Cause let’s face it, it was a bit of destination wedding for American Meghan Markle who we watched do what a lot of destination wedding brides do: fly in their family and friends from a country far, far, away, fuse together the bride and groom’s cultural heritage and traditions and embrace the local culture.

So our top 5 destination wedding ideas from Harry and Meghan’s Royal Wedding are:

Destination Wedding Ideas Number 1: Simple Wedding Dress.

Or should we say dresses. 5 meter veil aside, (although we loved the symbolism of the embroidered flora from the 53 commonwealth countries) both of Meghan’s dresses were simple, fresh and classic. Meghan’s ceremony dress, designed by Clare Waight Keller of Parisian label Givenchy and her reception dress, by British designer Stella McCartney, were both pared down and relaxed – just perfect for a destination wedding. Think more luggage space, less time in front of the steamer and freedom of movement to explore the exotic location for your photos and most importantly to kick off your shoes to partay.

Photo credit: Glamour Magazine 

Photo credit: Hello Magazine

Destination Wedding Ideas Number 2: Incognito Cake Stands.

Allow us to drool at the cake for a moment please. Thanks. We just love, love, love the clean, fresh, semplicità of this cake. According to our Italian bakers it’s an easy cake to make and there’s even this nifty behind the scenes video on how it was put together but we’ll leave the baking to the experts.

Instead, what about the presentation? Of course, genius! Why should tiers sit squishy on top of one another when they can all have their own little perch of space to breathe and swing their arms around in joy and say: “look at me, ain’t I sweet!” We love this deconstructed approach to the traditional tiered cake, which is in fact a British design from the late 1700s inspired by the spire of St Bride’s church in London.

But enough of our geeky wedding history facts, what we love best about the cake is not the clean exterior, the deconstructed tiers or the glorious ruffled peonies (but how heavenly are they?) it is the wizardry of re-purposing the pedestal vases as cake stands that makes us gawk in holy moliness. Just when we thought we couldn’t get enough of metallic pedestal vases out they come masquerading as cake stands – you cheeky little vases, we see what you’re doing and we love it!

Photo credit: Hello Magazine

Destination Wedding Ideas Number 3: Going Han Solo.

It takes a bucket load of courage with a very big straw for a bride to walk down the aisle by herself. And Meghan did it with the eyes of the world watching. Thanks to this gutsy young lass, now brides around the world will find it easier to do the same.

Today, with nuclear families being less common, we often see brides and grooms juggle the emotions and expectations of split family dynamics when planning their big day. As a result, the tradition of the bride’s father walking her down the aisle and giving her away is becoming more and more outdated. Going solo is a diplomatic solution for many brides who would prefer to forego this tradition, a tradition that derives from, fact alert: ancient times of arranged marriages. Going solo instead brings the focus back to the bride and groom. So thank you Meghan for gifting us with a get out of jail free card for all couples who want to break away from tradition.

Photo credit: Andrew Matthews in the Times

Destination Wedding Ideas Number 4: Posey got back.

A pocket full of posies… or a bouquet full… whatever your poison, Harry and Meghan have bought posies back! Meghan’s discrete posey embraced the current wildflower bouquet trend and included white forget-me-nots, sweet peas, lily of the valley, astilbe, jasmine astrantia and a sprig of myrtle to symbolise love.

Posies, most easily described as a small bouquet of scented flowers or herbs, are an English invention, yes, fact alert on its way: popular in Harry’s great, great, Grandmother Victoria’s era. The posey, also known as a nosegay or tussie mussie was popular in the early 1800s, when bathing opportunities were limited, so were carried to mask odours.

However, according to Hello Magazine, Buckingham Palace has 74 bathrooms, so we imagine Meghan’s bouquet choice was less to do with fragrance and more to do with taste. Or Harry’s taste to be more exact, cause here’s the real humdinger of the bouquet, Harry apparently picked the flowers himself!

