When it turns out the wedding of your dreams isn’t in the country you had in mind
Exploring the world to land in Italy
Oftentimes couples come to Surfweddings with a wedding plan already in mind. In this case, Laurent and Sylvana came to us after seeing the #bestkeptwedding we did in Portugal (You can read that story here) on Instagram. So their question was clear: ‘We want that!’
But we didn’t just start planning, in true Surf wedding style we sat down to ask and listen to what really makes their heart jump.
Turns out that what they loved about the wedding in Portugal were the outdoor setting, the treehouses, and the vibes of the woods. Why? Because it reminded them of Scandinavia. Especially Laurent had always loved the idea of getting married in Sweden, but they also wanted the certainty that it would be sunny on their happy day. In conclusion, what they actually wanted was the best of all worlds, and not one specific country.
So we started looking for the right vibes without knowing where exactly we would find them. Until Jan spoke to one of his friends whose family lives in Italy. After describing the scenery, his friend immediately thought of the village his dad grew up in. It was a small village in Italy, with an old city center near the sea in the middle of the mountains with fields of olive trees. The setting was absolutely perfect and Laurent and Sylvana agreed right away.
Making up for lost time
Weddings are about more than just two people. They are about families being brought together, friends being there for this special moment among their loved ones. The gathering of a wedding can be a time to escape the rush of everyday life and carelessly enjoy time together. For Sylvana and Laurent this was a huge part of their wedding. Since they both work in London, quality time with their friends and family in Belgium is very rare. For their wedding, they wanted to escape together. So they ended up saying their I do’s in an old, authentic Italian village, had a gathering party with family and friends on the beach, and dined and partied among the olive trees in a valley.
La Dolce Vita can be hard to get
There’s a reason they call it wedding planning. It takes a lot of preparation and figuring out stuff as you go. For this wedding, we went to Italy three times to plan the perfect combination of events and scenery (you don’t hear us complaining though, we love pizza). The first time planning a wedding in a new country is always a challenge because we want to work with local caterers for food and other services. On top of that, the mountain area where we were planning to have this wedding was mainly occupied by agriculture, which is not the easiest for transportation of guests, finding venues that are available and caterers nearby. As a result, the plane tickets were booked, the program was decided, the sleeping arrangements for the guests were made, … Everything was taken care of except for one thing: the wedding venue. In fact, we only found it three weeks before the wedding. And to this day I am grateful to Sylvana and Laurent for trusting Surf weddings fully to pull it off.
Laurent & Sylvana - Behind the scenes
Check out the image gallery
Pictures: Elien Jansen
Behind the scenes video & pictures : Bram Laenen
Location : Crovatico (Italy)
Organization & Styling : Team Surf weddings
Flowers : Surf weddings ft Dorien Bergmans
Catering : Fara del Falco
