I'm getting married in Italy

I cannot believe that I’m actually getting married this year, and in Italy, of all places. Well, I guess I can (considering we’ve had a 2-year engagement in order to plan everything), but it’s just so surreal that it’s finally coming up.

This last fall where we were able to meet our wedding planner (who we’ve been talking with for over a year now) in person finally - and also see our wedding venue in person, so now it’s all starting to actually feel real. And luckily, nothing was too out of the ordinary. I think it’s natural to have a little bit of that fear when you plan your wedding internationally, like the pictures must be too good to be true. But, it was pure bliss seeing it for the first time. It’s tucked away in a hidden town in Tuscany and literally looks like a castle. A dreammm come true.

People always ask us why we chose Italy to get married. Are you guys Italian? Is Italy a special place for you guys? Or is it just because?

Well the answer is a little more nuanced than that. No, we are not Italian (although 23 & me confirmed for me recently that I am part French which was news to me, and after all, I am 50% European aka white—which was not news). I guess I’ve always known deep down I wanted to get married somewhere in Europe, but just wasn’t sure exactly where (or when that would happen).

Just because is probably the more simple answer. But the truth is that we’ve both always loved to travel. A huge part of our relationship was taking trips together and experiencing new cities and cultures as a couple. We always talked about having a destination wedding, but sort of in the same way you always say you’re going to meet up with that one acquaintance but then somehow never end up getting something on the books. And then once we were engaged, the conversation re-surfaced and we both decided we really did want to do a destination wedding. Something a little more intimate, something special.

We thought a destination wedding would be special not only for us, but also for all our friends and family. We love that everyone is able to make their own trip out of it and explore Europe before and after. We love that we’ll alll be in Europe together. And ultimately I think the beautiful culture, the incredible food, and the atmosphere is what really won us over for Italy.

We also love that it made us go to Italy recently so that we could see it all up close. We were able to do food tastings with the caterer and meet with the florists on this trip — and it’s easy to see when you’re there how seriously all the wedding vendors take your special day. Everyone was so nice and it truly is such a wonderful, gorgeous country.

Ultimately we’re really happy with our decision. I highly recommend considering a destination wedding if you’re thinking about it at all. Choose a place you absolutely adore because planning your wedding there will force you to go there more. And even if in the beginning the destination isn’t a special place for you as a couple, afterwards, it will be. As for us, we can’t wait to travel back to Italy for future anniversaries because then it will be the place where we got married.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this first installment of my new virtual diaries series documenting my wedding planning. I've been vlogging for a while now but wanted to start taking a more personal approach to my vlogs and treat these more as virtual diary entries rather than something for views or the algorithm. More than anything, these little videos are capsules in time for myself to look back on when I'm older. And the same with these blog entries (I promise I’ll try to be better about that, too).

For this very first virtual diary entry 001, I documented my trip to italy this past fall with my fiance. As I mentioned earlier, we met with our wedding planner, saw our venue for the first time, tried our dinner menu, and I was even able to meet my hair and makeup artist. The rest of the trip are some of my favorite views and memories from our short time in Rome, the small authentic town of Montepulciano and beautiful Florence. I hope you enjoy watching as much as I enjoyed making this video ♡

With all my love,

S