Allison and Emmett’s Stunning Villa Cetinale Wedding in Tuscany
THIS GLAMOUROUS GATSBY INSPIRED WEDDING IS MUST-SEE FOR GREAT GATSBY LOVERS
Guys and dolls brace yourselves – we have one heck of a glam wedding to share with you today!! Along with all the glitz and glamour, this luxury wedding features giant balloons, sequin dresses, colorful bouquets and Jimmy Choos!!
“Our wedding was Gatsby inspired, but with a more modern feel. We wanted glitz, glamour and black tie – but we also wanted it to be fun!” Allison began.“I wanted the decor to be personal and modern, with a few vintage touches. I had bought cute A&M marquee lights around Christmas (our first initials), and then just happened to keep finding more in stores – especially around Valentines day. I ended up with a bunch that said LOVE or had hearts, and they added a nice glow to the room. I also decided to get jumbo balloons to be used as a prop in pictures and give the room a fun and festive feel. I ordered 2 that said “Mr.” and “Mrs.” for Mike from The Knot Shop, and then a mix of pink, blush, white and silver to use as decor. I asked my photographer to take some editorial style shots, and the balloons were the perfect prop. Then later I had a Polaroid station at a table in a sitting area, and the balloons served as the perfect backdrop. Our guests loved taking pictures with them.” She explained.
“I also created a lot of posters of varying sizes that had meaning to us, and put in them in frames around the room. We love both the city, and the beach, in fact we live in Hoboken, NJ (outside of New York City) and also have a beach house in Lavallette, New Jersey. I ordered small posters from Zazzle (where you can customize everything) of Hoboken, and Lavellette, and of New Jersey with our initials near Hoboken and “love” near Lavallette.”
“During our ceremony, we chose readings for each other (Mike chose “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin, I chose “A Lovely Love Story” by Edward Monkton. My reading was about a male dinosaur who is stuck in a cage of ice and meets a lovely other female dinosaur who is keen on shopping and falls in love. One of the posters had an adorable pair of T-Rex dinos and said “I love you this much” and the other saying “That’s not very much” (ha!) Another large poster had the lyrics from our first dance (Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight”) – “And I’ll feel a GLOW just thinking of you”.
“Our ceremony was one of my favorite parts of the day because it was so light and so personal and our guests LOVED that we’d made it true to us” She added.
“We decided to have our friend Scott marry us, in part because he introduced us and knows us well as a couple, and because he is hilarious! I know a lot of brides say the ceremony is really uncomfortable for them (standing up there with all eyes on them), but I honestly had the best time during our ceremony. Scott poked fun at Mike for waiting so long to get married (he’s the last of his friends.) And he explained how much partnership means to us. He gave recognition to our parents, as both of ours have been married for 50 years (which is rare these days!) And we had picked readings for each other (mine was a surprise to him) which were really sweet and personal. Scott joked around and made the ceremony light (during our vows, after having Mike go first, telling me to say “Ditto.”) The crowd was laughing the whole time during our ceremony.At the cocktail hour so many people came up to me saying it was the best ceremony they had ever witnessed.”
“For colors I knew I wanted neutrals and metallics (I’m not a color person.) but there was a point where I just couldn’t decide on a color scheme for flowers. Pinterest has become this wonderful thing for wedding inspiration, but there are also some really over the top, hard to pull of ideas. I knew I wanted to incorporate something totally unique using flowers for our wedding. Our ceremony was in the Boathouse Chapel (a beautiful chapel with stone mantle and fire place out on a dock at Mallard Island.) Our florist Melinda suggested stuffing a frame with fresh flowers and hanging it above the mantle during our ceremony. I finally decided to use shades of pink for our flowers with white anenomes (they have navy centers which matched Mike’s custom tux!), and bought a large, gold frame at a vintage store. The arrangement turned out perfectly! We leaned it up against our table during the reception, and it acted as the perfect decor. I had also bought matte black miniature vintage vases on Etsy, and asked Melinda to put one white anemone in each and scatter them on the head table. They turned out so adorable, I stole one and put it on our table during the reception. I LOVED my flowers, they came out exactly as I envisioned them. The best part was bringing them all home and scattering them around our beach house!”
