by many twinkly lights and Greek music for liven up the evening.

We chose Tenuta Serradesca when it wasn’t open yet! We live in Northern Italy, in a hilly area of the countryside surrounded by vineyards, so we wanted our big day to take place right here, close to home, in the natural and rustic environment where we live and that reminds us some aspects of Greece.

We started looking for farms and wineries, but when we heard that the old farm just behind our home would become a location for events and weddings we had no doubt, we get married there!

The Style

I wore a Nadia Manzato lace dress with open back and gold glitter shoes, love at first sight! I wore a light makeup and in my natural curly hair there were olive branches.

Pietro wore a tailor made blue suit with a wood bow tie, striped socks and white all star.

We choose unusual rings from My Golden Age, Luca is an amazing goldsmith who makes unique handmade jewellery.

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The Ceremony

We had a traditional Catholic wedding in our parish Church, it is really beautiful, small and simple. It was intimate and personal and during the ceremony a string trio played.

We had a very special ring holder, it was a little handmade dish that we bought in a crafts store in Paros.

Pietro and I arrived together at the Church with our vintage Fiat 500 and when the ceremony ended we went to Tenuta Serradesca with our vintage Vespa.

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The Flowers & Stationery

Our florist Sofia from Il Profumo Dei Fiori is amazing. She completely captured our ideas and brought our vision to life. The floral arrangements had a botanical and natural feel.

We searched the flowers you can find in Greece, she used an array of flowers and foliage, including olive branches above all, daucus carota, lysimachia, scabiosa stellata, eryngium, David Austin roses, dalia, nigella, brunia blushing bride … for church, centerpieces on the dinner tables and on other special areas.

I had two different amazing bouquets, one for the ceremony and one for the party! Both the bouquets were with olive branches and white different flowers. The buttonholes were with little olive branches and the bridesmaids’ bracelets were with olive branches, little berries and a little white flower.

I personally designed the wedding stationery! The stationery is inspired by Greece, with olive branches in shades of olive green and includes invitation, map, a poem with Greek basil seeds to plant, menu, tableau cards, tags and stickers for favors and thank you cards.

The invitation envelopes are in kraft paper with original vintage Greek stamps.

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The Photography

I chose Infraordinario Wedding as our wedding photographer, because I love the style of Sara and Chiara’s photos and how they capture weddings is exactly what I wanted.

They capture every single moment and emotion in a very natural way, they put us at ease and above all they are wonderful women.

To be honest, a wedding film was not a part of our original budget, but it was really my big dream. I love Lenny Pellico’s emotional videos so I asked him if it was available to create our wedding movie.

We could not ask for more! In a five minute video he captured all the emotions of that day and every time we watch it, we are touched like the first time…

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Advice for Other Couples

The advice that we would like to give at all couples who are planning their wedding is to make sure that it reflects yourselves.

Be inspired by blogs, books or Pinterest but never forget who you are, this is YOUR day! Try to relax and enjoy the planning process. Don’t sweat the small stuff and remember what is important to you as a couple.

The second recommendation is about the wedding day: live it serenely, without anxiety or fear of something going wrong: that day is just for you and your love.

And if something is not as you had thought, believe me, if you will let yourselves be carried away by emotions, not even you’ll realize it!

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The Decor & Details

The table was decorated with many little vases with olive branches and flowers, blue and white candles, blue-white ceramics from Greece with the table number and wood tags like place cards.

At Tenuta Serradesca, Sofia from Il Profumo Dei Fiori set up some special areas – table plan, favors, photobooth and guestbook.

Our guests had special favors, herbs from Greece that we had personally bought there, and that were placed in a special area with cigars and sugared almonds. They received one of the following favors: basil, oregano, cinnamon, thyme, pepper, and mint.

Our parents and witness received also a little olive plant. The favors area was decorated with branches, candles and evil eyes from Greece.

Our Fiat 500 vintage was decorated by me with our names handwritten.

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Favourite Moments

The most beautiful thing that our guests told us is that everything spoke about us… They thanked us for shared with them our story, our feelings and our emotions so sincerly.

One of the most emotional moments was the “first look”, then we went together with our vintage Fiat 500 to the church where guests was waiting for us.

Another favourite and touching moment was my wedding speech for my husband, at the party. He was really surprised and touched, see our joy reflected on the faces of our families and friends has been a memorable gift!

I remember with joy even the morning of preparations at the farm, surrounded by the closest friends.

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The Food

We had a sit-down dinner but instead of having a starter at the table we had a cocktail reception immediately after the ceremony with lots of canapés which our guests really loved.

During the dinner we drank wine produced at the vineyard and at the end we served Ouzo directly from Greece.

Our friends Pasticcioni made our beautiful wedding cake, a naked cake decorated with olive branches. There was also a large buffet with many different dessert and gelato.
In the night the pop-up bar served drinks and cocktails.

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The Honeymoon

We left for our honeymoon on the road exactly a month later. We visited the west USA, from Denver to San Francisco, passing through the most beautiful National Parks and visiting big cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

It was our first time in USA and it was really a memorable trip, we left our hearts there!

Our advice to others would be to give yourselves a couple of days to wind down and recover energy before leaving, unless you are planning a very relaxing trip!