Adding An Italian Touch to Your Wedding Day

Many choose a destination wedding in Italy for the country’s natural beauty and gorgeous Mediterranean climate. With a wedding somewhere as beautiful as Cinque Terre, it would be a mistake to not include the local beauty into your ceremony. There are many ways to do this, be it in your food, entertainment, or decor.

Designing your wedding decor is a great opportunity to take advantage of all that Italy has to offer. With hundreds of plant and fruit species only found in the Mediterranean, your options are limitless. When working with your wedding planner and florist, consider including some of the local flower and fruit species available in Cinque Terre.

Tips for Using Fruit in Weddings with Floral Arrangements

Using fruit (and vegetables) in bouquets requires some pre-planning and decision-making prior to arranging. Check out some of our Pro Tips for using produce in floral arrangements so you can start off on the right foot!

• If you’re using fruit in a handheld bouquet, like a bridal bouquet, make sure you secure the fruit before you begin to walk around with it.
• Try to pick fruits that still have a stem so you can use floral wire or floral tape to secure it to the stems in your bouquet.
• Larger fruits, like pomegranates, sit better towards the center of your bouquet where they’re less likely to tip over and fall out.
• The best way to keep your arrangement together is to keep your bouquet upright!
• If you are using fruit in a bridal bouquet, we do not recommend using it for your bouquet toss (unless you have full confidence that someone will catch it and it won’t land on the floor)! Use an alternative toss-bouquet instead to save your beautiful fruit bouquet from any potential damage.
• Fruits that grow on vines, like grapes and blackberries, easily add depth to any spot in your arrangement. The vines also make it easier to tie to your bouquet. The abundance of fruit can also add easy height or width to your bouquet depending on your placement.
• Keep in mind that fruits produce ethylene gas. This gas speeds up the ripening process for other produce and can accelerate the blooming process for flowers, so take this into account when incorporating fruit into your arrangements and bouquets.

Now that you have a few tips and tricks up your sleeve, you can take a look at different bouquets to get an idea about what you’d like to create!

Floral Fruit Arrangement Inspiration

Photo courtesy of Bowtie & Bell

Kumquats

This autumn-inspired bouquet incorporates warm colors and tiny fruit to create a showstopping arrangement. The orange and red kumquats complement the rich colors of the flowers while adding a cheery feel to the overall display.

• Kumquat – These rounded are the perfect choice if you’re looking for smaller fruit accents instead of a large statement piece. The fruit casually hang down and out of the way of their floral neighbors.
• Rose – The light pink roses help round out the rich color palette for this bouquet and set the mood for this fall-themed arrangement.
• Dahlia – Full-bodied dahlias add texture to this highly contrasting arrangement. These big blooms accompany the roses as beautiful statement flowers.

Photo courtesy of Esther Sun Photography

Brunia Berries

Brunia berries are an easy way to pull a bouquet together without adding too much texture or weight to your arrangement. This bouquet thoughtfully places the smooth berries amongst the posh flowers and other protruding greenery for a delicate contrast. The light orange roses tie the arrangement together with their beautiful petals and soft color.

• Brunia Berries – These decorative berries are popular choices for winter bouquets and arrangements. Silver brunia are especially known for their soft color and effortless beauty.
• Anemone – The anemone flowers gently poke out of this bouquet to complement the beautiful roses and protruding foliage. Their distinguishable dark centers and soft petals make these eye-catching flowers popular choices for wedding bouquets.
• Rose – These light orange roses add the right touch of elegance to this lush bouquet. The big blooms of the roses protrude in the right spots to contrast the wild greenery in the bouquet.

Blueberries

Berries, succulents and voluminous blooms create a gorgeous arrangement with subtle touches of color. The tiny berries contrast the big florals and vibrant greenery in the bouquet to give a balanced and graceful look.

• Blueberry – Tiny blueberries add a whimsical touch to any floral bouquet. Keep these berries on the branch to easily place in any part of the arrangement.
• Succulent – Light-colored succulents are another unique greenery choice that instantly elevates your bouquets look and adds unique texture to the overall arrangement.
• Dahlia – The single white dahlia in this bouquet catches the eye and delicately contrasts the overall blue color palette in this arrangement. This white flower draws the eye and creates a beautiful center point for this bouquet.

Bouquet photo courtesy of Julian Kanz from Wylie and David’s wedding.

Olives

Olive trees are ubiquitous Mediterranean landscape and their branches have long been an global symbol of peace. However, their long, narrow leaves dotted in green or purple fruit can make a great addition to floral arrangements. Olive branches can be used as filler to add a subtle Mediterranean feel to your bouquet, or they can act as star of the show. Their long, willowy branches tend to create dramatic and creative shapes. Consider using flowering branches among other local blooms to add a nuanced texture to the bouquet.

Table photo courtesy of Facibeni from Andrea and Drew’s wedding.

Lemons

Lemons are a staple of Italian culture and cuisine and can be found as the key flavor in shaved ice, limoncello, lemonade, and gelato. They can also make welcome guests in any brightly colored floral arrangement.