“One of my favorite parts of designing the look was picking out my bridesmaids’ dresses. I knew I wanted a mix of floor length Adrianna Pappell gowns that were embellished and sequined. One of her gowns was simple but so elegant: fully sequined with cap sleeves and a scoop back. The color was a perfect warm grey called Lead. I gave the girls a choice between that and a lighter silver sequined gown, which was perfect for my one pregnant friend as it was comfortable and stretchy, then we found a different gown for my sister who was my maid of honor. I let everyone pick their own and we ended up with a nice mix of grey metallic’s. As a gift to my bridesmaids I got them beautiful faux fur stoles, the girls were so excited to receive them and they looked beautiful!” Allison told us.
“I had a hard time finding my dress however, everything was lace – and it just wasn’t doing it for me. Finally I realized I really wanted a satin gown. Sadly, most bridal stores I visited didn’t carry a lot of satin. I did however go to Kleinfeld on a whim, and the first two dresses they pulled for me I loved! I decided on a Dennis Basso trumpet style gown, which I had my seamstress add crinoline to to really make it pop at the bottom. It had a jewel encrusted sweetheart neckline, and the back laced up. I felt like a princess in it, and it complemented our venue perfectly. Mike’s mom shared with me some vintage jewelry she had from Mike’s grandmother, and I decided to wear her Art Deco drop earrings that she had converted to posts from clip-ons. Then I wore my maternal grandmother’s old rhinestone necklace as a choker. I never met my grandmother, and really enjoyed wearing something of hers on my wedding day.”
“Mike bought me Jimmy Choos as a wedding gift in Anthracite, a gunmetal color, which complemented the girls’ dresses beautifully. He got his tux custom made in a midnight blue, which allowed him to stand out from the rest of the guys (who wore black tuxes.) I got him a Panerai watch as a wedding gift, and he wore that. He looked so handsome! I joked he looked better than me. I had a hard time finding a make up artist, but fell in love with how Karla did my makeup – we did a natural look, and so I looked like me, but just a better version of myself. My hair stylist I had known all my life, and we did again a natural look with loose curls and a little volume in the back. I was really happy with how it all came together.”
“The most special moment of our wedding day was our first look. It was again, so personal, and so special with us just being alone together and Mike seeing me as his bride for the first time. It reminded me of when he proposed, how emotional it was, and again we just stood there and hugged for a long time. Then we did our secret handshake and chugged a beer! Haha. I would TOTALLY recommend every couple do a first look. It’s really special to just be alone for a few moments on your wedding day. That was really the only time we had like that where we were alone and just enjoyed US as a couple with no distractions. I also loved spending time with my bridesmaids, getting ready with them and dancing with them. And I loved having my bridal attendant follow me around cater to my every whim (I really miss that!)”
“If anyone is a details person like me, I would advise to NOT wait until the last minute to get all your cute details in order! That caused me some unnecessary stress. People told me to slow down on my wedding day and to be in the moment – otherwise, I will blink and it will be over. I reminded that of myself all day – to just be present, and take in my surroundings. I did not feel like my wedding was over in a flash, I felt truly present and immersed in it the whole way through. I would also suggest writing down some of your favorite moments the day after, to capture the feelings you have before they slip away. I would highly recommend to get a videographer, even if it’s a super reasonable one. I got one at the last minute, and I CANNOT wait to see our video. That will allow me to relive the wedding. I am so happy someone convinced me to do that. I’ve already forgotten my sister’s speech and parts of our ceremony. I cannot wait to hear the words again.”
“Lastly, I know wedding planning is tough. It can drive you crazy and cause you to be unable to focus on things (like work!) And because it’s one day, you might question your madness and all the preparation going into it, but now I understand why people say it’s the Best Day Ever. It’s truly a magical experience to be surround by everyone you love, who loves you, who is happy for you to make this commitment and start this new chapter of your life. The chaos is worth it, I promise.”
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Photographer: Susan Elizabeth Photography | Hair Stylist: Salon Jade | Makeup Artist: Karla’s Makeovers | Floral Designer: Flowers by Melinda | Band: Almost Easy | Reception Venue: Mallard Island Yacht Club | Cinema and Video: Alliance Video Productions | Submitted via Two Bright Lights |
Fabulous style and glamour. The bridesmaids look fab! Stunning bride. Such a glitzy wedding, congratulations!
These photos are just sooooo pretty! It is like one of those magazine weddings, you just want to stare at it!
This wedding is super cute!! Just look at those playful color palette and the newlyweds’ smiles on this special day! Priceless.
Very stylish! Absolutely stunning.
This is glamorous! The big balloons are a nice touch! Thanks for the inspiration!
That dress!.. So beautiful and I love the giant balloons!
Love the frame full of flowers what a great idea! So beautiful!