Here I am again, 4 months after our engagement and the start of our wedding preps. How is it going? Well… I feel more relaxed than I was back then, and quite happy with the progress made so far. But I am also having second thoughts about everything! I guess it’s normal? I don’t know. I’m still convinced of the man I want to marry though, and that’s the most important 😅

These are also special days for Patrick and me: we finally started giving our wedding invites to the closest family and friends. Today I wanted to walk you through the complete graphic design and illustration process, both for invites and for the website but… I realised it would be too much of a spoiler for all the people who have not received their invites yet! So I’ll keep this for the next time.

Let’s see where we left off in the previous chapter:

✓ Date: Friday 19 May 2023

✓ Location: Ca’ Marcello, Italy

✓ Wedding planner: Elisabetta

What’s next? This chapter will be a bit focused on girly stuff: dresses, flowers, shoes, jewelry, and perfume.

The dress

I am not exactly the kind of woman who’s been dreaming about her wedding dress all her life. I had no clue what I wanted. But after binge-scrolling on Pinterest I found a style I like, and two dresses I wanted to try: one in Italy, and one in The Netherlands. Italy would be easier for the logistics (I don’t have to worry about flying and ruining the dress) but I would need to come back more often for fitting. In the Netherlands, I could go anytime.

Anyway, I did both appointments! Here below is a sneak peek of the first one in Utrecht at Covers, with my mum. It was a special day – I thought I would feel weird in a wedding dress, but we liked the experience. Melanie, the assistant, was the sweetest. And the dress I tried on there was really magical. After that day I was sure about the style I wanted: simple, elegant, no lace, no glitter, and not too naked. A dress I really loved on social media lately was this one, from Beatrice Valli.

A month later, in Italy, we booked an appointment at Fausto Sari, with all my crew: Elisabetta, mum, aunt, Giulia and Mya. We fell in love with the dress I tried there too, so I was extremely undecided. When I saw my cousin Arianna looking at me with tears on a video call I started crying as well and we all became emotional. Was this the sign? I think so.

And what about the husband’s suit? Well for Patrick we can wait a little more. The new spring collection and colors will be out around the end of February/start of March – so they told him to wait. Why do we brides need to order the dress one year in advance? …dunno.

The flowers

It’s also time to think about flowers – so I worked with Elisabetta on some inspiration to share with the florist. We agreed that having only white and green might be a little boring, so we worked on adding a color that would fit well with our mood and also the location. We ended up with a… Peach Frizz! Why? Because it has a soft shade of orange (connected with the Netherlands) and pink, as some of Ca’ Marcello interiors. I’d love to have some tulips (my favorite are the white parrots) at my wedding, but we’ll have to see how next spring will be.

Here is what the updated palette could look like, and some inspiration I gathered from Pinterest:

We didn’t impose any dress code in the invite, we just said simple and elegant. But this is the mood and palette I’ll work with for the preps.

The shoes & jewelry

I did some research online, and also while I was traveling to London, but I always ended up looking at Jimmy Choo. The reason is that they have a wide selection for brides, and different heights of heels (I wanted them between 5 and 8 cm, not too high). So I ended up buying one! I still have to think about flat shoes for the night, I was thinking about a velvet “friulana” (typical shoes from my area) but I’ll wait for the new seasons and colors. Regarding jewelry my favorite so far are from: Maison Sabben, Laurie Fleming and Dove Grey Bridal.

The scent

Last but not least, I’ve been looking around for a while trying to find my wedding perfume. Something different from what I use every day, that will remind me of this period of life. I decided to wear that scent during the wedding, but also use it in some special moments, for example, to scent the invites or some rooms during the wedding day.

One of the most popular brands for brides is Jo Malone, but my wish was to have a scent connected to the mood of my wedding and I researched perfumes with notes of tulip flowers. So I ended up with Byredo, La Tulipe. It’s a very soft and delicate fragrance, evoking the first blooms of the season. I’ve been wearing it for a few weeks now, and I’m totally in love with it.

I guess that’s it for today. I’ll keep you posted soon on what’s next.