Today’s featured engagement comes from one of our sweet readers, Cristina. She’s the blushing Bride in this feature! We LOVE it when our readers submit their photos to us for a feature!!! Valeria Beltrami, of Valeria Beltrami Photography documented their big day beautifully. Cristina and Fabrizio were married on October 1, 2011 at San Galgano, a beautiful roofless abbey in Tuscany. Cristina was kind enough to answer a few questions for us:
How did you and Fabrizio meet? We have been colleagues for some years in two different advertising agencies, but did not get along very well for a long time: we didn’t even say hello when we met in the corridors!
Translation: For tears of joy”
How long have you been together? Considering also the “difficult periods”, we’ve been together for 4 years.
How did Fabrizio propose? Now, that’s a long story: he proposed the first time at dinner during a week-end in Sorrento, but at that time my divorce from the previous wedding was still not ratified, so I told him he would have needed to do that again, and asked him to be far more creative than the classic “restaurant-dinner-ring” thing.
A year later we were having a trekking holiday in Germany, and he proposed at dinner, in a restaurant in Freudenstadt, but I was quite disappointed that in a year he couldn’t think of anything better than restaurant and dinner (again), so I said no.
Finally, in April, I was having a quite tough period at work and taking care of my children and all the rest, and he sent a “Kit Kat” to my office, and when I opened it I found a small card saying “Have a break, and take this time to consider my wedding proposal”.
So I went to his office, and asked the door keeper to call him and give him a card: he took it and didn’t even notice I was few meters away: got into the elevator and read it. When he read I was downstairs ready for saying yes, he stopped the elevator and got stuck into it, but at the end he succeeded to reach me and we kissed, had a glass of wine, and set the date.
What sold you on your wedding venue? We chose San Galgano for the ceremony because we had our first vacation there, and though we were really far far away from feeling that we would have gotten married one day, we made fun of each other saying “Ok, let’s get married here!”. So, when we made the decision, that had to be the place! The abbey is dated 1200, so we wanted to keep a sort of continuity for the dinner venue, and we chose a 1200 mill in the vicinity that we stayed at during all our weekend there.
Translation: “No Rice. But a wish perfumed.”
Your dress is gorgeous, where did you get it and how did you know it was “the one”? This was my second wedding, so I did not feel like wearing the classic white dress, and as far as red was in our palette, my dressmaker and I took inspiration from an evening dress picture we saw and decided to mix white for bride and red, modeling the dress very much on my personality. It was a bit scary to start without having actually not seen the dress on me, but watching it becoming “my” dress step after step was very exciting.
What was your “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue”? My something old was my great-grandmother’s necklace; my something new was my outfit (dress, shoes, hat), I borrowed from my best friend the shawl she used on her wedding day, and I had blue ribbons on my underwear !
How did you choose your wedding color palette? Fabrizio and I have a passion for opera, so the first and more important color we chose was the “theatre curtain red”; we added ivory and grey thinking of the retro mood we wanted to give to the whole event.
Do you have any advice for bride and grooms that are in the planning process? I think the most important thing is giving your wedding a very personal touch, and making it reflect who bride and groom are: so my advice would be not to stoop to compromises and work for making your big day actually your’s. That is a bit more demanding than choosing “ready-to-use” solutions, but will make the difference at the end!
What song did you dance to for your first dance? For our first dance we chose an Italian song from the 40’s: “C’è una casetta piccina” by Alberto Rabagliati.
What was your favorite part of your big day? More than a moment, I’d say my favourite part was feeling that all the people there were sharing our same emotions: that was really moving, and unforgettable.
Vendors :
Venue: Ceremony: San Galgano abbey – Chiusdino (Siena) – Italy
Reception: Mulino delle Pile – Chiusdino (Siena) – Italy
Dress: Angela Guzzo atelier – Milano www.angelaguzzoatelier.com
Cake & Catering: Pere e Margherite – Pieve a Presciano (Arezzo) – Italy
DJ/Band: Luca Campana
Invitations/Wedding Stationery: H-57 Creative Station – Milano – Italy
Thank you so much, Valeria, for sharing this amazing wedding with us! And thank you, Cristina, for taking your time to answer our questions and sharing your love story with us! We wish you and Fabrizio a lifetime full of love, laughter, and happiness!!! May every day be better than the last!
If you have an engagement, wedding, day after, or anniversary session that you would like featured- Please send it to us at submissions@groomsoldseparately.com. We HEART submissions!
