ORIGINAL TUSCAN WEDDING : Elizabeth's Wedding

A Wedding Planner's Wedding!

I can't count how many times I've heard "Wow, with you being a wedding planner, your wedding is going to be perfect...amazing...at the best venue in Tuscany".

Were they all right? Well, yes...and no..honestly over the past 12 years since we founded Original Tuscan Wedding, we have seen so many lovely weddings because the couples were happy with what they chose and just to be on holiday celebrating their big day with friends and family.

We thought we would have seen gowns over the years that we would not like. But we really didn't because when a bride loves her gown and the way she feels that special day! She glows and you are happy to see that moment.

I thought I wanted a colorful dress. Something unusual but the museum setting made me want a classic, glam gown.

Both my husband and I were sure about the colors. We wanted happy oranges, pretty bright pinks and accents of sunny yellow. We wanted the flowers to show off our happiness!

The ceremony venues vary from gloriously form to shappy chic.

Churches, villa gardens, town halls....
What to choose? Well, to start, we chose October 1st as a wedding date so we wanted to be sure to love the interior rooms. We love art so SIENA stood out since you can get married in the museum right in the famous Piazza del Campo square.

The soft pinks, oranges, golds filled the corners of all the frescos on the walls. The rooms have a formal, romantic feel that just felt right for us.

I had to have a nice long aisle to walk down with my 15 year old son!

The emotions were high. It was so wonderful for us and our families and friends who came from Florence, Salerno, Abruzzo, California, Washington, Oregon and Iowa.

Oh my gosh...we are really married!

It felt like the walls...the frescos...the paintings...were all glowing with happiness for us!

We worked on little details - making fun wands with bells and orange, ivory and pink ribbons to wave outside the palace, but the wet weather forced us inside.

No matter - it was still a great moment!

Come rain, come shine!

After hundreds of weddings with us getting ready for "Plan B" for other couples, we of course had ours set up.

Surprisingly though our OTW clients have hardly ever had to put into action their Plan B, but WE did.

Sigh...thank goodness Siena is beautiful in every season.

I thought I would have had a stand-out favorite venue for the recepion, but even that was not true.

Tuscany is so beautiful. It is filled with castles, villas, farmhouses, wineries and all of them have their charm and specific qualities.

Considering the size of our group, the season, our wanting to sleep at the venue with overseas guests and our love for elegant but relaxed country style....one venue won out for us: Villa Dievole. It is just North of Siena in the Chianti hills.

The villa sparkled!

We danced around the puddles where our cocktail hour should have been while guests were jumping at the fantastic aperitivo food down in the historical cellar.

Violin & Cello played. Candles glowed.

We had Siena Ricciarello cookies and thank you cards as favors . Our table numbers were hand-painted ceramic tiles with the Siena "contrada" symbols. Our fab florist put out shabby chic candlesticks with happy flower-filled bases.