Laura & Marco

Laura & Marco’s wedding took place in the Cinque Terre national park region in northern Italy. The service was held in Monterosso al Mare near to the groom’s home town and provided the most beautiful backdrop and fantastic photo opportunities with its typical Italian streets, picturesque steps and Romanesque architecture. The reception venue was the glorious Buranco Agriturismo, a vineyard nestled in a beautiful natural amphitheater with breath taking views on to the beach in Monterosso and across the amazing panoramas of this world heritage site. Laura’s bridesmaid wore Blush dresses perfectly suited to the classic Italian and rustically romantic style of the day.

Location: Buranco Agriturisimo       Photography: Pure Wedding Photography          Florist:  Fior Deco
Wedding Planner: Cinque Terre Weddings              Wedding Dress: Bijoux Bridal, Hamilton

Was it love at first sight? Marco and I went on a blind date and there was certainly a spark from the start! We had agreed to go out for a lunch together which then turned into cinema, shopping and an amusement park. Definitely not the 2 hours I thought it would be!

How did he pop the question? I had just graduated and Marco had booked us a weekend away at the Old Mill Inn in Pitlochry which was our first weekend away together! I didn’t think anything of it until just before we were heading for dinner – Marco dropped down on one knee.

Tell us about the ring! My engagement ring is by The Diamond Story collection so you get a little book with pictures showing your ring from the start to finish, a nice little touch. It’s 18ct white gold with a sparkly diamond in the middle and all around the band! Turns out I was actually carrying it around by accident when I was hanging up Marco’s jacket at the hotel.

What did you do for your hen party? My bridesmaids threw me a hen party in Aviemore for the weekend, Mexican themed and a lot of tequila was drunk! It was then followed up by another hen party in Italy where a lot of Limoncello was drunk!!

Tell us about your dress? My dress was very different to the one I had thought I would go for. It’s a Stella York fit and flare style and for comfort I had little lace off the shoulder straps customised and added. It came from Bijoux Bridal in Glasgow who couldn’t have been more helpful when I went to try on dresses – they actually picked the dress for me in the end, it wasn’t one I had looked at!

Tell us about your bridesmaids? I had four bridesmaids – Laura, Ashley and Rhona who I all met at University and Sara who is also Marco’s Sister. Sara doubled up as a bridesmaid/groomsmaid!

Where did you hear about Willow and Pearl? I had been searching online for the dresses and once I stumbled across Willow & Pearl and spoke with Holly, I knew I was in safe hands, I didn’t look anywhere else!

Did you decide upon the bridesmaid’s dresses by yourself or was it a group decision with all the bridesmaids? I think a bit of both – we were all in agreement with the multiway dresses so that all the bridesmaids could be comfortable which was important to me as much as it was to them! We also had to factor in the 35c heat! I ordered some sample dresses from Holly and we made a night of it with a little party. The girls were able to play around with the dresses whilst also trying on different sizes and after that we were all sure those were the right dresses.

How did the bridesmaids wear their dresses? After much toing and froing and knowing they could wear them so many different ways – the girls all ended up wearing them pretty much the same with the exception of a couple of twists of straps.

Where all of your bridesmaids with you getting ready? Yes, we had a couple of villas booked out at our venue so we were all in one of them with the hairdressers getting ready. Our wedding wasn’t until 4.30pm so we thought we had plenty time until the last hour where it all flew by!

Did your bridesmaids have any special duties for the day? Other than Ashley who did my make up (and a good job of touching it up too throughout the day) the girls all formed their own roles – Laura took charge of speaking to any guests who were by themselves, Sara drank the open bar dry and Rhona and Ashley never left an empty dance floor! I couldn’t have had better bridesmaids!

Did you get your bridesmaids a gift? At our wedding rehearsal I gave my bridesmaids their gifts, a personalised clutch bag for the wedding day, robes and slippers for getting ready and then little bracelets with their initials on them. A little keepsake!

What flowers did you have? The wedding party all had Gypsophila bouquets (or baby breath as we called it). The flowers are a symbol of everlasting love which we thought was a nice touch!

Where did you get married? Marco is Italian so we were married in Monterosso al Mare, a seaside town around 40 minutes’ drive from his hometown. It’s part of the Cinque Terre in Italy. Our venue was in Agriturismo Buranco where they make not only wine, but honey from their own bees and lots of other produce.

How did you decide on the style and look of your wedding? Our wedding style was very rustic with old barrels topped with lemons and herbs in little terracotta pots as table decorations. As the night wore on, we also had hundreds of little candles in lanterns hanging from lemon trees which came to life.

What was the best part of your day? This is the hardest question to answer as the whole day was perfect to me. Having all of our friends and family with us in Italy to celebrate was so special. It was also amazing seeing the whole day come together, it was better than I ever could have expected.

Advice for brides to be? It has to be the same advice I was told 100 times and never really paid attention to until it was all over – don’t stress out with the planning because on the day it will all fall into place. Time speeds up on your wedding day so enjoy every last minute!