Destination wedding Italy: Cristin & Derek get married in Tuscany

You have no idea how much time this post has taken me to write. I would start, and then start over. It was not the way I experienced it.

I would start again. And again. And again. Now, FIVE hours later, I’m finally ok with the result. Oh, well. If you know me you can guess that the itch to start it all over and make it even better is still there!

;-)

Italy. My home away from home.

I just loooooove Italy. From my childhood days hiding behind my parents to hear the beautiful singing language my ”nonna” was speaking to her relatives, to my advanced class in the coziest Italian Language School in my hometown.

Everytime I take a step into Italian ground, I know my heart has opened up to maximum.

Linda and I landed in Milano and drove six hours up and down curvy roads until we got to Foiano della Chiana, a pity little tiny village in the valleys near Arezzo.

The ”Agriturismo” Mecca. The dreamland for Linda and I!

Our couple had booked us in this beautiful Bed & Breakfast called ”La Lodola”, a villa that had been rebuilt with art and good taste. Good taste meaning both the beautiful decorations and style of every single room and the out of this world food from their own restaurant.

As always in Italy, things were made with fruits and vegetables that came directly from the green land a couple of meters away. And Mario, the super friendly owner of the place, made sure we saw, and tasted, every single vegetable they grew in a private tour of the property he gave us when we arrived. When me met Cristin & Derek, we didn’t even need to check if we ”liked” each other: by reading the plans for their wedding and checking the places they had chosen to be, we knew we had come to the right people.

Spending the weekend with Cristin & Derek was like being in a movie. The best of friends, good food and wine and laughter that echoed throughout the sunflower fields the whole weekend. Their intimate wedding had a total of 20 guests, only their family and closest friends. Americans who flew from various destinations in the US just to celebrate their love to the couple. Derek’s family, with a strong Italian heritage, could experience what their ancestors before immigrating to the States. And that love was also strong from Cristin’s side: Cristin’s stepfather has taken a minister course just to be able to marry them in the Church of Modanella’s Castle. Have you ever heard of anyone doing that??? Pure love!

The energy of the weekend was so positive that what you are about to see is not a common slideshow, it has become a movie. So sit back and relax and let me take you back to Italy with us!

And in case you are planning your own wedding in Tuscany, I can highly recommend these places and the wonderful wedding coordinator Barbara, from Infinity Weddings.

The rehearsal dinner and the wonderful chefs for the weekend came from La Lodola: www.lalodola.com

And the wedding dinner was at the wonderful design-villa-Fontelunga: www.fontelunga.com

We took the couple shots in the sunflower fields around the area and in Mario’s brother’s farm (the owner of La Lodola), that was one of the only farms with the Fior-di-finocchio fields you see in some of the pictures. The rest of the couple shots were taken while we walked around the medieval city of CORTONA.

The church the couple got married at is in the surroundings of Castello di Mondanella, where we also took some of the last pictures shown in the couple shot part of the slideshow.

More of this wonderful wedding you can see at Linda’s page:  www.fairytalephotography.se

And I can still smell the wonderful lavanda in the air…………

;-)