A wedding in the grove….

Just over one year ago, the love of my life and I were married in the olive groves of Olearia San Giorgio just outside of San Giorgio Morgeto, Italy.

I’m all choked up right now thinking about the day…well the week…of festivities. Everything, and I mean everything was absolutely perfect. Even the weather was a sunny 22 degrees instead of the typical rainy, chilly weather southern Italy gets in January.

56 Canadians and 2 two Australians stayed right in the mountainside town of San Giorgio – Vincenzo and Canadina Tramonti’s hometown! No hotels or motels to speak of either. Our guests stayed in authentic houses….small hot water tanks, no such thing as a double mattress, damp nights, church bells dinging well through the night, San Giorgesi people helping out in EVERY way possible, lots of laughs, lots of vino, lots of pictures!

As a wedding planner it was definitely tough to let go of the control. It definitely taught me a lot though. Surprises on your wedding day can be a good thing – as I rounded the side of the old frantoia mill to walk down the aisle the red carpet spread before me brought a tear to my eye!

Below are a few of my blog posts I made upon returning from our adventure.

I’m a married women!!!

The most depressing feeling in the world is when you step off the plane at Pearson International from a 3 week holiday in Italy and the Canary Islands and the wind chills you to the bone!!!!! Seriously, it was minus 27 the day we returned. A little bit of a change from the plus 27 in the Canary Islands!!

That being said, the weather can’t bring me down from the high I am currently on! My entire trip was AMAZING. The wedding day was the most overwhelming but beautiful experience of my life so far. I can’t even put it in to words. It was beyond my wildest dreams.I have attached a few photos of the unique aspects of our day.

Passports for Everyone!

Our invitations were one of my favourite things. We’ve heard from many guests since that they usually don’t keep wedding invitations but they just couldn’t throw ours out

Picture Frame Photos

We had a picture frame made in San Giorgio Morgeto by a local carpenter. Then we had every family come and get there picture taken with us in the frame. We are going to print a copy of each photo and send it with our thank you cards. Nice keep-sake for us and our guests!

Photography that really stands out!

We chose different backgrounds for a lot of our photos. It adds such a different element to the photos.

Fashion, Fashion, Fashion!

We also chose to be a bit different with the groomsmens outfits – scarves!

Oh the Tarantella!

Don’t be afraid to look like a dork! Andrea and I were doing the Tarantella (a traditional Italian dance) even though we had never done it before!

The Entrance

I chose a super long aisle-way and I am sure glad I did! It gave me time to let it all sink in.Red carpet! This was a complete surprise to me when I walked around the corner. A nice surprise though!

Fake Flowers??

All of my flowers – boquets, corsages, boutennieres – were all silk! Now my sisters (bridesmaids), parents, groomsmen and I get to keep these forever! They are actually in a vase on our dining room table  No one could tell that they were fake either….

A Gift For the Guests

For our favours we chose to give olive oil to all the people who came from Canada and Australia and maple syrup for all of the people from Italy. THEY LOVED IT! Doing something that represents you as well as the area you are in sure goes over well. The oil is actually produced in the olive grove where we got married and it is Andrea’s family business importing this oil into Canada.

Astrology while you wait!

We chose to do a ceremony program with tree astrology on the back. This gave people some entertainment while waiting for the ceremony to begin. It was also fitting because of our surroundings.

I still can’t believe it’s over. Huge rush of excitement……

That’s why PHOTOS and VIDEOS are so incredibly important!!! Don’t skimp on these. After it’s all said and done it’s all you have in the years to come

The final days….

The countdown is on!

71 days to go!AHHHHHH! Who’s idea was this destination wedding?? Just kidding.I can’t wait! We have 62 guests confirmed that will be travelling from Canada, Australia and the USA to join us in Italy. Then there are approximately 100 guests in Italy. Nothing like a big Italian wedding in the motherland!Planning everything in another language has been a challenge but what I am finding to be the most interesting is how things are done at such a different pace. I am so used to sending an email to a bride or a vendor and hearing back from them within a day or so….not the case when emailing to Southern Italy! It’s been sometimes 4 weeks before I have heard back! I know everything will be absolutely amazing but it’s the fear of not knowing until I get there that is the hardest.One other thing I have to get off my chest – RSVP’s. We sent out approximately 200 invitations. Not 200 guests, but 200 invitations. Our RSVP date is November 3rd and we have only received about 60 back so far. I really hope I don’t have to spend all of next week phoning people…..Posted by Heather Cotie, Event Coordinator on October 29th, 2010