There are wedding weekends, then there was this! The JustSeventy team produced this family’s first event a decade ago and now it was time to raise the stakes and head to Italy for an unforgettable wedding.
Privatising the stunning Villa Cora, a 19th Century property, certainly provided a welcoming and tranquil base for the guests’ main accommodation location. Located just outside Florence’s historical centre, it was the perfect place to allow the family and their guests to get around during the three days.
‘The calm before the storm’ is a well-known expression however on this occasion it was ‘The storm, the chaos then the calm’! Friday was planned in such a way that the guests would arrive, check in and enjoy their custom-packed Italian gift bags, then enjoy a wonderful welcome dinner in the evening. However just 7 days before the guests would fly in, a wild storm in Florence saw a tree fall through the roof of the Friday night venue! As with all required troubleshooting, the JustSeventy team took to the task of finding a new venue which, of course, was no easy feat in just a week. This said, it proves that sometimes the other storm-related expression ‘After every storm comes a rainbow’ runs true, as the team found a substantially superior venue for the welcome dinner and Plan B was far better than Plan A would have been!
Held in the biggest private garden in Florence, the Friday welcome dinner was lively and relaxed yet wonderfully impressive. To differentiate the evening from the official wedding dinner later in the weekend, the garden was set with an Italian-style street market. The Knights Club Buskers kept the guests entertained whilst allowing them to reunite and take in the beautiful Tuscan scenes.
When in a different place, guests always appreciate some time to relax or to explore the region on their own. Saturday was therefore a free day for all, finished with a backgammon tournament at Villa Cora in the evening. A firm favourite of the bride and groom for games night entertainment, incorporating backgammon into the plans ensured that all wedding nerves before the big day were quashed by good old-fashioned fun.
Yet another breath-taking Florentine location, Villa Palmieri was host to the main wedding day on Sunday. Sitting majestically overlooking Florence for over half a millennium, this patrician villa would frame the full wedding day perfectly, from ceremony to dinner and party. The levels of architectural design and detail put into the wedding day plans by the JustSeventy team ensured that everything looked phenomenal. An astro-turf cover was added on the tennis courts ready for the chuppah to be installed, which was luxuriously dressed by Tuscany Flowers in an immeasurable quantity of foliage and white flowers in order to give the impression that it had been growing like that for centuries. With guests seated and music playing, the bridal party made their way through the romantic medieval gardens with a special ceremony at the end of the route… even with a surprise cardboard cut-out of the bride’s dog to ensure that he would be there in spirit!
Continuing the guests’ journey through this paradisal setting, the drinks reception was held in the beautifully manicured gardens before making their way to the dinner on the upper terrace. Long tables with luxurious full floral designs complimented the setting perfectly. This terrace, with the most stunning views across the gardens and beyond, felt as though it had been constructed especially for this bride and groom’s special day. An accurately planned layout of the tables was beautifully symmetrical and sat in front of a custom stage and dance floor where Muzika band would play, as well as members of the family taking to the stage for their speeches.
After a delicious Italian feast, interspersed with lively dancing, an energetic moment of theatre took place: chefs took to the dance floor and made the mille feuille wedding cake in the middle of the crowds for all to see. Whether a sugar rush from the cake or riding high on a spectacular wedding in once-in-a-lifetime setting, the party continued inside the villa until the early morning and saw the weekend finish with a full dance floor.
This wedding was also featured on the popular wedding blog website Smashing the Glass, check it out here.
To have the team at JustSeventy create a magical experience for you, contact us on the form below, at events@justseventy.com or call us on 020 7060 7170