This is a first! We are yet to have a groom pick the bouquet for his bride and we are hedging our bets on this becoming a top bridal trend. And why wouldn’t it be? It’s a clever way of multi-purposing the bouquet: “tadaa! Here’s your bouquet, but not just any old bouquet, it’s a bouquet with benefits: a wonderful gift, a super special gesture of love from your husband-to-be.”

So challenge to you all you up and coming grooms: Have you got what it takes to pick the bouquet of your bride’s dreams?

Photo credit: Jane Barlow – WPA Pool Getty Images in Glamour Magazine

Destination Wedding Ideas Number 5: Marry a Redhead.

(no, just kidding, though according to National Geographic redheads are said to be an endangered breed that could be extinct in the next 100 years, so not such a bad idea, after all). Anyway, let’s try that again…

Destination Wedding Ideas Number 5: Electric Wedding Car.

Our final O moment from Harry and Meghan’s royal wedding was when the couple left Windsor Castle in a Jaguar E Type Concept Zero. Yes, it was an iconic English automobile and yes, it was a little strange that the steering wheel was on the left hand side, more strange for Harry than Meghan of course, so perhaps it was a symbolic fusion of England and America, but the most trend forecasting joy was that the car was zero-emissions and battery-electric powered.

So for your destination wedding in Italy how about arriving in an electric Vespa, Ape or mini Fiat 500, or if you want to get to the chapel on time you may like to consider a Lamborghini, Maserati, Alfa Romeo or our nonno’s favourite, the Ferrari? If there’s one thing Italians do well it’s cars, well, that is, aside from destination weddings, food, wine, fashion… ow, the list of what Italian do well is actually endless, so we’ll stop now and leave you to dream about the destination wedding ideas from the Royal Wedding. Sweet dreams!

Photo credit: Getty Images from Town and Country Magazine

Written by Melina Nicholson

The post Top 5 Destination Wedding Ideas from Harry and Meghan’s Royal Wedding appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

In 2013, Kelly, from one side of the Atlantic met Ross, from the other side, you’ll never guess where? Why, way down in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Lord of the Rings territory, New Zealand, of course. 

With a wee bit of love dust at play, they’d booked onto the same GAdventures tour of the South Island. On their initial meeting they instantly clicked and added First Date to Week One of the tour’s itinerary.

And for their proposal? Was it Belgium? I hear you guess, cause you’re getting the picture that this international couple love to travel and travel to love.

Yes, Belgium it was. Bruges to be exact – a surprise trip that Ross had gifted Kelly for Valentine’s Day – that’s one mighty Valentine’s gift – the closest we’ve ever got was a box of Belgian Godiva chocolates – and they were pretty delish.

But it gets better, Ross found the oldest bridge in Bruges and that evening, when the moment was just right, he presented Kelly with his mother’s antique engagement ring.

She said yes, obviously. We would too. And then the next day, surprise ontop of surprise, Ross organised a trip to Antwerp, the diamond center of the world, so Kelly could pick out her own ring and watch it being made, all while sipping champagne, really rather dreamy indeed.  

So for their real wedding abroad Kelly and Ross were keen to share their love of travel with those nearest and dearest so the Cinque Terre, which offers five lands with five distinct characters to explore, seemed perfect.

With family a priority for these two, their wedding also continued the spirit of the engagement ring with Kelly wearing a wedding dress that had been worn by three generations of women in her family. In addition, a moment of romantic nostalgia was created through displaying wedding photos of their ancestors.

It reminded us that it doesn’t matter what time or what place or you are from, love is love and once it takes hold all you need to do is hold on and enjoy the journey, wherever in the world it takes you, just like Kelly and Ross.

