Why having a wedding designer will rock your destination wedding in Italy
A wedding designer? What do they do? Is it like a wedding planner, or?… I see why you can get confused. Many of the couples who come to me can’t tell the difference and find themselves quite overwhelmed with all the wedding vocabulary. Let me get some clarity here!
Wedding Designer or Wedding Planner?
You may have an idea about what wedding planners do from that movie with Jennifer Lopez, but wedding designers? It’s a different area of expertise.
A wedding planner deals with the logistical elements of your wedding. You can hire a wedding planner for only one service, like research and selection of the venue or you can rely on them for the whole event.
Wedding planners deal with administrative issues, bureaucracy, vendors, wedding day timeline, seating arrangements and so on. They usually coordinate during the wedding day to ensure the event goes smoothly. Usually, you tell them the concept of your wedding, and they do their best to make it happen.
A wedding designer creates the whole concept of the wedding and how it will be represented in each visual element. From the decorations to the stationery, nothing is left to chance. Wedding designers won’t rest until they make sure the lights, the flowers, the photos, and even the minor details like glasses or cutlery reflect your wedding concept. They don’t usually sign contracts or contact vendors for you.
Being a wedding designer means more creativity and more responsibility because you get to know the couple very well to find a concept that represents them, and in case of a destination wedding, the country where they are getting married too.
Luckily for you, I do both wedding design and wedding planning. Let’s dig a bit more into the process of designing a wedding concept.
Dedication and questions:
how to tell a wedding designer is good
As I said above, you need to get to know the couple really well in order to come up with a wedding design that will actually reflect them and their story. This is why I take no more than 8-10 weddings per year. By doing so, I can really focus on being on the same wavelength with the couple and provide the best service.
How do I do this? I start by asking questions. Lots of them! How did you meet? How was the proposal? I also ask questions you wouldn’t expect. How do you dress on weekends? What do you usually do in your spare time? Are you more elegant or more casual?
Since I design destination weddings in Italy I also want to know what Italy means to you? Usually it is about old traditions (no New-Yorker I ever met wanted to get married in fashionable Milan, to say one), but the imagery you have about Italy needs to be clarified before I can think of a wedding concept.
What is your idea of Italy? Rolling hills and countryside? Genuine food as if you were enjoying lunch at a local nonna’s house? Art, museums, medieval buildings and cobblestones? Renaissance? Michelangelo? It’s not always easy to define. This is why at this point I usually ask the spouses to prepare a Pinterest board to understand what is their preferred style. Of course, the wedding concept will be completely different and personalized, the board is just a base to understand the couple better.
So, a good wedding designer doesn’t take many projects per year and wants to really get to know you before proposing a concept. This is very important, so you can feel your marriage is actually yours and tells your story, not somebody else’s. The wedding designer is the person who makes your story arise and blossom even in the tiniest details, making your wedding day unforgettable.
Elements not to miss for your wedding location research
I use the same personalized approach for the location research. If you arrive after a long flight from LA and will rather not drive for 2 more hours to reach a villa in the Tuscany countryside, I will be happy to propose a location near Florence and not far from the airport.
Do you want to sleep at the location or just rent it for the wedding day? Do you want a chapel or a church nearby or even inside the location? Do you dream of a wedding in a castle?
Once I gather all this information about you, I have enough elements to start thinking about a wedding concept that does represent you.
Here is the main difference with the wedding planner, who will just copy elements of the Pinterest boards for you. A wedding designer personalizes every element to make it about you.
The wedding theme
At this point we can pick up a theme. It can be a historical period (Renaissance, Dolce Vita, etc,), a color, a flower, a movie, or an idea, like Art, Michelangelo, Romeo and Juliet, and the list can go on and on.
I also ask how “modern” or “antique” they want the wedding to be and what is the amount of luxury they feel comfortable with. I am also aware that the idea of luxury is different around the world and I take that into consideration based on the couple’s cultural heritage.
For example, when I met Shawn and Frank I quickly realized they were easygoing, casual, and loved the Italian countryside. Their wedding concept had lots of these elements in the decor, from the greenery to the stationery.
But they also had many dreams and were ready to take flight to make them true, this is why we introduced dreamlike elements like the moon and light butterflies that reflect this part of them into their special day.
While designing Jenny and Ken’s wedding I discovered Jenny was a painter and the theme came naturally to us – of course it had to be Art. You can see it in all the details, from Leonardo-like calligraphy in the stationery, to their wedding venue, full of frescoes, paintings and statues.
Even the logo on the favor’s boxes and the pottery inside were small artistic details that made them and their guests happy and told their story in an effortless way.
A professional wedding designer can personalize everything, from the venue to the greenery from the cake, to the bar cocktails. No details will be left outside, I want every experience to be a “Wow” one, so you and your guests can feel pampered and taken care of through the whole process.
The most astonishing part of your wedding – Italy!
One of the most important parts I see as my mission is to happily incorporate Italy into your wedding concept. Because that’s the whole point of tying the knot in this amazing country, right?
I want you to experience an authentic Italian experience, this is why I always recommend Italian food, from the entries to the cake. Not Red Velvet, but Millefoglie. Not Champagne but Prosecco. Not Fettuccine Alfredo but Tuscan Pici.
You can have a pizza and pasta party, a chef cooking pastries for you, aperitivo with aperol, a tenor singing “O sole mio” and everything you ever dreamed of to make Italy an important part of your wedding, so you can really feel a part of it, making it much more than a simple scenery.
Once you have the amazing Tuscany landscapes and access to the Italian art of living and culture, why not use it as much as you can to make your wedding day unforgettable?
We will design your idea of Italy and convey it to your friends and family who will attend the wedding. I really want the wedding to tell your story in a realistic and delightful way, so that you and your beloved ones can say this was the best wedding you have ever attended, which is my goal for every wedding I design and organize.
Would you like to hire a wedding designer for your special day in Italy?
Let me know in the comments!
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