italy wedding

Happy Anniversary Elena + Steve!

Wedding in Tuscany Italy

So this is a big one.

I was so honoured when Elena + Steve asked me to join them in Tuscany for their Italian destination wedding. I’ve known Elena for years now, she’s an amazing Oakville portrait photographer.

The wedding was held at a beautiful villa in the hills of Tuscany called La Sorgente Di Francesca. The wedding had multiple events spread over multiple days and this post is just for the wedding, we’ll get to the cocktail reception, civil ceremony and pizza dinner soon!

The wedding day began with a really nice civil ceremony at city hall… a beautiful Italian city hall… in the nearby town of Pontassieve (blog post on this to follow!)

The entire day, and the entire couple days of the wedding, was super relaxed so we had a break for a couple hours before everyone started getting ready for the second wedding ceremony and wedding reception.

One of my favourite moments of the day was when Elena’s father saw her for there first time, his reaction was so joyful and earnest. It’s was obvious to all the special connection Elena has with her parents.

The wedding ceremony was held just before sunset in the front courtyard of the villa with Elena + Steve’s kids as their wedding party. Hard to top a ceremony at sunset overlooking the hills of Tuscany!

The ceremony was an emotional and tear filled including a really touching sand ceremony involving all the children and Elena and Steve as a new combined family. Since Elena + Steve had already been legally married in that beautiful civil ceremony earlier in the day, all the children were even allowed to sign as ‘witnesses’ during this ceremony.

After being showered with confetti by guests during their recessional up the aisle, a group shot with the everyone at the wedding (including my kids!) and some family portraits in the setting sun it was time for dinner. As to be expected, the food was fantastic and everyone enjoyed a beautiful open air meal under the stars and crescent moon surrounded by the tuscan hills.

The evening continued on with a first dance, a fun sparkler cake cutting and then some intense dancing late into the night. Buy me a beer sometime and I’ll tell you a great story about the DJ. (sorry Steve!)

Check out some of my favourite wedding photographs from this Tuscany destination wedding up above as well as Elena + Steve’s full wedding slideshow below.

I can’t ever thank Elena + Steve enough for bringing me (and two of my kids!) along for the trip of a lifetime. Oh the pizza… I ate so much pizza.

Tuscany Wedding Pizza Party

Elena + Steve

This is the final post for Elena + Steve’s wedding! You can check out their Tuscan destination wedding, Italian civil ceremony, Tuscan wedding details and cocktail reception.

Elena + Steve finished off their official wedding events with an amazing pizza reception the night after their Tuscan destination wedding at the villa La Sorgente di Francesca. The villa has an outdoor stone pizza oven, I was impressed but I’m guessing this is pretty standard in Italy. A professional pizza chef was brought in and there was an endless supply of pizza’s to feed everyone. And holy hell these pizzas were amazing…. I might have eaten 3. Don’t judge me.

Drinks were had, UNO was played and great conversations flowed throughout the night. It was the perfect end to a perfect couple of days in Tuscany with Elena + Steve and an amazing group of people. I will cherish my time in Italy with them until my final days.

Now, who else is getting married in Italy and wants to take me? Pretty please :)

Tuscany Destination Wedding

Elena + Steve

So this is a big one.

I was so honoured when Elena + Steve asked me to join them in Tuscany for their Italian destination wedding. I’ve known Elena for years now, she’s an amazing Oakville portrait photographer.

The wedding was held at a beautiful villa in the hills of Tuscany called La Sorgente Di Francesca. The wedding had multiple events spread over multiple days and this post is just for the wedding, we’ll get to the cocktail reception, civil ceremony and pizza dinner soon!

The wedding day began with a really nice civil ceremony at city hall… a beautiful Italian city hall… in the nearby town of Pontassieve (blog post on this to follow!)

The entire day, and the entire couple days of the wedding, was super relaxed so we had a break for a couple hours before everyone started getting ready for the second wedding ceremony and wedding reception.

One of my favourite moments of the day was when Elena’s father saw her for there first time, his reaction was so joyful and earnest. It’s was obvious to all the special connection Elena has with her parents.

The wedding ceremony was held just before sunset in the front courtyard of the villa with Elena + Steve’s kids as their wedding party. Hard to top a ceremony at sunset overlooking the hills of Tuscany!