Here Kelly and Ross share their travel guide to love and their real wedding abroad in the Cinque Terre

1. Why a real wedding abroad? We chose a destination wedding because Ross is from Wales, and I am from the United States. We thought it was fair that everyone should have to travel to keep our guest list from being one sided. Plus we both love traveling- so I don’t think anyone was surprised we picked a destination wedding!
2. Why the Cinque Terre in Italy? We knew we wanted to get married in Italy, but we had actually never heard of the Cinque Terre! It was on a list of places that allowed destination weddings (I’m sorry, I can’t remember the actual list!), and it was actually the very first venue we looked at. We saw one photo & that was it. Easiest decision we had to make throughout the whole wedding process. We fell in love with the Cinque Terre- specifically Vernazza, through photos & seeing it in person only confirmed we had made the right decision. 
3. How was the planning process? We found the wedding process to be very easy. We are both low maintenance and don’t like too many choices so the piccolo wedding was perfect for us. Plus I was in the process of moving to the UK, so it was nice how relaxed the whole wedding process was in the midst of all the other stress in our lives. Sarah kept in touch and sent reminders when we were close to specific deadlines which was helpful. 
4. Best part of your day? For me (Kelly), the best part was the service Matteo prepared. He had Ross and I fill out questionnaires months before the wedding but I had no idea how Ross had answered the questions. I think while hearing his answers, looking out over the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen (while in amazing weather that was a complete fluke), surrounded by friends and family, I was just so happy. It was exactly how I wanted to feel on my wedding day. For me (Ross), the best part of the day was watching Kelly walk down the aisle towards me. 
5. Top Tip for future Cinque Terre Wedding Brides and Grooms? Top tip for brides and grooms is to just relax and enjoy the process! Some things will be out of your control but in the Cinque Terre your wedding is already a fairytale 🙂

Written by Melina Nicholson

Photos by Pure Wedding Photography

The post Real wedding abroad: 5 essential tips for your destination wedding appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

The International Academy of Wedding and Event Planning is a global leader in the area of wedding and event planning, styling and design education. Operating in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, USA and the United Arab Emirates it also publishes the Wedding Business Magazine – one of our favourite wedding planning tools here in the Cinque Terre Wedding office in Italy.

As members of the Academy we get all the inside tips and tricks of the trade along with finding out the latest wedding styles and trends before they’ve even hit the aisles!

The International Academy is also one of the largest educators in the wedding industry holding the bar way up high to encourage exceptional quality, standards and qualifications that are recognised internationally for those looking to or already working in the wedding industry.

It’s a big part of the movement to certify wedding professionals quashing the idea that just anyone can be a wedding planner. This may have been the case in the past when weddings were often paid for by parents and the more private and intimate celebrations were regularly planned by family members. However today couples are more likely to be paying for their own wedding, footing an average bill of €35,000 US, according to international wedding blog the Knot – an amount not to be sneezed at. On top of that time-pressed couples face the task of coordinating an average of 15 different suppliers to execute their day so it makes sense to call in a professional wedding planner to take care of it all and make sure they get the best out of their investment.

As a big advocate for up skilling we like to dive in at every opportunity to submerge ourselves more and more in the beautiful world of destination wedding planning and styling. So our latest qualification will be the Certificate in Event Design which we hope to share news of at the end of the year. Big thanks to tutor Zoe McKeown and the Academy’s CEO Kylie Carlson. 

To read the full article by Martha Tobyn on destination wedding planning at Cinque Terre Wedding see the International Academy of Wedding and Event Planning here.

Written by Melina Nicholson

Photo above by Pure Wedding Photography.

The post Why we love destination wedding planning: Wedding Academy story out now appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

Photo credit: Channel Ten

Travelling all the way from Australia to the Cinque Terre in Italy, James was the brilliant Best Man for the stunning bride and groom, Wylie and David, clever Aussie legal eagles who chose Monterosso to celebrate their destination wedding in Italy.

Photo credit: Julian Kanz

Photo credit: Julian Kanz

Photo credit:  Julian Kanz

Today, financial adviser, James is a Bachelorette Australia favourite, scoring roses from Sophie for winning the “manliness” competition, which involved a range of manly man tests including maintaining the plank position for a very…very… long time, shooting hoops, changing tyres, building a flat pack wardrobe and starting a fire with two sticks. James conquered all – the Wolf of Wall Street meets MacGyver – doesn’t get much more manly than that.

When James originally signed up for the reality show he had no idea that celebrity Sophie, who is best know for her roles in Date Movie, Entourage and the pop band Bardot, would be the Bachelorette. But not one to shy away from extraordinary adventures, James jumped right in.

