I am in the midst of planning an Italian wedding in Tuscany. We will be there for 10 days and would like to stay in the Tuscany region. I'm thinking about either Volterra or Siena. I've been to neither and wondering if anyone could offer any advice? Much thanks!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,
Hello Laney--When are you planning your wedding? We leave tomorrow for a three week trip to Tuscany and for our wedding in Pienza on September 27, 2002. I will fill you all in when we get back. We are staying our first night in Panzano at the Fagiolari Bed and Breakfast, then two weeks at a seven person villa near Castiglione D'Orcia (Tuscan Enterprises La Tigliolo) then our last week at La Bella Toscana La Civetta outside San Gimignano. I will give you more planning information when we get back. So far we are doing a civil service because I am not Catholic and my husband to be is and arranging a church service was more complicated. I would suggest picking a wedding location that is in close proximity to your villa location.
More later--I must finish packing and have some celebratory champagne. Can't wait for gelato, Dario's butcher shop, Brunello, etc.
PS Wish me luck taking the wedding dress on the plane!
quote:Originally posted by Callie: We leave tomorrow for a three week trip to Tuscany and for our wedding in Pienza on September 27, 2002. I will fill you all in when we get back.PS Wish me luck taking the wedding dress on the plane!
Callie
Great day to get married (it's my birthday)! . This sounds fantastic - please do stop back and tell us all about it.
Good luck!
Posts: 14710 | Location: Casa dei Cerrbiati, NJ, USA | Registered: 16 June 2001
Callie: All Best on your wedding. Lovely to know that I'm not the only one taking a wedding dress half way around the world. We plan to get married October 21 2003. From the research I've done it seems that the temps should be fall-like and the tourist should be scarce. (hope this is the case) Best do let me know how everything turned out. I could use the advice you can spare. All the Best. Ciao.
Good luck with your wedding. My daughter got married in Florence in Noverber, 2000. The weather was perfect, just like November in Florida so October should be fine.
I hired a wedding planner from Florence, she did a splendid job. Everything was better than we anticipated.
I rented a villa in southern Tuscany for both families. We stayed in Florence the day before and after the wedding then back to the villa as our home base for day trips.
Posts: 28 | Location: Florida | Registered: 13 June 2002
This past May I met the most wonderful young woman while looking at real estate. She was in the wedding planning business prior to going to work for Case & Dimore in Buonconvento. I'm sure she could refer you to a former colleague if you need more help. She speaks fluent English and is a good friend of Gary and Zak's from Tuscan House which is a fine recommendation in itself. Her name is Anna Maria Redi and her e mail addresses are annaredi@tin.it or casedimore@libero.it. Her office is at via Soccini 35 53022 Buonconvento (SI) Italia tel/fax 39 0577 809008 I hope this is useful. Auguri!!!
Just returned after our three week trip and wedding in Pienza. After a 36 hour delay due to bad Chicago weather and then 5 lost bags, we finally made it to Italy! Traveling with 7 people was slightly stressful but we all made it without killing one another!
We used italyweddings.com and our contact person was Ben Singleton. We met in Florence two days before the wedding to do paperwork which was very painless and then we had to go to the American Consulate to finish the paperwork. I was surprised by how tight the security was at the American Consulate. NO ONE is allowed to enter unless you are an American Citizen so our wedding planner had to wait outside for us which was no big deal. You will need 100 euros to "process" your paperwork so make sure you have that. Everything went well for the wedding I was worried about the weather because it was unseasonably cold for late September the week before the wedding but our day was beautiful! We got married by the Mayor of Pienza in the Palazzo Communale with 5 other family members present then took pictures around the city. I think that I am probably in just as many tourist's photos as well as our photographer's. We haven't received our photos yet--which is normal they take about three weeks. After the ceremony the Mayor presented us with a beautful etching of the Palazzo! We had a 7 course meal at La Buca Della Fate in Pienza very good and our wedding cake was very good. I gained 5 pounds on the trip- Mark only gained 2! My flowers were a beautiful bouquet of yellow, purple, and peach roses with ivory calla lillies hand tied with an ivory satin ribbon.
Overall we were very happy with our wedding and Ben our wedding planner. Carrying the dress on the plane was not too bad although the dress seemed to grow heavier and heavier as the day went on! The stewardesses all hung my dress up for me (except Air France--who refused too and then lost our luggage) and once we got to Italy we used a travel iron to press the dress out a little.
It was such a memorable day and tourists and Italians alike were wishing us Auguri in a variety of languages! The best part was that it was no stress and I was barely nervous and I surprised myself by NOT crying at the ceremony! I was very glad that I broke in my wedding shoes ahead of time.
I promise to do a full trip report and reviews of our two villas soon.
I would LOVE to get a full report on the wedding - arranging it and all the details - if you can take time away from your new husband to do this . Then we can add it to the Travel Notes section so others wanting to get married in Italy could read it.
Plus the trip report and villa reviews!! Welcome home and congratulations on your marriage!!
Has anyone else dealt with italyweddings.com? My fiancee and I are interested in using them for our wedding but are trying to make sure everything about that operation is on the up-and-up before we proceed.
We'd like to plan a memorable occasion and not fall prey to a scam of some sort. My fiancee and I are basing our choice of italyweddings on a lot of emotion (great website; good e-mail exchanges so far), but I'm trying to make sure the voice of reason has a say; that way we can make a truly informed decision. It all boils down to "caveat emptor", right? Just wanted to do some homework.
Any help you guys can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Callie -- Congratulations to you and your husband! Would it be possible to e-mail you offline and discuss your experience with italyweddings and Ben?
Now that I have all that kind of thing (successfully) taken care of - I remember that Isabella Dusi _ Vanilla Beans & Brodo - has a wedding service of sorts in Motalcino ?
Right, Pauline. That was where I saw italyweddings.com. Can just anyone post a link to their company on your site or do you check 'em out to see if they're the real deal.
I'm confused too. In a previous post above, you said, you never heard of italyweddings.com But then, just above, you also say you have them in your listing of links, leading me to believe you know of them. Which is it? Help me out here. Thanks!
Up until now, I have been just posting links to anyone's business - I do not check them out. I am considering changing this policy - maybe just list everyone on our links pages, but only list recommended businesses (ones we receive reviews of) on the web site main pages.
And the reason that I said I had not heard of them, then found them on the web site - what can I say? Old age I suppose.
My first advice to you would be to contact Ben at italyweddings and have him send you email addresses from people who have gotten married through his firm before. I then sent out several requests for information and reading these first hand reports was the deciding factor to go with this company. Our second choice was sogniitaliani which Pauline has listed also. Feel free to contact me at Calliewilliams5@aol.com. Good luck and talk to you soon.
Topic Closed
. This sounds fantastic - please do stop back and tell us all about it. 
