As much of the US is under snow and a deep freeze I think we are all in need of an escape. And this gorgeous pre-covid Italian micro wedding may be just the thing to fix our winter blues!
Back in the days of travel ( remember those?!) Angela and Daniel said I do overlooking Florence and roamed the streets for photos in some stunning locations. They were joined by a handful of friends for the ceremony and a private dinner after.
Enjoy this virtual escape and some Q&A with the couple below!
Photography: My Paris Elopement
Second Photographers: The Parisian Photographers
Officiant: The Paris Officiant
Venue: Villa la vedetta hotel
Jewelry : Ethan Lord Jewelers
Dress Designer: Pronovias
Shoes: Badgley Mischka
How did you meet?
We first met through a mutual friend. I had just moved from New Jersey and I did not have many friends in the Chicago area. Daniel was one of the few people at my friend’s house when I first paid her a visit. He was super friendly and was so easy going. We clicked pretty fast and had great conversations from the beginning. We quickly found that we shared similar interests such as trying out new restaurants and traveling. We started to date not long after and the rest is history. 🙂
Tell us about the proposal
The proposal was during our first trip to Europe during Christmas. We started our 15-day trip in London and visited Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, and Prague. It is at Prague Daniel had secretly planned a surprise proposal. He had carried the ring in a hidden pocket for a whole 10 days before the proposal! It was two days before Christmas and he took me to a beautiful villa-restaurant up on a hill overlooking the city of Prague. He had successfully convinced me that it was a “Christmas dinner” he had reservation for. The stairs leading up to the private dining space up in the tower had candles and rose petals the whole way up. Once we got up there our favorite music was playing in the background and Daniel was on one knee when I turned around. It truly was a beautiful surprise! When then did our engagement pictures at our next stop in Europe – which was Paris.
Tell us about the wedding day and how you decided on a destination elopement?
We both love traveling and always wanted to get married in a beautiful setting. It was both of our forever dreams to have an outdoor wedding and our venue being top of the hill overlooking Florence was just perfect. Although our wedding day started off rainy, it miraculously cleared up just in time allowing us to be married outside at sunset. It was magical!
We are both very simple people and wanted classic tones such as white and pale pink for our wedding. As we were blessed with the beautiful setting already, we did minimal decorations during ceremony and reception. Our flower vendor was awesome and created such beautiful arch for our ceremony and the bridal bouquet of my dreams. We also both kept our attire pretty traditional which I feel matched the gorgeous classic charm of our venue.
Tell us about your wedding day attire.
I actually found my dress on the first day I went to look at dresses. It was a small boutique in Chicago carrying line of Pronovias dresses. Although it was not my intention to purchase on the first day, I knew this was the dress the first time I tried them on. I love the simple lines of the mermaid silhouette with delicate overlaying lace. I also loved the back with corset feature and how comfortable it was. The designers at Pronovias was able to make the dress in varying lengths so I didn’t even have to alter the dress at all!
What were some of your favorite moments of the day?
Our first-look was very special for us. My husband had never seen the dress although it was hanging in our home for 5+ months before our wedding day. Sparing him with any details of my dress, hair-do, etc. throughout our planning, it was really fun to finally see each other just before we said our I-do’s. Our photographer, Pierre, captured the lovely moment so perfectly, we now have beautiful pictures to reminisce our special moment of our wedding day.
Did you have any issues planning from a distance? Any advice for other planning their elopements?
I luckily did not experience any horrible moments during our wedding planning. Although planning an overseas wedding was scary at first, I was so fortunate to meet awesome vendors who helped tremendously through our planning process. I would say there is not one way to plan a wedding. It’s about what you want your special day to look like and it really doesn’t have to cost a fortune to make your dream come alive. I would recommend doing a lot of research, which has become so much easier with Internet nowadays and to have fun while planning!
