A Tuscan Garden Wedding at La Foce

Fusing drama and elegance, Erin and David’s Tuscan wedding spills with the kind of magic Italian’s dream up with such effortless ease. Set amongst the undulating hills of the Italian countryside, Erin and David were married at the iconic La Foce. Outside the historic 15th century villa, the ceremony took place amongst the sculptural, manicured estate gardens accented with romantic blooms.

After post-ceremony drinks at sundown, guests were moved through to an alfresco reception dinner draped in candlelight, before dancing until dawn. Capturing every moment of exquisite beauty were wedding photographers Flora & Grace.

Tuscan Wedding Venue

tuscan wedding venue

Our Story

Names / Erin & David

Wedding Date / May 18th, 2022

Guest Numbers / 70

How We Met

David and I met at his old restaurant in Arizona. Went on our first date and haven’t spent a day apart since, 8 years ago!

Our Engagement Story

My favorite place in the world is Sedona, Arizona. David surprised me by telling me we had a guided hiking tour through the vortex’s. Little did I know this ‘tour guide’ was our engagement photographer. We did a little hike and ended up high up in the gorgeous red rocks, and that is when David popped the question! It was magical.

Marriage To Us Means…

Creating the groundwork to lead a beautiful and full life together. Marriage is companionship, trust, and family. The ultimate way to show your love and commitment to each other.

The Setting

Wedding Location

David and I had our wedding at La Foce. We were introduced to the 15th century villa from our amazing wedding planners Laura Bravi & Viviana Tarantino. Truly two of the most genuine women we’ve ever met. A dear friend of ours from Umbria introduced us to these lovely ladies and told us he had never been to a more beautiful wedding. HE.WAS.RIGHT. They knew exactly what we were looking for in a venue, and their overall approach and execution was next level. Tuscany was magical. La Foce and those immaculate gardens are out of a fairytale. We felt as though we stepped back in time. Our ceremony was down in the famous gardens, overlooking the breathtaking Val d’Orcia and snake road. It was then followed by the most amazing cocktail hour in the Limonia garden and dinner by candlelight under the trees. We feel so incredibly lucky that our story started in this charming place.

Aesthetic

Our style was timeless, romantic and whimsical. We knew that we didn’t want to take away from La Foce because it offered so much beauty already.

Preparation

I miss this day so much when I think back! We all got ready in the Villa. Myself and the girls were up in the bridal suite, and the boys were down in the library. We didn’t have a wedding party so the whole day was perfectly intimate with close family. I found the sweetest, most talented makeup artist, Alena Bezrodna, to assist the girls in the villa on the wedding day. If I could have her do my makeup everyday I would!! Everyone was so pleased with their look. Alena gave me so much confidence! Most importantly, I felt like I looked like myself. We had some pici pasta for lunch, toasted with some prosecco, I took a moment to myself to write out my vows and I was off to marry my best friend.

“My favorite place in the world is Sedona, Arizona. David surprised me by telling me we had a guided hiking tour through the vortex’s. Little did I know this ‘tour guide’ was our engagement photographer.”

Photography

There will never be enough words in any language to express my gratitude to Jasmin and Tim at Flora & Grace. We were introduced to them through our wedding planners and as soon as I saw their work I knew we would be working together. Every image tells a story and takes you right back to that day. They captured our wedding weekend completely. When we saw our photos and videos for the first time we couldn’t even speak right away. They are perfectly dramatic, chic and romantic. An absolute dream.

Videography

Flora & Grace did an amazing job with our videos. The drone shots are beyond!!

Style Notes

(Written by Wedding Stylist Laura Bravi)

Ceremony Décor

The ceremony took place in the iconic garden of La Foce, so the decor’s goal was to gently complement its already striking architecture and landscape. A chuppah was built on site and decorated with floral arrangements trailing from the ground to the top, and it featured a sentimental family piece. White florals lined the aisle, and cones with petals were distributed to guests to shower the couple after their “I Do.”.

Reception Décor

Again, the venue is very striking, so the decor’s goal was to remain timeless, chic, elegant, and sophisticated, but simple at the same time. A palette of creamy whites, greens, golds, and a touch of walnut and black were used throughout the decor, from the flowers to the paper elements, to the table setting.

