Real Wedding Recap 2011: Bellissima! A Real Destination Wedding In Italy, Joanna & Christopher

Posted on: 28/12/2011

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A big dose of sunshine to ward of the post Christmas blues for you this morning my lovelies.  The romance and elegance of this Northern couple’s destination wedding in Italy easily make it one of the wedding blog’s favourites of 2011!  Merry Christmas Joanna & Christopher!

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Time for a fabulous Real Wedding from Andy Hook Photography, a wedding photographer located in South Yorkshire who clearly has passport, will travel! Joanna and Christopher were married on 28^th August 2010 at The Grand Hotel Cocumella, Sant’Agnello, Italy and my goodness their wedding day was beautiful.

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I’m off to Google Easyjet flights to Italy.  Damn my wanderlust!

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Lets hear from Jo:  We wanted to get married in Italy on the Amalfi Coast as we love everything Italian. We flew out and looked at a number of venues before picking Hotel Cocumella which we loved as soon as we saw, due to the amazing architecture (being an old monastery), the friendly staff and the beautiful cliff top location.

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We were very keen to have as much of an Italian wedding as possible and chose a colour scheme of white, silver and teal.  Our wedding service was outside on the cliff tops overlooking the sea at 4.30pm as the day became cooler. The reception included more than the traditional three courses for dinner, lots of wine and a traditional Italian wedding cake. The food was an important part of the wedding for us and was one of the reasons we choose the venue as the food was of very high quality.

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I wore a Suzanne Neville satin halter neck, back less dress. It had Swarovski crystals at the front and back. I went for more of a slinky number as I had to take into account the heat and I wanted to be able to move easily and dance. My bridesmaids wore teal Coast dresses with silver shoes, not typical bridesmaid dresses.

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Click through to see more of this stunning day, and watch out for my favourite image – of a baby boy who has partied a little too hard!

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I carried a bouquet of off white roses with crystals.  The florist was arranged through the hotel and did an amazing job.

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To personalise our day, we used photos of guests instead of name cards. Each table was named after a town in Italy. Guests were also asked to sign a framed photograph of us both taken prior to the wedding and displayed at the reception.

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We used Amalficoast Music, and had an Italian string quartet at the ceremony, an Italian singer through the reception and then a disco afterwards.  We also had a traditional Italian wedding cake with lots of tiers and cream! Delicious!

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We continued the Italian theme on our honeymoon by flying to Verona where we went to the open air opera and then onto Lake Garda. 

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My top tip for other Brides Up North is try to take it all in your stride and not stress about every little detail. Also if you marry in Italy the Italians are very laid back and will not want to arrange or finalise things to the last minute which is stressful as a bride to be but they pull it off on the day!

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Newlyweds – whether you got married at home or abroad, contact Brides Up North to share your Real Wedding on the wedding blog! 

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2011 Andy Hook Photography

Andy Hook Photography is a Brides Up North Featured Supplier, but this is not a sponsored post

Contact Brides Up North to submit your business as a Featured Supplier

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