Lemons look best among bright green, white, or blue arrangements. Sliced or whole, they serve as an excellent surprise to guests! Many florists also enjoy the look of filling up a clear glass vase with sliced lemons. The best part about using lemons in floral arrangements is that they are very acidic and will not brown leading up to your big day.

Table centerpiece photo courtesy of Ed Peers from Dominique and Rick’s wedding.

Grapes

Another local fruit perfect for wedding bouquets are grapes. Italy’s Mediterranean climate is home to hundreds of sprawling vineyards that you can take advantage of. Grapes are best included in floral arrangement near the bottom, cascading over the edge of the vase.

The most popular type of grape planted in Italy are sangiovese grapes, used to make red wines. If you catch them before being sent to fermentation, their dusky violet berries will provide a brilliant burst of color in your wedding bouquets. For weddings with a muted color scheme, white grapes are an excellent addition. Place some Cinque Terre grapes: the bosco, alberola or vermentino grapes, among white hydrangeas and soft green foliage for an elegant, traditional arrangement. Or contrast with some colour pop to add some rustic fun into your day.

Fruit and flowers also add a warm and elegant aspect to any gift. In addition to the examples here, you can also take ideas from old still life paintings that feature fruit and floral centerpieces. You can easily turn a regular bouquet at your dinner table into a living work of art with the right ingredients! Take your newfound fruit and floral inspiration to the next level by gifting perfectly paired berries and flowers to the favorite people in your life!

Written by guest Maddy for Cinque Terre Wedding. Maddy is nature lover who also enjoys discovering new music, exploring local restaurants, and petting every cat she sees.

The post How to use Italian Fruit in Weddings appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

Maggie and Ben are two designer aficionados from California USA. Architect Maggie has a background in designing high end luxury homes, while as an entrepreneur, Ben has one of his companies, Bulletproof Automotive, focused on making cars look better and run faster.

This couple share a fast-paced life and a furious love of travel and food. So, not surprisingly cyber cupid, Match.com, found them to be the perfect match.

Keeping true to their travelling spirit, Ben proposed to Maggie in balmy Bali where they celebrated their engagement exploring the tropical island for two whole weeks – ow, so, dreamy.

So for their interfaith Jewish wedding a destination wedding was an easy choice. Only question was where? Where could they treat their family and friends not only to one of their favorite places in the world, but also enjoy truly amazing cuisine?

Cue, the Cinque Terre, Italy.

From the moment this excited couple contacted us at Cinque Terre Wedding their vision was clear: they loved the natural spirit of the Cinque Terre and at the top of their wish list were peonies for Maggie and scampi crudo (raw langoustine) for Ben. This warm-hearted couple also had their guests interests at front of mind throughout. And all these elements were in abundance for this beautiful couple who celebrated their day with special interfaith Jewish wedding traditions and features, like having their fathers as the celebrants, the Chuppah (pronounced hoopah – took us a while to get that one right :)) and the Challah bread, made right here in Italy.

So we’ve asked Maggie and Ben to share their top 5 tips and 5 and bit favourite pics on their interfaith Jewish wedding in the Cinque Terre. Prepare to do some “O” mouth movements over the coral and gold colour palette and watch out for those stunning peonies – yes, they really were that big and beautiful.

Hats off to photographer Facibene Fotografia.

Why destination & why Cinque Terre?

During my 2003 study abroad in Florence, I discovered and fell in love with Cinque Terre. The beauty of the Cinque Terre’s colorful coastal villages held a special place in my heart, and I always knew that I would someday return. Years later, as Ben and I fell in love, I knew I wanted to share this special place of mine.

Ben and I share a deep passion for travel; over the 10 years we dated, we have shared incredible journeys all over the world. Our love of travel and adventure made it clear that an exotic destination wedding best suited us and told our story. Over years of our travels, we considered everything from cherry blossom season in Kyoto, to taking over a cruise ship in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, for our wedding. We wanted to create a special experience that was truly “us”. In the end, it was the same beauty that I originally found in Cinque Terre that captured our focus and became our special wedding destination.

With family from all over the US, we knew we were asking a lot of them to travel so far for the wedding. We also made them wait out 10 years of our relationship for this moment in marriage. We couldn’t let them down; we wanted an epic wedding adventure, and that is what we set out to create. Since we live in Venice Beach, California we couldn’t possibly manage an exceptional destination wedding without an exceptional wedding planner. Thankfully, we found Melina Nicholson of Cinque Terre Wedding. From our first introduction emails to the final dance at our wedding, Melina worked tirelessly to be sure every detail of our vision was brought to life.

We considered a number of locations in Cinque Terre, but it was the raw natural beauty of Buranco Vineyard in Monterosso that made our venue decision ultimately an easy choice. Between dancing alongside 1,000 year-old original city walls, walking through the beautiful olive trees, looking out to ocean views, and enjoying the wine from the vines running up and down the picturesque elevations of the estate, we knew that it would not only check off every wish list item we had for our family and friends to enjoy, but that it would also provide some amazing photos to look back on.