In fact, it’s his big open hearted charm and can’t help but grin along smile that is winning Sophie’s heart along with the hearts of the nation. Sophie had the musicially challenged James, busking with her in the heart of Sydney’s central business district and on another occassion dressing up as the not so flattering Robin Hood’s Friar Tuck. And James took all in his stride, giving it his all.

Photo Credit: James’ Instagram

Photo Credit: James’ Instagram

It’s no suprise really. When James was David’s Best Man at his destination wedding in the Cinque Terre Italy he donned fancy dress as part of the Bachelor Party, which saw the group of friends visit one pub in each of the five lands of the Cinque Terre dressed as the cast from Mario Brothers – a huge hit with the local people of the villages.

On wishing James all the best luck for the Bachelorette Australia competition from all of us here in the Cinque Terre in Italy, James responded to Cinque Terre Wedding saying,

“Thanks guys. Congrats on throwing the best wedding I’ve ever been to!”

Well, well. If that isn’t a booming endorsement we don’t know what is! Thanks so much James! You know where to come for a destination wedding in Italy if wedding bells start a’ringing!

Photo Credit: James’ Instagram

You can find out more about James as a Cinque Terre Wedding Best Man in the real wedding features of Wylie and David’s wedding that were published in Wedding Chicks and La Bride.

All the best Sophie and James!

Written by Melina Nicholson

The post The Bachelorette Australia stars Cinque Terre Wedding Best Man appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

When rushing around in the big city of Milano, to do list in one hand, new vases for the Cinque Terre Wedding Style Salon in the other, Gucci’s window display in Rinascente, Milano’s major department store, stopped us in our pavement pounding tracks and transported us into another world.

The overall effect is ever so ethereal, playful and colourful! We see a move from the white and pale pastel palette to one that is bursting with colour in an ever so delicate and intricate manner. It makes us want to don a long floral print cotton dress, hike it up at the knees and run through the wild meadow that seems to have been touched by the very own light strokes of Monet. Yep, that’s the ticket.

Speaking of Monet and his brush strokes, let’s talk colours and the Gucci colour inspiration for wedding flower design in 2018. We see light colours like white lead, cadmium yellow, vermilion, madder, viola, chrome green and patrician purple. So many colours doing their own thing but coming together to create an intense explosion of beauty – a setting that would be magical for any destination wedding in Italy.

And as destination wedding planners in Italy, we couldn’t stop there. Our brains were racing as we ran through the inventory of flower types (all faux flowers for the display of course) but in our minds they were real and we were smelling the blooms. There were 11 types in total that had us thinking about bridal and bridesmaids bouquets, boutonnieres and table centerpieces while saying, “I do”, “I do”, “I do”:  Japanese Cherry Blossoms, Muscari, Stock Harmony,  Feather Reed Grass, Arctic Daisies, Wisteria, Iris and lots of long grass are all the prominent flowers in this wanderlust land.

And while it’s a wild setting don’t miss the fact that it is also all very linear, lots of vertical flowers in parallel lines, up and down, tall, narrow and delicate.

While the tall vertical flowers are front and center in the window decoration the Gucci bloom campaign has not forgotten the full bodied beauty blooms. You’ll find the dahlias among the long grass and then there is the floral fabric designs: the tulip dress, the ranunculus dress and the peony dress.

You can probably tell we are in wedding flower design heaven with Gucci’s Bloom campaign – a feast for the wedding planner’s eyes. So we couldn’t resist pulling together 2 inspiration boards of 2018 wedding flowers based on the Gucci trend.

Inspiration Board for Gucci Bloom Campaign

Photo credit: Gucci, Cinque Terre Wedding, Monet

Inspiration Board for 2018 Wedding Flowers inspired by Gucci

Photo credit (clockwise): Style Me Pretty, Erich McVey Photography , Katie Kett Photography,  Levi Stolove Photography,  Ether and Smith Photography,  Style Me Pretty, Melani Lust Photography, Style Me Pretty,   Cat Hepple Photography

As for the smell of the fragrance… we spent so much time window gawking outside the shop we forgot to enter and test the perfume. Ow well, another excuse to head back down and get lost in the Gucci Bloom garden of 2018 wedding flowers tomorrow!

