That’s Amore: This Couple Had a Romantic, Rainy Wedding at a Tiny Chapel in Tuscany
Photo: Magnus Bogucki1/47The highlight of wedding planning for me was painting and designing our wedding stationery. It was important to me that each aspect of the wedding feel unique and personal to David and me. With the invitations, I wanted to set a playful and whimsical tone for the weekend.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki2/47A view of the village where our guests stayed, taken the morning of our wedding from the bridal suite in the main villa. The rain and fog set the most perfect, romantic mood for the day. I love how if you look closely you can see one of our friends by the window cozied up in their robe.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki3/47David had just surprised me with a beautiful vintage Jaeger-LeCoultre watch accompanied with a note saying that spending time together would always be his first priority.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki4/47Before heading to our welcome party, we stopped to take pictures with our photographer, Magnus [Bogucki]. We had just met him earlier that day, and he was amazing to work with.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki5/47Walking up to our welcome party, which was held in the middle of Il Borro’s medieval village, also known as the Borgo.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki6/47The setting for the welcome party was magical. The chefs made pizzas in the outdoor oven served family-style, we had a vintage gelato cart, and an Italian folk duo played throughout the evening.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki7/47David’s parents threw us the most amazing rehearsal dinner. It was held in a beautiful room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the countryside. For this evening, we chose more subdued colors, plenty of candles, and lots of greenery.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki8/47A jazz quartet played throughout the evening and our friends and family gave the most incredible and heartfelt toasts.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki9/47Singing “That’s Amore” with our friends and the Italian folk duo. It quickly became the song of the weekend.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki10/47Stealing a moment outside of our rehearsal dinner after cocktails and sunset.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki11/47Lily Vanilli, who creates beautiful bespoke cakes and pastries, flew in from London. The morning of the wedding, she baked and designed our cake in the kitchen of Il Borro’s main villa where our family stayed.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki12/47We chose layers of gluten-free vanilla and carrot cake, and Lily used flowers our floral designer, Noosheen, brought. My mom has been giving me pieces of Herend since I was little. (The the last piece she gave me—a frog prince!—was right before I met David.) She sent us the penguin bride and groom as a little wedding gift—I loved the idea of using them as a part of Lily’s design.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki13/47Few people make me laugh as much as these three girls. I was the last to get ready because I didn’t want the day to end!
Photo: Magnus Bogucki14/47My wedding gown hanging in the bridal suite. I loved this room so much that the wallpaper ended up serving as inspiration for the wedding colors and design.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki15/47It was really important to me that I looked natural and like myself on our wedding day, so much so that at the last minute I ended up doing my own hair.
Photo: Lauren Michelle16/47David watching the rain from the library of the villa the morning of our wedding.
Photo: Lauren Michelle17/47There was an amazing room downstairs in the villa with a bar and pool table where the boys all finished getting ready.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki18/47Opening my wedding gift from David, an original Bemelmans drawing of Madeline.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki19/47The sweetest and best gift—David wrote the most beautiful letter vowing to always be playful, adventurous, and fun.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki20/47My mom and my sister, Allison, helping me with my dress.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki21/47My grandmother couldn’t make the trip to Italy but sent me with her diamond earrings to wear as my something borrowed.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki22/47My sister and best friend, maid and matron of honor, smoothing out my veil.
Photo: Lauren Michelle23/47The boys walking from the main villa up to the wedding chapel in the middle of the village.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki24/47I heard the saying, “sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata,” which translates to wet bride, lucky bride, for the first time while studying abroad in Florence, and I remember thinking how romantic rain sounded on your wedding day. The phrase always stuck with me.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki25/47The drive to the chapel with my dad.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki26/47We were running almost an hour late to the ceremony, but my dad still took the long way to the chapel to soak up the time together.
Photo: Lauren Michelle27/47Walking in the chapel to “Pachelbel’s Canon.” I love this picture because I am looking at David and my dad is looking at my mom, and you can see rain drops on my arm.
Photo: Lauren Michelle28/47I will never forget the look on David’s face when I first entered the chapel. He was so full of emotion, and he had the sweetest smile on his face.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki29/47This was such a sweet moment. I started crying as I got closer and saw that my twin brother standing next to David was crying as well as both of our sisters and my best friend, Kate.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki30/47Exchanging rings.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki31/47We did it!
Photo: Magnus Bogucki32/47Our pastor was very open to us including all aspects of our religion in the ceremony. It was important to us to marry in a church with a priest; however, David’s father is Jewish and David was raised celebrating both Christian and Jewish traditions. Here we are honoring his heritage with the stomping of the glass.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki33/47It rained the entire day and throughout our ceremony but the moment we exited the chapel and started lining up our guests, the clouds parted and the sun came out for the throwing of the rice and our send-off.
Photo: Lauren Michelle34/47Waving bye to our guests! I loved our getaway car—everyone was worried it would be too small for my husband, but I had a very specific vision of driving away in a white vintage Fiat with greenery on the back.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki35/47Our time alone in the car after the ceremony was one of the best parts of the day. David’s vintage Vacheron Constantin was his wedding gift from my family.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki36/47Driving off to our reception.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki37/47Taking time together with our photographer for a few quick photos before heading to the reception, which was held at the main villa.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki38/47Magnus pulled us outside during cocktail hour to capture the beautiful sunset.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki39/47Our floral designer, Noosheen, was an absolute dream to work with. I was very specific about the colors, the flowers, and each detail, and she made my vision for each night come to life. We chose soft white flowers, mostly garden roses, and dahlias, with pops of berry colors and pinks.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki40/47The table was set up outside the main villa. I wanted an abundance of low, soft flowers running down the center of the table along with plenty of candles.
Photo: Lauren Michelle41/47Between the band, the food and wine, and the best company, dinner was tons of fun. My dad, my brother, and my husband all gave incredible speeches that had everyone laughing and crying.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki42/47Our first dance.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki43/47Right before the cake cutting, I ran up to our wedding planner and had them change the cake-cutting song to “That’s Amore” since all of our family and friends had been singing it the entire weekend. It was my favorite moment of the day. Everyone was singing, and we ended up dancing to it before we cut the cake.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki44/47I love this photo because it really captures the fun and energy of the evening.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki45/47After we cut the cake, and David popped the Champagne, the most insane fireworks display went off directly in front of us on the villa lawn. It was a total surprise from my parents and was so close, I kept turning back and asking our photographer if the lawn was on fire!
Photo: Magnus Bogucki46/47The fireworks were the perfect kickoff to an epic dance party and the rest of the evening.
Photo: Magnus Bogucki47/47We had Blue Lion Band from the U.K. and a DJ and both were amazing. Our first dance was upbeat and set the tone for a fun evening. Everyone danced well into the evening and a group of us ended up in the villa’s pool, swimming in our dresses and tuxedos until 5:00 a.m.