The ceremony was an emotional and tear filled including a really touching sand ceremony involving all the children and Elena and Steve as a new combined family. Since Elena + Steve had already been legally married in that beautiful civil ceremony earlier in the day, all the children were even allowed to sign as ‘witnesses’ during this ceremony.

After being showered with confetti by guests during their recessional up the aisle, a group shot with the everyone at the wedding (including my kids!) and some family portraits in the setting sun it was time for dinner. As to be expected, the food was fantastic and everyone enjoyed a beautiful open air meal under the stars and crescent moon surrounded by the tuscan hills.

The evening continued on with a first dance, a fun sparkler cake cutting and then some intense dancing late into the night. Buy me a beer sometime and I’ll tell you a great story about the DJ. (sorry Steve!)

Check out some of my favourite wedding photographs from this Tuscany destination wedding up above as well as Elena + Steve’s full wedding slideshow below.

I can’t ever thank Elena + Steve enough for bringing me (and two of my kids!) along for the trip of a lifetime. Oh the pizza… I ate so much pizza.

Tuscany Wedding Details

Elena + John

And now for something a little different from me!

We’ll get back to posts about the wedding soon but I just wanted to share some little details of the villa La Sorgenta di Francesca that I loved during my 3 days there. To say I loved my time in Tuscany, and all of Italy, would be a huge understatement.

Check out my blog post for the Tuscany destination wedding and their Italian civil wedding ceremony.

Tuscany Wedding Cocktail Reception

Elena + Steve

This is the 4th post of I’m guessing 5 at this point from Elena + Steve’s destination wedding in Tuscany. check out other posts about their Tuscany destination wedding, Italian civil ceremony and some villa details.

Elena + Steve kicked off their multi day Tuscany destination wedding with a beautiful poolside cocktail reception the evening before the wedding at the villa La Sorgente di Francesca overlooking the gorgeous hills of Tuscany.

This wedding had guests from across Europe and North America so this was a great opportunity for everyone to get know each other over cocktails and a beautiful antipasto spread.

And then there was the moment when I was photographing a group shot of the guys when I finished I
JOKINGLY said ‘Okay now throw the groom in the pool!’ and well, then this happened.

Tuscany Destination Wedding Ceremony

Elena + Steve

Part two of who knows how many blog posts about Elena and Steve’s amazing destination wedding I was privileged to photograph in the hills outside of Tuscany, Italy. Please check out my blog post about the Tuscany destination wedding and reception.

In Italy, you only have two choices to legally get married… in a church or at city hall. Elena + Steve chose to get married at the city hall in the closest town to the villa La Sorgente di Francesca. And I have to say the charming little Italian town of Pontassieve was the perfect choice. I think Elena + Steve just figured this civil ceremony was something they just had to do to make things legal but in my opinion it was actually one of the most charming parts of the entire trip!

Elena + Steve got ready at the vila and then we all piled into vehicles for the drive into town (Steve bravely driving the mini bus himself!). To say I enjoyed my 4 days driving around the hills of Tuscany in my little VW Polo stick shift would be an understatement…. of course, on this drive I got twisted around and lost Steve. I panicked and parked to ask for directions when I realized I had accidentally parked right at city hall and was in the right spot. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. :)

City hall wedding ceremony’s in North America, while usually heartfelt, tend to be a little on the drab side… usually in small, dimly lit rooms. Of course, this being Italy, city hall was a beautiful old building in the heart of town and the ceremony room itself was massive with soaring ceilings and windows!

Steve and Elena exchanged vows in front of about 20 of their guests in a wedding ceremony conducted by a city official in Italian. Elena + Steve hired a translator but honestly this guy did such an amazing job and it was really nice to hear the ceremony officiated in Italian. One of the best moments was when Elena and Steve were surprised when the city official presented them with a beautiful etching by a local Artis to commemorate their wedding day!

After the ceremony we hung around for a few quick portraits in the town square (it was SOOOO hot out) we all headed back to the villa for a nice champagne toast in the courtyard followed by a nice little siesta before the rest of the days festivities got started.

Check out some of my favourite images from the ceremony and come back soon for the next post for Elena + Steve’s wedding!