Good morning everyone, and welcome to a gorgeously sunny May Monday morning here on the blog. What a delight this weekend has been – sunshine, family and ice cream….what more does a girl need? I hope the weekend brought love and happiness to you all, and if you were a guest at a wedding, then I hope the hangover is shaking itself off by now!
We are delighted to share today’s real wedding with you, captured by Katja & Simon Photography, a Slovenian based husband and wife duo who specialise in destination weddings, (they love to travel, so this is the PERFECT job!). This collection is so ambient and reflective of the Italian vibe created on the day. You can feel the love, energy and tradition pour from every image! With Italian and Dutch heritage, this couple created a blissful mix of European influences with heavy Italian traditions and friends from all over the globe….
Our inspiration for the wedding was Italian lifestyle, family, friends, good old fashioned Italian food, olives and music. Our theme was a green and white colour palette. It was so beautiful – mountain views from the lake, very open with no strict guidelines, a Dutch style party and a music festival outside.
Married in Castello Oldofredi on a remote Italian island in the middle of picturesque Lake Iseo, Denise and Roderik created a stunning outdoor wedding with heaps of Italian food and a vibrant outdoor Dutch festival-style party. They used Italy as their inspiration and olive green and white as their decor palette. They draped rustic olive branches, delicate white flowers and simple greenery around the space, and in the evening, used stunning, mood-creating, festoon lighting above the long, outdoor sharing table. This wedding needed only the scenery, the love and the bustling, intimate atmosphere to create it’s classic Italian vibe….
Here’s bride Denise to tell you more about her romantic, Italian castle wedding to Roderik!
Traditional Italian Wedding with Dutch Inspiration
I’m half Italian and half Dutch, and Roderik is 100% Dutch. We had the wedding for our friends from all over the world and my huge Italian family (60 people in total). We held a beautiful reception for our Dutch family in the Netherlands with a big wedding cake, live Italian music and a pizza festival food truck.
Married on an Island in an Italian Castle
We were married at Castello Oldofredi in Italy on an Island (Monte Isola) in the middle of Lake Iseo. The lake is one of the only lakes in the world with an island in the middle and you can’t get to it by car – you need to park your car and take a boat to the island! My family comes from this area, which is how I knew about the venue.
3-Day Wedding with Pizza, Fireworks, Lake Views and Big Outdoor Party Festival
The wedding lasted for 3 days with a very laidback schedule. Most people slept at the castello and everyone was really relaxed, just hanging out at the pool and enjoying the holiday. The first night was a pizza night with a quiz and fireworks, followed by our wedding on the second day which included a lake view ceremony, an Italian style aperitivo (think lots of Italian style snacks!), and then dinner amongst the olive trees at a long sharing table. We ended the day with a party festival outside and a big indoor closing party. On the third day we had a big breakfast and rented boats for our friends. We went out onto the lake and swam all day – the weather was amazing!
Outdoor Ceremony Under Wooden Arch and Olive Branches
The ceremony was held outside underneath a wooden arch made especially for the wedding with cotton, peony flowers, smaller white flowers and lots of olive branches. My sister-in-law hosted the ceremony on the most amazing part of the Island in the garden of Castello Oldofredi, and beforehand, The Monte Isola civil servant officially married us in Italian. The guests didn’t throw confetti but threw olive leaves instead, and at the end of the ceremony, Julia Valotti played live. She’s a really shy singer, but has an AMAZING voice and sang beautiful songs including lots of Jazz and Italian golden oldies which she carried through the aperitivo before the official evening dinner.
Rustic Olive Garden Themed Reception
We took inspiration from the local area and decorated the chairs, tables and candles with an olive garden theme. The castle had it’s own olive tree garden and therefore we used a lot of olive trees and white peony flowers in the decor.
Local Wines and the Most AMAZING Florist
All of the food and drinks were sourced and provided by Castello Oldofredi, except for the wine which was bought from a local winery. We didn’t have a cake at the wedding in Italy, however we did a big reception in the Netherlands for our Dutch family and had a VERY big 3-tier wedding cake there instead. We hired the best florist in the world! Aurelia from Fruitdamour really understood what we wanted and created amazing floral displays for us. She got our vision from the very first introduction meeting.
Dramatic Italian Bridal ‘Look’ and Bespoke Suit from Amsterdam
I wore a stunning ‘off the shoulder’ wedding dress from White One called ‘Fiona’. I chose it because of its simplicity and it’s lovely, lace open-back. I added a traditional Italian touch by adding a very dramatic train and veil. I wore high heels from Dune and small golden earrings.
A friend of ours has a very chic clothing store in Amsterdam called Eduard Pelger. He made the suit as a wedding present!
First Dance
Our first dance was to the disco song from the movie ‘la grande belezza’ because of it’s extravagant Italian style. We actually played the clip of the disco scene behind us when dancing to this song which was so much fun! The last song was an Italian song from the series Casa de Papel (Bella Ciao), partly because we love the series but also because we really love song. Our 2 friend’s from the Netherlands DJ’d our big after party for us. One is a famous DJ (Prunk) and he plays at a lot of big parties. He came with a friend (DJ Kimou), and they played ‘festival style’ in the garden from a big DJ booth. They started off with gentle well-known Italian songs and ended with a hard and techno Dutch festival style set.
Favourite Moment
The dinner at the long sharing table – the scenery, lighting and the atmosphere was just incredible.
Any Advice?
Don’t worry about planning the tiny fine details. Things will always go wrong! Make sure you get really good suppliers, pick the perfect location, and ensure the caterers are top notch – trust them to plan and fix all the details according to your brief and the style you like.
Also, really try to be relaxed,and don’t stress out as this will have a negative impact on the people around you.
The Line Up
Photographer: Katja & Simon Photography; Venue: Castello Oldofredi; Bride’s Dress: White One; Bride’s Shoes: Dune; Groom’s Suit: Eduard Pelger; Caterer: Castello Oldofredi; Florist: Fruitdamour; DJ: Prunk
