We are excited to present to you this incredibly romantic, genuine wedding of Jill and Luca that took place in the absolutely drop dead gorgeous city of Rome on September 13, 2015. The happy couple aimed for their wedding day to be spun around the idea of elegance and fun mixed together, and they certainly succeeded! They combined the formal elegance and style of Italy ( like the villas, string quartets, food, and wine ) and the fun, casual, entertaining side of America (like the modernity, parties, open bars, and DJs), and made an awesome and romantic celebration. They chose the wedding theme purple and grey, so the bride wore a chic Sottero and Midgeley lace gown and held a beautiful purple bouquet. Their wedding invitations exuded simplicity and elegance with flowers akin to the hand-painted walls of Casina Valadier. Even the unexpected rain that befell their ceremony couldn’t dampen this fun-loving couple’s spirits! All caught on camera by Rochelle Cheever
Romantic Rome Garden Wedding
What inspired you to choose to do a destination wedding in Italy?
I live here and wanted everyone to experience Rome and Italy. I thought it would be a great excuse for my friends and family to travel here. J Also, come on — who doesn’t want to get married in Italy?
In what ways did you personalize your wedding day?
We tried to make everything fun for our guests, taking the best parts from Italian and American cultures.
What were your favorite wedding day details?
Our website! It was awesome. My husband is a software developer and we did it together. It was perfect.
We watched professional choreography for a dance on utube in slow motion and copied our favorite parts for our first dance. We thought we’d entertain the audience. We had such an amazing time preparing for the dance – I’m so glad we did it. My husband is not a dancer AT ALL, so it was a big surprise for everyone.
The father/daughter & Mother/Son dance was to That’s Amore. And the guests joined in.
A string Quartet playing modern music like Today from Smashing Pumpkins, Temper Trap, and various soundtracks from film and tv series.
Our personalized M&Ms with our names and faces printed on them in different shades of purple. Hilarious.
Our IT favors. Battery chargers for smart phones and technology devices.
Our Italian/Tex Mex dishes: we had a meat, vegetable and fish option for all 3 courses.
We chose purple because we love the color with grey.
Casina Valadier was like old Rome—but with a modern spin. J
Inspiration/theme behind the day?
Elegance + Fun. We wanted to take the best parts of Italian ( formal attire, elegance, style, location, Italian villa, amazing Roman view, string quartet, upscale food and wine ) and American weddings ( short/fun ceremony, modern music, buffet options, entertaining, fun speeches, fun, party, open-bar, DJ ) and put them into our wedding.
Did you have any DIY (do it yourself) details? If so please, explain below.
We watched professional choreography for a dance on youtube in slow motion and copied our favorite parts for our first dance. It made the dance more special and we save $$ on the classes/teachers/choreography.
Tell us a little bit about how you chose your invitations, flowers, venue, and dress:
Invitations were easy. We wanted simple & elegant. The flowers reminded us of the hand-painted walls and ceilings of Casina Valadier.
Flowers: I love purple. We wanted color. We’ve been told that Italians say “don’t wear purple to a wedding” – so we wanted to break that rule. J Our florist was amazing too—a real artist and it showed. The huge martini glasses on the tables filled with purple flowers – soooo wow. We loved it.
Venue: Once I saw Casina Valadier, I knew I could never be married anywhere else. It was a perfect venue. We rented out the whole place. The staff did such an amazing job—I’m so glad that we had the wedding there. Couldn’t have made a better choice. The view was incredible for the garden wedding and reception. I have to say—when the rain surprised everyone—it’s the staff of Casina V that had to do the most work. What an amazing job they did. We were in awe of their professionalism.
Overall, do you have any special advice you would like to share with other brides to help prepare themfor their destination wedding?
- Weddings are expensive and you will always go over budget. However, no matter what you do: don’t skimp on the photographer. This was the first piece of advice someone told me. And I’m glad I took that advice. Especially since our 0% chance of rain weather turned into a full on DOWNPOUR. However, our photographer was able to handle the situation professionally and get some amazing photos out of the day. Also, she was able to catch such important moments. I was so glad I followed that advice and hired a real artist. In the end, the day happens so fast. The pictures are the only thing that remain, besides the memories in your head.
- Go small on the invite list. Invite only who you want there and no one more. The people (their energy, their attitudes) make the wedding & the party. There were a few people that we got pressured into inviting and wish we hadn’t. All the people that I really wanted to invite—well, they REALLY made it special. And I’m so glad they will be seen in the photos and videos for years to come.
We would love to hear how you met? Or, How did you get engaged?
We met in Rome- in Trastevere. We got engaged at Gianicolo at sunset. Luca timed everything perfectly – brought our favorite wine, glasses from a food/wine event called La Dolce Vita that we attended in Austin, and a huge poster with pictures/captions detailing our entire relationship. Then he proposed with an AMAZING ring that he had made (I’d never seen it before nor helped him at all) with an LED light built into the box, shining on the ring when he went down on his knee. AMAZING
Is there anything else you would like to share from your big day?
We had such a great time. I’d like to do it every year.
Photography : Rochelle Cheever | Venue + Catering : Casina Valadier | Wedding Planner: Sarah Delle Fratte – weddingsinrome.com | Gown Designer: Sottero and Midgeley | Florist: Giuliano Ciaffoni | Groom’s Clothing Designer: Carlo Pignatelli | Wedding Shoes : Vera Pelle Italian designer | Jewelry/Rings designer: Marco Ferrarini of Diamond Center | Hair and makeup Artist: Janita Helova | Videographer : Angelo Pasquarelli | Invitations: Minted.com
