Harry and Whitney’s Tuscan Wedding

This was such an amazing wedding to work on! Harry and Whitney first spoke to me back in the Summer of 2015 and originally needed some guidance on where to get married. Whitney is from the USA and Harry is from the UK but although they now both live together in Boston they wanted sort of a neutral venue that was accessible for both families. They loved the idea of an Italian wedding and so I suggested some venues that would fit perfectly with their numbers and requirements for the day.

Casa Cornacchi I knew would be absolutely perfect for them – for accommodation it fit up to 40 people which was exactly the amount of guests they wanted and they could hire it on an ‘exclusive use’ so it would just be them and their guests for the duration of the wedding. As guests were travelling from quite far away they decided to make it a 5 day celebration. Although these pictures are from the actual wedding day itself I will tell you about all 5 days.

I visited Casa Cornacchi in April with the Mother of the Groom and Sister of the Groom to do a site visit and to hold all necessary consultations – with the photographer, florist, lighting and sound companies, tour guides and to also hold the food tasting to decide on the menu for the wedding.

The wedding quickly came around and after a lot of talks with the venue leading up to the wedding and the other suppliers we were all ready to jet off to Tuscany for the wedding! The first day all guests were arriving at different times and so guests got to enjoy the beautiful Tuscan weather and the on-site pool. Casa Cornacchi is such a beautiful venue and although remote in the hills it is easily accessible to local cities such as Siena, Florence and San Gimignano. The first evening was a welcome pizza evening – we wanted all 3 main dinners onsite to be in different spots so each evening felt different. The pizza evening was held outside by Casa Cornacchi’s pizza oven and all guests enjoyed various toppings washed down with lots of Tuscan wine!

The second day and third day were free days for guests to do what they wish – some took tours, some visited local cities and a group of the men visited a local golf course which I had booked for them. The third evening was the Rehearsal dinner. We had hoped to be able to have this outside as we had lots of fairy lights on the olive trees, however, the weather had turned and so we had to adapt and have the meal inside which was equally as nice. Stiatti Fiori the florist we used throughout the week were amazing and provided lots of olive branches and candles to be the table centrepieces for the rehearsal dinner.

After a relatively early night in preparation for the next day everyone woke up on the Wednesday excited for the ceremony. Guests managed to relax during the day enjoying the sunshine as the wedding wasn’t until 4pm. I ensured that all spaces were set up exactly how Whitney and Harry wanted – the main room where the wedding breakfast was to be held had open sides so we could pull the white drapes back and see the fantastic view of the Tuscan hills. In this room I ensured the festoon lighting was ready, the music system was ready, place names were out and any small favours were in the correct places. Stiatti Fiori also dressed this room with a range of wild flowers and lots of wine bottles with candles – the room looked amazing.

For the ceremony, this was held outside at a high point with the view in the distance – Harry and Whitney had asked James, Harry’s brother to be the ‘officiant’ for the blessing which was a lovely personal touch. We had arranged a string trio to play as guests took their seats and the aisle had metal tins of gipsofilia running down it. The ceremony was lovely and full of personal touches. What was also nice was that Whitney and Harry wanted a ‘white wedding’ where guests wore different shades of white/cream – something you don’t see very often at weddings but it worked really really well.

After the ceremony, Harry and Whitney went to have their pictures taken by the amazing Angelica Braccini who was there to document the day. I knew Angelica would create amazing pictures but I think everyone was blown away by them – they are absolutely beautiful. Angelica was fantastic to work with on the day and captured some amazing documentary style shots as well as beautiful family shots. The drinks and canapés reception was down by the pool before guests started to make their way up to the Bella Vista Terrace where the wedding breakfast would be held.

The String Trio made their way up there too to play for another hour before departing. Harry and Whitney did their first dance before the meal which is more traditional in American weddings and then sat down for dinner. It was a typical Italian feast and Casa Cornacchi did a great job! This was followed by some wonderful speeches and the cutting of the tiramisu! After a father and daughter dance and mother and son dance the party started – playlists had been created by Whitney and Harry and all guests danced the night away.

Before Angelica departed we made sure Harry and Whitney had a sparkler picture outside by the olive trees lit up with lights.

This was such a special wedding for me to work on as it was such a fantastic five days – Harry, Whitney and their family and friends truly treated me like a guest all week and it was such an amazing celebration. They are a wonderful couple and it is so nice to be able to call them friends.

This is a lovely testimonial from Whitney: