Rosie + Jon - Arpino, Italy - Destination Wedding | THE MAGIC SEVEN

A beautiful Italian destination wedding for today’s ‘Magic Seven’ - in which I choose seven images to feature from a wedding from the past few years.. we can’t let days as beautiful as this be stuck in the archives, can we? Here is Rosie and Jon’s beautiful Arpino wedding at Hotel Cavalier in Italy..

"We wanted a relaxed day with good music, food and most importantly our friends and family. Our dream had always been to get married in Italy, we love everything about it, and not forgetting it’s where my father’s family originate from."

“Jon proposed in New York whilst I was winding our 4 month old son Ronnie. It was my birthday and Jon gave me my card, as I opened it the ring fell out. Magazines, pinterest and burning ears then took over!

The Planning process that followed our engagement was rather lengthy. First off we wanted it in Italy, but the reality of getting our young family and ever expanding nieces and nephews over there seemed like a bit of a faff, so we settled for the beautiful north east,  I then fell pregnant with Jemima our second child so had to cancel and put the wedding on hold.  Then our final option was our Italian dream, We planned to have it in the small Italian village of Arpino where my great grandmother is from. Its very sentimental to the family and Jon and I just love Italy - its our favourite place. 

I originally wanted a small wedding however it was far from it – 148 people later!"

“I wore Jenny Packham’s ‘Muscari’ gown that I purchased from Poppy Bridal in Darlington. I just knew when I put it on it was the one, it was everything I wanted for Italy. Along with looking online at vintage dresses the only shops I went to were Jenny Packham and Vivienne Westwood. I didn’t even think twice about should I look elsewhere.

The décor was very simple and we hung up washing lines with pictures of Jon and I with friends and family around the venue and in the gardens. We also sent around a polaroid with a load of film and a guest book for people to fill and stick pictures of themselves in……. I keep looking through the book it makes me laugh so much and captures the whole weekend."

"Some of my favourite moments included seeing all our guests arrive over the Thursday and Friday, seeing Jon at the altar, getting ready with all my amazing bridesmaids and seeing them when they were all sat on the bench in the church with the flower girls  -it took my breath away. I also loved the choir who sang for us during our ceremony, drinks in the piazza the night before, the pool party on the Sunday with all our friends, and the endless celebrations.

I know it sounds cringy but I sometimes pinch myself because it was everything and more than I could ever of dreamed of. It was an absolute luxury to spend a full weekend with the most important people in our lives. Our life is a whirlwind so this time was so so precious."

I chose these seven images because they really summed up how beautiful a wedding Rosie and Jon’s was.. a little rain didn’t dampen spirits (the Italians believe it to be good luck!) and these two celebrated late (late!) into the night with guests - it was definitely one to remember. Here is my seven image selection.. enjoy!