You’ll find many of these 2018 wedding flowers and more in the Cinque Terre Wedding Style Salon for destination weddings in the Cinque Terre. To find out more contact us here.

Written by Melina Nicholson

The post 2018 wedding flowers: 11 ideas found in Gucci Bloom campaign appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

Smashing the Glass has been rated one of the UK’s top 50 wedding bloggers and its owner, Karen Cinnamon, was recently voted one of the top forty most influential people under 40 by Jewish News, so needless to say the team at Smashing the Glass know a knock out destination wedding in Italy when they see it.

Maggie and Ben first contacted us to be their wedding planners in Italy back in the beginning of 2016 and their vision was clear: they loved the natural spirit of the Cinque Terre in Italy for their Jewish destination wedding and at the top of their wish list was peonies for Maggie and scampi crudo (raw langoustine) for Ben. And all three were in abundance for this beautiful warm-hearted couple who also celebrated their day with special Jewish interfaith traditions and features, like the Chuppah (pronounced hoopah – took us a while to get that one right :)) and the Challah bread, made right here in Italy.

You can enjoy Maggie and Ben’s Jewish destination wedding in Smashing the Glass here, which features their trending coral and gold colour palette and stunning peonies that we’d quite like to surround ourselves with forever.

And look our for our signature Cinque Terre rustic-chic wedding design features of lemons and olive branches featuring throughout.

Hats off to photographer Facibene Fotografia and videographer SBros. And thanks again to the Smash the Glass team for featuring Maggie and Ben’s Jewish destination wedding in the Cinque Terre – jaw-dropping… absolutely!

For more information on a Jewish wedding in the Cinque Terre in Italy contact us here.

And watch out for our Real Wedding feature: 5 lands, 5 tips and 5 and a bit tips, on Maggie and Ben’s Jewish destination wedding coming soon.

Written by Melina Nicholson

The post How to get your Jewish destination wedding in Smashing the Glass appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

We know that from the 1300s to the start of the 1900s there was 500 years of trend setting fabulousness influencing flower design around the globe.

The Baroque period is the second era we explore as part of our five part series on the Five European Influences on Modern Day Flora Design. And in part 1 here we explored the first major historical era of this period: the Renaissance and also revealed our modern day take on this magnificant bygone age.

So now let’s dive back into the Baroque period, and be equally blown away by all the inspiration we can use today to create a Baroque wedding in the Cinque Terre, Italy.

Blending into the end of the Renaissance, the period of Baroque ran from around 1600 to 1750. It built onto the Renaissance period, exagerating it with more ornamental decorations. So for flower design, think about adding details like shells, birds nests and lots of swirling leaf details. Flower design was big, tall and deep and bold in colour with oval and symetrical arrangements ruling the time. Greenery was more plentiful too as was metallics for vases. Think dark, moody opulence and drama, lots of drama.

So for a step back into the past think of the Dutch, Flemish and Belgian greats that dominated this period: the Dutch, Ast and his Flowers in a Vase with Shells and Insect, Rebrandt’s Saskia van Uylenburgh as Flora, goddess of spring and flowers, and Mignon for his Vase of Flowers, along with the Veerendael and his Flowers in a Glass Vase, Butterfly and Beetle on a Stone Ledge.

For the who’s who of the Baroque world think English Queen Anne and Belgian Anthony van Dyck.