How was the planning process?

I am a self-admitted control freak, so planning a wedding 6,000 miles away mostly via email, with a few Skype calls (without ever seeing the venue in person!), was challenging for me. At the same time, I knew I had no choice but to let go a little and just trust that Melina would pull it all together. When our wedding weekend arrived, I knew we were in good hands as soon as we arrived at our Thursday evening welcome drinks/aperitivo, and things just got better from there! Melina and her team have a keen eye for design, and the ability to, with a few Pinterest photos, pull together a stunning vision. I was most concerned about the flowers, as someone who loves flowers and has dabbled in floral design as a hobby over the years. Melina did not disappoint; the flowers for our rehearsal dinner were stunning and just what I had envisioned, and the wedding flowers were over the top. In my wildest dreams, my bouquet was never as big and stunning as it ended up being! Everything, from start to finish, was an absolute dream.

Best part of your day?

It’s hard to pick my favorite part of the best day of my life! From the moment I woke up, it all felt like a dream! But if I had to pick one moment, it would probably be our First Look. After hours of getting ready, I finally slipped into my dress and shoes and walked (I may have floated?) over to the Olive Grove at Buranco, where my love was waiting. Having those first moments together to take it all in before all the excitement started was really special.

Top Tips for future CT Brides & Grooms?

During wedding planning, my best advice is to just communicate with Melina as much as you need to. If you are unsure about something, just ask, and she will put you at ease! Also, make lists early. As the wedding day got closer and everything started to come together, I was very glad I had made lists early so I already knew what needed to be done and packed. It helped make those last few weeks much smoother, as the stress level was definitely high while we finished last-minute wedding things, but also wrapped up work in preparation of being away for three weeks.

Once in Cinque Terre, everything went so fast, but it was all so beautifully orchestrated. By the time you get to Cinque Terre, most everything has already been set in motion, so my best advice is to try to relax and enjoy your time with your family and friends. It will be over in the blink of an eye, so try to take a few minutes throughout the day/weekend to pause and just take it all in!

For more information on how to celebrate a full or interfaith Jewish wedding in the Cinque Terre contact us here. 

Written by Melina Nicholson.

The post Maggie and Ben’s Interfaith Jewish Wedding in Cinque Terre appeared first on Cinque Terre Wedding.

The Rococo period is the third era we explore as part of our five part series on the Five European Influences on Modern Day Flora Design. So we’ve already bent our minds reconstructing the ancient in the Renaissance era in the first part of the series and then we experienced all the drama of the world of Baroque in the second, so now let’s soften everything up by stepping back into the Rococo period with all its french prettiness.

The 18th century Rococo period ran from 1720 to the 1760 and saw a movement from the deep and dramatic to the light and pretty. Floral bouquets started to appear on ceramics, tapestries and fabrics not just art.

Along with Marie Antoinette think of the French Drouais and his Portrait of an Elegant Lady, Nattier and his Portrait of a Woman, Called the Marquise Perrin de Cypierre and his Henriette of France as Flora, along with Fragonard’s The Swing. While just a short moment in time, its impact has been instrumental in the world of weddings – if Style Me Pretty ever needed to go undercover it could use the name Style Me Rococo – and no one would know the difference.

For Rococo wedding ideas, typical flowers of the time would have been delphiniums, blue hyacinths, white roses and pale pink hydrangeas in a compote, alabaster urn or Dresdenware.

And the great news for couples looking to celebrate a destination wedding in the Cinque Terre in Italy is that there is an abundance of delphiniums,  hyacinths, roses and hydrangeas here and we just happen to be right down the road from the home of alabaster Volterra – Rococo wedding style sorted!

So step back in time to the Rococo era through a sweet peice of inspiration here:

Photo Credit (clockwise): Marie Antoinette / Nattier / Vernon / Nattier / Drouais  / Nattier / Marie Antoinette

With its dusty pastels and prettiness, Rococo continues to play center stage in weddings today, with terms such as French Country, Provence Style and Shabby Chic without the Shabby, creating new spins on this old style. Bouquets are fuller, tighter and ow, so much more feminine – très belle!

So for a modern spin on Rococo to inspire your up and coming destination wedding in Italy here are 9 Rococo wedding ideas dipped in loveliness for you to enjoy:

Photo Credit (clockwise): Style Me Pretty Bouquet / Pinterest Centerpiece / Style Me Pretty Centerpiece / Style Me Pretty Centerpiece /  Weddbook Centerpiece / Style Me Pretty Centerpiece / Style Me Pretty Shoe Florals / Style Me Pretty Bouquet / Style Me Pretty Bouquet

For more historic inspiration for your wedding style check out our take on the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

And see these eras played out in our real wedding flower designs here.

To celebrate your Rococo Wedding here in the Cinque Terre of Italy contact us here.

Written by Melina Nicholson

The post 9 Rococo Wedding Ideas for your Destination Wedding in Italy 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.