Intimate Tuscan Wedding

Intimate and full of perfect little details, this Italia Celebrations wedding photographed by Lelia Scarfiotti is just beautiful. Touches of pink complement the green Italian hills perfectly. It’s hard to believe that everything was planned from so far away! It’s one very romantic setting, for one very loving couple.

From the bride, Luma: Vinny and I had been dating for 9 years before we got engaged. We met young, when I was 20 and studying art at NYU. We went through a lot of changes over those 9 years: moves, new jobs, new cities, but we always managed to end up back together. After we became engaged, we started thinking about the wedding. I had always dreamt of being his wife, but hadn’t given much thought to what kind of a wedding we would have. I knew a few things, I wanted it small. Really small. Intimate. Genuine. Happy. Full of good food, wine and family. For a few weeks we looked into having the wedding in Brooklyn, New York, our neighborhood, but it ended up feeling like I was planning a dinner party instead of a wedding. 

I started looking at blogs trying to find weddings in Italy that seemed like us, and I kept coming across Italia Celebrations and a woman named Brenda. I quickly sent her an email and she replied with this incredible spreadsheet that laid out everything. She suggested Borgo Casabianca right from the start. I was hesitant and nervous to make such a big decision over email. But serendipitously, Brenda would be in New York in a few weeks and we eventually met for coffee. We talked for hours. She is fantastic and was great at understanding what we wanted. She was also so wonderful at making it all happen within our rather modest budget, since we were paying for it ourselves.

Since the wedding was so far away, I focused mostly on the paper stuff and left the rest to Brenda. With it being so small (only 46 guests), I designed and made our save the dates using a stamp. I worked with a small letterpress company on our invitations and hand painted the edges, lining the envelopes with handmade Italian paper. I loved working on the details. I wanted to give something to our guests that they could really use, so I had canvas tote bags made with a little map of Italy and an airplane drawn on them and filled them with wine, olive oil, cookies and candies. I gathered a few additional things from Etsy – a burlap and lace ring pillow and Mr. & Mrs. sign, and fit everything into a small carry on suit case.

One of the best moments was standing in our room in front of the window watching the bus with all of our guests on it arrive at the villa. We were so excited and, from that moment until we left for our honeymoon, it all felt surreal. We were so happy and felt so lucky to have each and every person come all this way to share and celebrate with us. The big long table under the trees strewn with vintage chandeliers was the stuff of fairy tales. I will never forget the glow of that table and how amazing it felt to look all around and feel so surrounded by love.

Wedding Music:
Processional: Pachebel’s Canon in D
Recessional: Wedding March
First Dance: “Sleep Walk,” Santo & Johnny

Wedding Location: Asciano, Italy / Wedding Photographer: Lelia Scarfiotti / Wedding Coordination, Design, Flowers, and Candles: Brenda Babcock of Italia Celebrations / Wedding Venue and Catering: Borgo Casabianca / Wedding Dress: Ivy & Aster “In Bloom” / Wedding Shoes: Dries van Noten / Hair and Makeup: Bride’s sister / Wedding Invitations and Paper Goods: Bride