A Dreamy & Romantic Destination Wedding in Florence: Emily & Nick

We wanted our wedding day to be ROMANTIC! Our style for the big day was quite formal, intimate and elegant. We found a lot of inspiration and ideas from Pinterest, Vogue Brides magazines, and Instagram. My mum was a huge help throughout the wedding and was constantly helping with decor ideas and styling for the big day.

Words by Emily. Images by Nora Photography.

My mum actually found our wedding venue on Instagram and sent it to both Nick and I. We absolutely loved the look of the venue but kept looking in Australia as we didn’t think a destination wedding would be something we would be able to plan in a short amount of time! Whilst we kept looking in Australia, nothing compared to the venue in Florence. We knew that after countless venue searching that we had to go with Florence! Nick and I had never been to Europe, let alone Florence so it was a big deal for us to choose a country and venue we had never seen! We were definitely not disappointed, both Florence itself and the venue was even better than photos, it was everything we expected and more! With both of us working in aviation it also seemed fitting that we would choose somewhere that involved travelling! We loved the look of the venue and Florence is such a magical and romantic city so it fit really well with what we were wanting for our wedding day.

My wedding gown was purchased from Raffaele Ciuca in Armadale. I envisioned myself wearing something quite fitted and classical (something Audrey Hepburn like!) However, I chose a dress completely opposite to what I thought I wanted. As soon as I tried the dress on my mum, dad, sister and mother in law cried… so I knew that was the one! I loved the detail and elegant sleeves of the dress. My mum actually said to me “Emily, this is the dress! Nick thinks of you as his Princess and that’s exactly what you look like” I think she was right, I absolutely felt like a princess on the day!

Our wedding theme was quite formal and elegant so we chose natural greenery with white flowers. We sent photos of flowers and arrangements to our florist and left it up to her on which flowers would be in season in Italy and which would go best with the arrangement and theme we had. We had white roses and hydrangeas placed into an arch for our ceremony. We also had hydrangeas placed on the aisle seats and white roses placed along the aisle and for guests to throw at the conclusion of the ceremony. For the dinner reception, we had a long green and white wreath placed in the centre of the table with natural greenery, white roses and hydrangeas.

We had one long table for the reception so wanted a nice long wreath in the centre of the tables. We also wanted to add some height and dimension so we added some candelabras placed along the table. This was a really nice touch as it added some more romance and intimacy to the dinner! A lot of the inspiration for the table decor came from Pinterest!

If we could sum up our wedding in one sentence, we would say… By far the most magical and special day of our lives, in the most romantic city and a day that we will cherish forever.

Photographer: Nora Mancini / Wedding Invitations: Adorn Invitations / Dress: Raffaele Ciuca / Veil: Raffaele Ciuca / Makeup: Ruslana Regi/ Liza Samokhina / Hair: Ruslana Regi/ Liza Samokhina / Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Bridesmaids Dresses: Elle Zeitoune / Groom’s Suit: Tailors Mark / Groom’s Shoes: Julius Marlow / Groomsmen Suit: Tailors Mark / Cake: Belmond Villa San Michele / Food: Belmond Villa San Michele / Flowers: FunkyBird Firenze / Videographer: Anthony Venitis @bvaerial / Ceremony Venue: Belmond Villa San Michele / Reception Venue: Belmond Villa San Michele / Entertainment: DJ: Marco Garberoglio, String Quartet: Gli Archimisti String Ensemble / Celebrant: Blessings From Italy (Diane Rossi)