Russel & Negar

Russel & Negar are a couple from the UK of Persian descent. They were both very dynamic, organized, busy, and… very English. Unlike their parents, they felt uncomfortable with the idea of having a traditional Persian wedding at home, with hundreds of guests they barely knew: that’s how they came across the idea of a destination wedding in Italy.

They told us that they really loved the idea of an informal and very personal wedding. They were dreaming of a beautiful countryside villa where to gather with their closest friends and families.

They wanted the romance of the ultimate Tuscan experience: sun, beauty, good food….and no frills. They came for more than one trip to secure the perfect villa, until we showed them Badia A Coltibuono, a wine estate and farm in what was a Medieval convent they totally fell in love with. But their parents were not on their side.

We understood that family mattered a lot to them, and that we had to “conquer” their respective families’ acceptance. We thought of making a presentation of the wedding to-be for their families with photos of the villa and of each specific area, complete with mood boards and examples of how we would organize the different stages of the wedding, and incorporating as many traditional elements as possible.

That was an absolutely brilliant idea that made the families realize that a beautiful wedding could have been organized on a lesser scale far from both home and their native country. The wedding ceremony was performed in the sunny garden of the villa, under a canopy covered in wild white roses.

As per the Persian tradition, we set up a “wedding table” with several kinds of fruits, decorations and symbolic items representing the union of the couple. The post ceremony events unfolded in a relaxed and informal way among other traditional rituals, like the showering of the newly wed with flower petals and the “knife dance” performed by a guest.

Negar, Russel, and their parents congratulated us for having invested so much time and energy to put together such a meaningful event that truly exceeded their expectations.