So if you are thinking of having a destination wedding in Europe, and in particular Italy, here are 7 inspirational images from that time to inspire a Baroque wedding:

Photo credits (clockwise):Balthasar /  Veerendael   / Luca Giordano / Queen Anne / Mignon / Rembrant / Antony Van Dyck

For our modern twist on the Baroque period we take the deep reds, our big buds and all that drama for a destination wedding here in the Cinque Terre. So here are 8 more reasons to  love a Baroque wedding:

Photo credits (clockwise): Tulle and Chantilly Centerpiece / Strictly Weddings Bouquet, Pinterest Centerpiece / Tulle and Chantilly Centerpiece / Style Me Pretty Floral Crown / Style Me Pretty Bouquet   / House of Felliot Centerpiece /Magnolia Rouge Bouquet /  Elegant Wedding Invites Bouquet

To explore the next European Influence on Mondern Day Flora Design enjoy part 3: the pretty Rococo era here. 

To celebrate your Baroque Wedding here on the Cinque Terre of Italy contact us here.

Written by Melina Nicholson

The post 15 reasons to love a baroque wedding: flower design to inspire appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

And why wouldn’t they? Wylie and David are absolutely gorgeous and their wedding wooed all involved so we are thrilled that it continues to inspire through the pages of international wedding blogs.

La Bride is an Australia-based multi-lingual wedding blog that showcases the latest bridal inspiration and imaging around the world in English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese. That means you can read about the Italian Riviera wedding of Wylie and David in English here or in Vietnamese here – rather clever little wedding pros in the land Down Under, we think.

La Bride wedding blog is a great wedding resource to tap into for inspiration on your up and coming Italian Riviera wedding. Created in 2013, the wedding blog La Bride focuses on building a strong bridge to connect people across a variety of ethnicities in the wedding world – something we know all about here at Cinque Terre Wedding with our couples coming from all over the globe to marry here in Italy.

And if you are interested in having the best of the wedding word at your fingertips they also feature a nifty “Best of…” feature where they hold online voting polls to discover things like: the best wedding dress of the year – where you’ll find the likes of wedding giants including Vera Wang and Mon Cheri taking out the titles.

And with over 20,000 facebook followers, Aussie couple, Wylie and David are now inspiring couples all over the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

So enjoy reading through the moment to moment commentary of the couple’s destination wedding in Monterosso, written by their photographer, the talented Julian Kanz.

And stay tuned for our real wedding feature on the Cinque Terre Wedding blog when the couple share their 5 tips and 5 and a bit pics to reveal what it was like for two Aussies to plan a wedding in Italy while living in London – international romance at its best!

Written by Melina Nicholson

The post See what La Bride says about this top Italian Riviera wedding appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

Well, for Mae and Nhan, time did just that, it stopped, while they declared their vows to each other and the spine-tingling voice of the village priest, Don Giovanni, rang out around the ancient stone walls of the church, singing blessings to the couple.

For Mae and Nhan their church wedding in the Cinque Terre was an unforgettable moment not just for them but also for friends and family who had come to the region from all over the world. The VIPs being their three beautiful children.

Mae and Nhan’s love story started in Dubai as ex-pats, Mae heralding from the Phillipines and Nhan from France. It is a very special thing when love catches a couple living away from everything they know. Mae and Nhan captured this love each month by creating photo cubes to mark each month anniversary. When they reached their tenth month together Nhan stringed all their past cubes to the tenth cube, a photo of him pointing to a sign “Will you marry me?” And inside the tenth cube? A beautiful engagement ring that Mae excepted with pure joy.

The joy continued from Dubai to the Cinque Terre for this sophisticated and gracious couple whose big hearts always had their children and guests at front of mind. It was the first time both sides of the family would be in the same place at the same time so we also helped the couple organise the baptism of their youngest child, 5 month old, Ava, and a five day North Italy Tour for them and their guests.

Enjoy hearing about how they planned their church wedding in the Cinque Terre from Dubai, with three young children including a beautiful newborn through the Cinque Terre Wedding Real Wedding feature story: five lands, five tips and five and a bit pics taken by Serena Cevenini. And there’s also five minutes of wedding bliss below and their video by Angelo La Torre which you can watch here.

And so stunning was their wedding that international wedding blog Junebug Weddings published a real wedding special of the couple which you can see here.

Why a destination wedding?

As our family members and friends are all around the world, we thought it would be nice to incorporate a holiday into the event with everyone.