Wedding Planner & Stylist

We (Viviana and Laura) presented a mood board to the couple visually expressing the concepts of modern romance and timeless elegance, and Erin and David graciously trusted us to expand on it and to bring it to life!

Flowers

Colour and texture were the deciding factors when it came to florals. We gave our floral designers the structure of what we wanted to achieve and they selected the perfect blooms to take the design from page to reality. For Erin, we wanted a bouquet that wouldn’t fade in her hands, she is so beautiful that it had to match her, or at least try to!

Stationery

All paper elements were also geared towards classic style and artisanal feeling. Invitations were letterpressed on cotton paper, and day-of stationery was handwritten by the bride in black on beautiful cream textured paper.

Favors

Olive oil made in the wedding venue doubled as a place card holder and favor. Tasty and meaningful!

Cake

The cake was a millefoglie – an Italian wedding cake with cream and berries, built on-site by the caterer’s chefs. It was a huge hit!

Food & Beverages

Cocktail hour had a mix of passed appetizers, a buffet of typical Tuscan dishes, and a full open bar. Dinner was a sit-down meal, with multiple courses and accompanied by wine chosen personally by the couple’s Italian friend that referred them to us. Coffee, cocktails and midnight snacks were served on the dance floor and got everyone going all night.

Fashion & Beauty Notes

Bride’s Dress

Eva Lendel, Jess Dress. I saw this dress about a year before we got engaged and saved it to my pinterest board. Fast forward a few years and David and I just moved to NYC. My first week there I am walking down 5th avenue and I look up to see my wedding dress in a second story window. The rest was history.

Bride’s Shoes

Aquazzura, So Nude 85mm in satin.

Bridesmaids’ Dresses

My sister and David’s sister were my two maid of honors and they wore Zimmerman & Mac Duggal.

Wedding Rings

I wanted a really timeless piece, so I went with a solitaire radiant cut and a thin gold band. David chose a gold wedding band as well.

Jewelry / Accessories

I wore a sapphire bracelet that my mother gifted me as my something blue and my grandmother’s ring on my other hand. David wore his grandfather’s gold cufflinks which looked great with his white tux jacket!

Hair & Makeup

I wore my hair down with a loose wave. Perfection!

The Details

Transport

Staying at the villa where we had the ceremony was a unique experience. We didn’t feel rushed or stressed and when it was time we walked down the famous stairs to our chuppah.

Honeymoon

We went a little non-traditional for the honeymoon! We have a group of really close friends who love to travel so we rented a boat and sailed the amalfi for 5 days. That was the trip of a lifetime! Everywhere we stopped and anchored we saw friends and family from the wedding. It felt like our party lasted two weeks! After the boat David and I spent a few nights just us in Sorrento. Absolutely magical.

Entertainment

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about our wedding music. What a night! Our string band during the ceremony was so perfect. During dinner we had some jazz in the background but then surprised guests with a tenor! Incredible acoustics at La Foce by the way. The shakes performed the first half of our reception and everyone LOVED them, they were sort of a funk, soul band but played some new stuff as well. To end the night we had a DJ&Sax duo. What.A.Night. Our guests are still talking about this month’s later. We danced until 5am!

Celebrant

Rabbi Haim Casas flew in from Spain to perform our ceremony. We are so grateful he did. He tied everything together so beautifully and our guests loved him!

Our Advice

A memorable moment…

The wind blew during our ceremony in the most magical way just as our Rabbi was talking about the people who have passed were still with us. I’ll never forget it. In the jewish faith wind is incredibly symbolic, the timing was beautiful. I also remember walking up the stairs and seeing everything from above just the two of us right after the ceremony and just wanting to pause time, just for a little at that moment.

One thing I wish I knew before I started my wedding plans…

The last few weeks were definitely a bit crazy trying to finalize a destination wedding but we just kept telling ourselves, “breathe, be grateful, you’re on your way to your dream wedding. What will be, will be”.

If I could give other brides to be one piece of advice…

Don’t stress the small things because at the end of the day you won’t remember them. Stay present from planning to ‘I Do’. Remember to take some time with your partner to take it all in.