Dreamy & Feminine Renaissance Wedding Inspiration

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Dreamy, ethereal, floral & feminine, this Botticelli-inspired editorial gives new meaning to the term ‘fine art weddings’.

Styled by By Charlotte Weddings and photographed by Irene Fucci Photography, the delicate details throughout the shoot shine bright with opulence & dignity. Sprays of blue hydrangeas and sweet peas create a stunning indoor garden. Floral embellishments trickle-down the sleeves of couture wedding gowns. You’ll spot a little pearl ring with gold petals that’s won our hearts.

The team took great inspiration from Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’ in so many ways. Our favorite might just have to be in the form of beauty. Taking direct inspiration from the painting, hair and makeup artist Lina Pagano weaved our bride’s hair in flowing braids and created a stunning luminous glow just like Venus and the goddesses.

From Irene Fucci

Botticelli’s paintings were the inspiration for this springtime, Italian editorial artfully captured by Irene Fucci Photography. Many little clues in the masterpiece ‘Spring’ are thought to point to a springtime marriage. ‘The Birth of Venus’ is a celebration of femininity and beauty just like this same-sex shoot with two brides.

By Charlotte Weddings planned and styled the shoot creating a colour palette that weaved light pinks, warm whites and pale blues together to remind us of Botticelli’s roses and the sea and sky surrounding Venus in the paintings.

Lake Como was a perfect destination for the shoot: understated elegance and natural beauty but it poured down with rain all day so the externals had to be abandoned but we had so much fun bringing nature inside with this wonderful team.

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Photo by Irene Fucci Photography via Bridal Musings

Boudoir & Milk Bath

Botticelli’s ‘Three Graces’ which represent feminine values such as beauty, love and grace are wonderfully ethereal: as cupid points his arrow towards them, they intertwine in a soulful dance adorned in stunning transparent robes. What better inspiration for a boudoir session could there be! The silky gowns and transparent robes in nudes and peaches from The Lace Atelier worked a dream. The boudoir session flowed over into a sumptuous milk bath combining water, florals and beauty. Three key elements of ‘The birth of Venus’.

The Tablescape

The tablescape is an ode to another element that Botticelli excelled in painting: flowing and luxurious textiles. The dusty blue tablecloth decked with golden flatware and gold-rimmed glasses creates an atmosphere of divine elegance. The warm white textured tableware recalls the shell that Venus steps out of in the painting ‘The Birth of Venus’. All this is set out under an amazing suspended floral installation: a cloud of greenery and spring flowers, just like the one Mercury is chasing away! The only floral elements on the table is a small ikebana including a fresh sweet pea.

The Cake

The cake by Qualcosa di Dolce with its delicate strokes of dusty blue is a celebration of both the paintings and the location, Lake Como. The scattering of gold gives it an understated elegance. There are actually two versions of the cake one with fresh flowers, one with tiny floral elements cascading to create a wonderfully subtle texture. The biscuits use little details of the paintings, and it’s the little details we love!

The Dresses & Beauty

The ceremony was relocated (due to pouring rain) to an ‘indoor garden’ created by the amazingly talented Sfumature di Cipria with a beautiful stained-glass backdrop where the couple exchanges their vows.

The wedding dresses were both crafted by Francesca Piccini. When I saw them I knew instantly they were ‘the ones’ for this shoot! Venus in ‘Spring’ is a sculptural beauty and Botticelli depicts her at the centre of the painting in an off-white sleeved robe, just like one of our brides. The other bride’s dress is light, ethereal and deliciously feminine, just like a Botticelli goddess. Flora, the goddess of spring, scatters flowers that she has gathered in her gown, a symbol of springtime and fertility. We had so much fun recreating these amazing elements of the paintings.

Lina Pagano took direct inspiration from the paintings for both brides’ hair and makeup, creating the most wonderfully natural and luminous makeup for the brides. Their hair was a mix of flowing waves and braids, like Venus and the goddesses.

The Florals

Botticelli’s paintings host over 500 species of plants and almost 200 types of flowers! We knew our shoot was going to feature some pretty awesome florals. We, like Botticelli, used flowers that bloom in the month of May, so we sourced local organically grown seasonal florals to recreate a renaissance feel garden. This gave us the extra special opportunity to use flowers like sweet peas and digitalis. The floral design by Sfumature di Cipria recreated an explosion of spring, naturally wispy, overgrown and ethereal garden.

Botticelli’s painting refers to a May wedding and sweetpeas are a flower that epitomises the month of May. Despite this they are rarely used in weddings and events: the imported sweetpeas which have travelled thousands of miles in refrigerated tanks are so fragile by they get to the destination they are too fragile and so inevitably get disregarded. The flowers in our shoot are grown local right next to Lake Como by Olga’s Flower Farm, they are organic and seasonal, values we believe in and promote.

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The Paper Goods

We chose them to feature in the stationery suite not only for their seasonality but for their delicate beauty and heady scent. Again, scents had a special meaning: they were thought to be a manifestation of divine presence in ancient Greece and Rome.

Botticelli’s ability to paint transparencies is nothing short of masterful. The stationery suite, created by Grigiocielo Studios, use of vellum is a celebration of that mastery. The vellum used throughout the suite is decorated by hand-painted sweetpeas in lavish gold leaf to reflect Botticelli’s work for example in ‘The Birth of Venus’. Venus steps of her gilded shell to be showered by roses each with a golden heart. The blush envelopes are adorned by stunning calligraphy.

The Accessories

We love meanings. The flowers depicted in the painting are not just pretty, they also have special meanings: legend has it that roses blossomed for the first time after Venus’ birth. So the handcrafted ring with golden petals, created by My Golden Age Lab, was so special for this shoot. Even the choice of material was pondered: Botticelli’s flowers were often outlined in gold, an element that pervades all the jewels as well as the stationary. Pearls in Botticelli’s paintings are thought to signify purity, so a pearl lays in the centre of the gold floral ring. The Bella Belle Shoes were fit for Venus herself with their stunning floral details in lace.