“I convinced Niall to get a traditional Italian Millefoglie cake made of custard, strawberries and chocolate with the words ‘You Idiot’on the top!”
The couple: Eimear & Niall
Wedding venue: Castello di Montegufoni, Tuscany, Italy
Wedding planner: Alessia B Weddings
Photographer: Ros from Couple Photography
We met… At Lillie’s Bordello Nightclub. We got on great that night and went for a date the next week. I was dressed like Sandy from Grease, he couldn’t resist me.
Our proposal… Niall proposed when we were at home. I was talking to him and following him around the house. He just said do you want to get married? He had the box with the ring in his hands, he opened the box and and I said no way that’s not real!! HA HA. I was totally shocked. He had bought a bottle of Cristal Champagne so we sipped that and called our family to tell them. At that stage, everyone was crying.
His Suit… Niall’s suit was Louis Copeland, designed by Darren Kennedy. It was a three-piece fitted lightweight electric blue micro check, Italian fabric with peak lapel and double breasted waistcoat worm with a burnt orange tie with matching handkerchief and socks. His shoes were Prada Brogues in a burgundy colour.
My dress… I got my dress in San Diego in White Flower Bridal Boutique. My daughter Shauna was there on a J1. It was Augusta Jones, style Bell. It was a sweetheart strapless ivory lace gown with layer upon layer of lace that ended in a train with scalloped lace trim. I wore the dress with a Swarovski bridal sash.
Our ceremony… It was an unplugged ceremony with no photos or videos, only our photographer was allowed at this stage to take any pictures. It was with 50 friends and family in the open air under the shade in the Corte del Duchi (Kings Court). The music was a string quartet hidden in an overhead balcony (they gave everyone a laugh when they played the theme from The Godfather!) It was a tearful ceremony, we had two boxes of Kleenex used by all the guests.
What my bridesmaid wore… My bridesmaid was my daughter Shauna. She wore a pale pink long Debs style dress.
We chose our photographer because… We chose Ros from Couple Photography because her work is amazing. She is very bubbly and we knew she would be great fun to work with. She was extremely professional and brilliant at getting everyone in for the photos. I love my photos – it is going to be so difficult to only choose 100 for the album – there are just too many I adore!
We chose our venue because… When we arrived to view Castello di Montegufoni a castle dating back to the 12th century it was raining. The owner of the castle did not want us to view it in the rain. But we were in Italy that day to look at four venues and needed to see it that day. Niall loved it as soon as we walked in to the vast courtyard. He kept whispering to me “We’re having this!” I loved it too with the views of the Tuscan countryside and rolling hills. It was spectacular, what was there not to love?!
We chose our wedding planner… We chose Alessia Broccolini because when we decided we wanted to get married in Italy, I emailed lots of wedding planners I found online. I actually discovered her details on a post on weddingsonline where someone recommended her. I emailed her and I just got a good feeling from the tone of the email. So I went with my instincts because I just liked her and it turned out she was brilliant!
Our menu… All the food on the menu was Italian. After the ceremony, we had apertifs with Italian cold meats, cheese, mini pizzas and assorted Italian canapés with Prosecco. For our first course we had Bonbon stuffed with baked ham and cream cheese or Noodle with tomato and pesto sauce. The second course was Grilled ‘Chianina’ beef or cheese selection with lots of side dishes to choose from. We served wedding cake (traditional Italian Millefoglie) for our dessert with Composta di Frutta.
My favourite part of the wedding… After the ceremony, when we were officially married and could now celebrate with friends and family. I also really enjoyed cutting the traditional Italian Millefoglie cake made of custard, strawberries and chocolate with the words ‘You Idiot’ on the top. We say ‘you idiot’ to each other when we do something stupid/silly but it’s in an affectionate way! My dad loves it and now he says it too! So I convinced Niall to get it on the cake because it’s funny and we have such a laugh at each other!
My advice for other brides… Don’t hold back, get everything you would really love as hopefully you are only going to do this once! I didn’t drink until the disco at the end of the night because I didn’t want to forget any moment of the day.
