It’s been quite some time since we’ve posted, and this post is long overdue. Back in 2014 I got a phone call from a bride who was interested in getting married in Italy. She had read our blog article on How to Get Married In Italy and was interested in getting our help with planning, locating a venue, document coordination as well as having us photograph her wedding. We were so excited. We love Italy and the idea of going back there was incredible.
Rachel had been looking at locations in Tuscany (specifically Florence) and so we focused on that area. We were married in at the Castle of Poppi in 2012 and having seen our photos and knowing logistically how to do a wedding there, Rachel and Micah fell in love with the idea of also getting married at the castle. This was too good to be true…not only were we going to go back to Italy, we were going to shoot a wedding where we were married 2 1/2 years earlier. What made it even more special was the fact that when Rachel and Micah’s wedding finally came around in March, 2015, Shawna was three months pregnant. It’s a cliche yes, but this was full-circle for us. And besides that, we really, really liked Rachel and Micah.
So we flew out in March, 2015 and the travel experience was a bit challenging. As I mentioned, Shawna was three months pregnant and we kept arriving late at each of the 4 airports we were traveling through. We had to run at full speed schlepping our carry-on bags from one end of the arriving airport to the other end to make our connecting flight. We missed the connection somewhere (Paris maybe??) and had to wait several hours for the next available flight. We were finally about to arrive into Florence when the pilot pulled up suddenly and announced that it was too windy and that we will be routed to Bologna. It was around 9pm and all of us then had to climb into a bus in Bologna for a 1 1/2 drive to Florence. To top it off, our luggage didn’t make it. However, we made it and our AirBnB in Florence was amazing.
The next morning I met Rachel and Micah at the US Consulate in Florence for their appointment for their Nulla Osta documents. I waited outside for them to finish, after which we walked to a nearby Tobacchi shop to purchase two Marca da Bollo stamps needed for the documents to be legalized at the Prefettura (Prefecture) office in Florence. Since the agent in that office spoke no English, I translated and finished up there and then said good-bye to Rachel and Micah for a few days while we traveled to Venice (amazing!!).
A couple days before the wedding we traveled together to the Poppi Town Hall where we submitted all of the paperwork to the mayor (the same mayor who officiated our wedding) and everything was all set. The morning of the wedding, we met up with Rachel and Micah at our hotel, then walked to pick up our rental car and drove the 1 1/2 hours to Poppi for the wedding. It was a beautiful, yet cold, day and Rachel wrapped herself in a shawl and didn’t complain at all about the cold. She and Micah were just too happy to be getting married and we were so happy to share in the experience with them. We arrived at the castle a bit early and hungry so we went to an amazing restaurant right next to the castle and had an outrageously good Italian meal. For those of you who have not been to Italy, understand this: the food there is unlike any Italian food here in the USA. It’s so so so good and I’ve never experienced anything here like the food I’ve tasted there. Anyway, the wedding was intimate and beautiful and then we walked around town taking their photos. We then drove back to Florence and said our good-bye’s. A whirlwind and totally awesome experience!
Gorgeous couple and the images are amazing!