Intimate destination wedding in Tuscany

If you’re going to have a destination wedding then surely Tuscany in Italy would always be at the top of the list? Erika & Carlo wanted to share this place that they’d fallen in love with, with their family and friends. As a couple who love to travel having a wedding that turned into a vacation seemed like the perfect compromise. The enlisted the services of Italian wedding photographer LISA POGGI to capture their beautiful day. Erika wore a stunning MONIQUE LHUILLIER gown with beautiful beaded detailing, which was both comfortable and elegant, and worked for the slightly rustic setting.

“Choosing Tuscany for our location also allowed us to include Carlo’s Italian family and friends in the celebration. We fell in love with TERRE DI NANO when we first visited it and loved its location and the sweeping views of Pienza, Monticchiello, Montepulciano, and the Tuscan hillside from the villa. The villa also housed many of our guests, which allowed us to spend time together exploring the region before and after the craziness of the wedding day.”

HOW DID YOU MEET? We met in graduate school at UC Berkeley

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL: Carlo proposed on one of our favourite hiking trails in Berkeley. After we finished the hike, we met up with friends at a local winery to share the news and celebrate.

DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING FLOWERS: We worked with a really talented local florist, Puscina Flowers, to create something unique and rustic that would accent but also blend in with the surroundings of Terre di Nano. We used a mix of medium sized arrangements, local wild flowers with accents of white, purple, and green as well as hanging and potted plants and fruit. We loved that Puscina only uses flowers that are in season locally, follows natural and sustainable practices, and that we were able to tour their flower gardens with Mara Cugusi, leading up to the wedding and work with her to align on the design elements together.

ANY DIY ELEMENTS? Table décor – we had some great help from Ilaria at Terre di Nano on the table setup among the trees, and of course from Puscina with the flowers, but the place setting décor and confetti were a little bit of DIY (with support from Etsy). We actually brought a lot of the components, including the table runners, with us from San Francisco!

FAVOURITE DETAIL OF THE DAY: Following the ceremony we walked down to the town entrance, La Porta, with all of our guests and shared a prosecco toast, led by Carlo’s brother. It was a nice way to transition from the church ceremony, kick off the celebration, and spend time in the town of Monticchiello while waiting for the shuttles to Terre di Nano.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OUT TO A COUPLE PLANNING THEIR WEDDING? Take the time to make sure you choose vendors who understand your style, what you’re looking for, and whom you trust – it makes it much easier to relax on the day of the wedding. We couldn’t have been happier with our photographer, videographer, flowers, hair and makeup artist, and, of course, with everything at Terre di Nano.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? Making our wedding cake, a classic Italian millefoglie, together in the olive grove after dinner and in front of our guests. It was a fun way to introduce our American guests to another Italian tradition and bring out our amazing chef, Giorgio, to meet everyone after the wonderful meals he prepared for us the night before and the night of our wedding.