Why the Cinque Terre in Italy?

It’s picturesque, romantic and a very laid back location. It is a place where you can have fun and relax and the food is amazing!

How was the planning process?

There was a lot of coordination to be made as we were living in Dubai UAE. Melina has been outstanding in her work to put everything in place, even the last minute requests!

Best part of your day?

The best part was that somehow our wedding became a community event and it looked like we were the stars of Vernazza and Monterosso for the day as everyone was cheering and congratulating us.

Top Tip for future Cinque Terre Wedding Brides and Grooms?

Be open minded and flexible to ideas other than the stuff that you have been thinking of because sometimes other concepts that will be presented to you will be better for your special day!

To find out more about planning a church wedding in the Cinque Terre contact us here.

Written by Melina Nicholson

The post How to plan a church wedding in the Cinque Terre: 5 real wedding tips appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

Today, 5 European historical eras: Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Georgian and Victorian continue to play a major role in influencing trends in styling flowers for the modern wedding.

So we’ve created a five part series of Wedding Flower Inspiration Boards on these super eras and five more Wedding Flower Inspiration Boards with our modern day take on them, so you can fuse the past with the future in your destination wedding design.

So let’s dive back into the past, so we can jetset into the future to discover wedding floral designs that will inspire forever.

Renaissance: The Renaissance era spans the longest of the five periods from the 1300s – 1700s. While in English we use the french word “Renaissance” we really should be using the Italian word “Rinascimento”, afterall Italy is where it all began! Meaning “rebirth”, this period saw a return to the teachings of art, architecture, literature, science and philosophy from Ancient Greece and Rome and a new spin on these learnings. So there is a great fusion between ancient history and the modern age in this period. It was also a period which saw people break away from the social and cultural moulds of society and create new and inventive ideas that had ripple effects across the globe.

To take you back, think of the Italians Botticelli and his Primavera and Caravaggio and his Basket of Fruit. If you are lucky like us, and live in the Cinque Terre, you can pop down the road to Florence and see Botticelli and Caravaggio’s work in the flesh – face-splitting smile across our dials. With the Italians ruling this period we can’t help but love it ourselves and are constantly looking to this period for inspiration in our wedding flower designs for destination weddings here in the Cinque Terre.

But if you are a bit further north there’s also Renaissance inspiration around you. How about the Dutch, Bosschaert and his Flowers in a Window, the Flemish, Brueghel and his Bouquet, ow, or of course, the English, William Shakespeare and his Romeo and Juliette. Other giants of this period include the English, Queen Elizabeth, the Spanish, Queen Isabella and back here in Italy, Catherine de Medici.

This was a time of wedding flowers like lotus, jasmine, iris, tulip, rose, hyacinth and lilac along with foilage, fruit and vegetables often used for decoration in urns, vases, compotes and woven baskets.

Renaissance Inspiration Board for Wedding Flower Design

Photo credits (clockwise): Ambrosius Bosschaert Flowers in a Window / Caravaggio Basket of Fruit / Queen Elizabeth / Romeo and Juliet Book Cover / Queen Isabella di Castiglia / Botticelli Prima Vera photo by Cinque Terre Wedding / Jan Brueghel Bouquet

Modern Renaissance Inspiration Board for Wedding Flower Design

Photo credits (clockwise): Style Me Pretty Bouquet / Style Me Pretty Table Centerpiece /  Pinterest Centerpiece / Style Me Pretty Fireplace / Martha Stewart Floral and Fruit Centerpiece / Style Me Pretty Berries in Minature Goblet / Pinterets Floral and Fruit Centerpiece / Oncewed.com bouquet

To start planning your Renaissance inspired destination wedding in the Cinque Terre Italy contact us here.

If your style is more Baroque, enjoy our modern day take on a Baroque wedding in part 2 of the series here.

Or if your ideal wedding style is full of pastel prettiness, perhaps the Rococo era is more your style. Find out more about this era is part 3 of the seriers here.

Written by Melina Nicholson

The post 5 European Influences on Modern Day Wedding Flower Design – Renaissance appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.