Christmas greetings!

Wishing all our Brides and Grooms, past, present and future a very Merry Christmas and all the very best for 2012! 

Behind the scenes on a hot summers day....

Apart from the administrative side to organising weddings and arranging viewings for weddings next year, there is a lot more that takes place here at The Italian Wedding Planner!

Photo by Stacey Syverson

How much does a wedding in Italy cost?

  What is the average budget for a wedding in Italy?...  It maybe the unromantic part of getting married but it is the most important element towards your wedding day.

Jenny Packham Brides

A Jenny Packham bride radiant in the Tuscan sunshine...

Many congratulations Peter and Kate who were married last Saturday near Siena....

Italian weddings... Curiosities and superstitions

The Italian wedding planner

Italy has a very long history and with every region maintaining their own traditions there are many to choose from should you wish to incorporate some in to your wedding day in Italy.

Beautiful wedding photography in Italy

Photographers...

Almost as important as the wedding itself, quality wedding photographs help your memories last a lifetime. Long after the ceremony is over and as you spend the rest of your lives together, you'll gaze fondly at the pictures taken on your wedding day. You'll want photos to share with friends and family, to display in your home, and to fill your wedding album which you may share with future generations...

Since photographs are such an important and lasting keepsake, you want them handled well. With such an important occasion as your wedding, you cannot afford any slipups, mistakes, or mishaps. Poorly taken wedding photographs are not just a disappointment; they can ruin your chances of revisiting the many beautiful details of your wedding day, long after your memory has begun to fade.

Over the years we have composed a list of wonderful photographers. We like to create a TEAM with solid and trusted partners and all the photographers we recommend have a long and successful relationship with us: we enjoy their friendship as much as we love their photos!

Photo by Sim

Kelly Hayes The Italian Wedding Planner

I have lived and worked in Italy since 2004. I set up the business in June 2005 and have rapidly increased our profile in the wedding industry here in Italy not only by hard work, but mostly by being so passionate about what we do.

I started by thinking about why I wanted to jump off my career path in the UK. And the conclusion I came to was that I had lost the passion for what I was doing.

Then I thought about what made me feel passionate – and I decided that anything to do with people and organising really excited me. Anything to do with weddings appealed to my romantic side and anything to do with Italy makes me happy.

I had seen friends, colleagues and associates rushing around like mad things planning their weddings and not always getting ‘stuff’ done. I heard so many people complaining there just weren’t enough hours in the day. And I also noticed that people getting married in Italy found it a minefield of paperwork on top of the stress of dealing with Italians and their unique quirky ways!

I knew I couldn’t physically make the day longer, make the paperwork go away or make the Italians work faster. But I could offer practical help. Someone to do everything for them, organise things, make things happen; someone who they could trust 100% and who had a passion for getting things right – first time, every time; someone who was not going to put mark up’s on the quotes but who would be honest with them and work to organise their wedding as if it were my own.

With a father who was an executive head chef and mother a florist, I feel as if I have grown up in this business, managing 'on-the-day' is what I have done my whole life. My passion for the designing and planning never dims; add to this, my cheeky side and my outspoken and honest nature...and you can be sure I get the job done with ease and a smile. My team and I excel at it... it gives us a buzz. And so the ideas develop…

We believe every wedding is unique and it is for this reason we do not offer ‘wedding packages’. We help the bride and groom achieve a wedding day that is as unique as they are. 
 

As a wedding planner it is not about my personal style, it is about being able to recognise the style, tastes and wishes of any prospective couple and bring them into being. Consequently my styling may sometimes be very traditional; other times I may style a wedding in a modern and contemporary manner. If I had to sum up my preferred style for a wedding I would say: elegant, simple and timeless.
Italy the perfect backdrop for your wedding all year round...

Why engage a wedding planner?

Planning a wedding takes a little more than picking a date, showing up and walking down the aisle. For one thing 90% of the couples we work with live in the UK, USA, Ireland and Australia! Then there is that not so small detail of dealing with the locals, the language barrier as well as the cultural differences which can cause confusion and frustration.

There was a time when wedding planners were an extravagance reserved for the mega rich and famous. These days hiring a coordinator is, if not commonplace in your home country, increasingly popular when getting married abroad.

Why? Well apart from the paperwork and the language issues, most couples have full time jobs that do not allow them a lot of free time. When planning a wedding from thousands of miles away having a cool headed, organised professional around to take on some of the burden is still a luxury, but many brides feel the payoff- less time focused on the little details, more time focused on the big day – is priceless.

What can we do for you? We will introduce you to beautiful locations or work with a venue of your choice. We will suggest vendors and negotiate with them for the best price and service; take care of the responsibilities you’d prefer not to tackle; be there the day of your wedding (and other events around your wedding if required) to make sure everything runs smoothly; and serve occasionally as an impromptu therapist when mounting stress turns you into a crazed tulle-obsessed mess.

Part of our job is to deliver your wedding within budget and to utilise our relationships with vendors to save you money. So if you are a bride or groom who gets hives just thinking about negotiating costs with vendors you many appreciate having an unabashed and experienced third party around to talk numbers.
Beautiful bespoke weddings in Italy… Expertly planned