Italian Weddings

I've been to my share of Italian weddings in the US but I've never experienced one here in Italy.  My cousins' weddings in the US were a mixture of theater, fun and lots of noise.  One cousin had almost 500 people at her wedding; while we were loading up on the hors d'oeuvres, we never realized that there was a 10 course banquet to follow.

This same cousin had what seemed at the time to be a 10 tier wedding cake, with a box in the middle of it.  When the bride and groom pulled on ribbons from either side of the cake, love birds flew out of the box in the cake.  Yeah, theater!

The ride to the venue was off the beaten track to say the least, a series of switch-backs to challenge even the best Formula 1 driver, I felt fortunate to get there!  The views from this estate were amazing.

On the estate is a small chapel and the priest who performed the ceremony was a friend of the bride and groom.

the chapel

When we arrived, we were treated to champagne, and toured the property for a while.  As my friends here say, "Italians are always late."  While we were told to be there at 5 p.m. the wedding itself didn't start till 6:30.  This tiny Roman chapel was amazing.

There were photographers everywhere (including me!) a team from Korea was there to photograph a "traditional Italian wedding."
Once the ceremony was over, the appetizers were served buffet style, and they kept on coming.  If I hadn't seen the tent with dinner set up, I'd probably have eaten my weight in the fried zucchini flowers.  Giulietta was the master of the zucchini flowers, and I'm in awe!

When it was time for dinner, we all headed for the beautifully decorated tent.

Dinner, was a tour de force, with 5 courses and wines paired with the courses.  Amazing just doesn't cover it.

As the sun was setting the glow in the tent was something I'd never seen before---so special.  Of course, there was the requisite dancing, and the band that played all the Italian songs that guests sang along with, and there was more wine, and champagne and cake.

 I turn into a pumpkin at midnight and this party was still going strong.  Our family didn't get back to Spello till 3 a.m. and the 'kids' didn't get back till after 5 a.m.  We were so honored to be invited, and also loved just being part of this celebration of love, and family and community.  Congratulations Irene and Andrea.