I could not wait to share Lin & Dan’s wedding photographs on this blog! I was originally booked to capture this amazing day after meeting Dan’s mum on a photography trip to Cuba. We got on well, and once we were back in the UK, we kept in touch. And the rest, as they say, is history. A year later, she called me and asked me if I wanted to be her son’s Tuscany destination wedding photographer! Wow!
I love that part of Italy. It has got everything: The amazing landscapes, rolling hills as far as the eye can see, poppy fields, cypresses, vineyards, little chapels lost in a sea of green, mostly blue sky and white fluffy clouds… Then you get to taste the food and drink the wine. Close your eyes. You’re there.
Lin and Dan had planned their wedding day very carefully. It was going to be a ceremony at the Castello Dei Conti Guidi in Poppi (one hour away from Florence), followed by a drink reception on the village main square and then onto Villa Vecchia Quercia in Arezzo for the wedding breakfast, or shall I say the Gargantuan Italian feast.
Villa Vecchia is actually more of a hamlet than a villa. It is a collection of houses that were brought together to create this cluster of rooms in an organised maze or terracotta floors and roof tiles, complete with a pool, cypresses and a breathtaking view. A Tuscany destination wedding photographer’s dream. Conveniently, the couple, their family and all their friends booked Villa Vecchia for the whole week, to enhance the total feel of relaxation about the place and the occasion.
I am not going to bore you further with my amazement of the place, but if I had to choose my three favourite moments that day, it would be: 1. The totally friendly and relaxed feeling that I felt during the whole day that was a credit to the friends and family of this gorgeous couple, there was no stress, loads of smiles and plenty of banter, I’ll have that any day! 2. When once married, and after they had a glass of Prosecco in Poppi main square, the couple escaped their guests for a moment and sat on a bench across the road, facing the valley below. I nearly missed that moment, and I’m grateful one of the guests alerted me to it. It felt they were at the edge of a cliff about to jump into their lives. There on that bench, looking into each others’ eyes. That moment, that I captured while they were unaware of my presence, felt like an eternity but was just so powerful, so emotional. 3. The long table at the Villa, the informal speeches, the laughter and the big noise coming out of it well into the night. 4. The kids’ sparklers!
So if you are thinking of getting married in Tuscany or even in Italy at large, I would love to jump at the chance to be a Tuscany destination wedding photographer again! I often organise Italy photography workshops there, and you can see that I am a big fan of that part of Italy.
