Italy beat France in the final stretch of the 33rd International Gelato World Cup held in Rimini this past week. Held every 2 years, the 2010 winner was the French team making this year’s win even more heartfelt for the Italians!
The next edition in 2014 with be in the UK – get your spoons ready! (Photos courtesy of ENRICO MINASSO)
A sunny, bright day at Lake Garda was the setting for Avril and Des’ Italian Lake Wedding.
Avril dove into a DIY Italian Wedding head first. She researched vendors on her own and contacted them personally to secure all the details she wanted. Language became an issue when she tried to ask for ‘cupcakes’ instead of a wedding cake.
To ensure the legal side would go smoothly, she hired Bonnie Marie to take care of paperwork, translating and interpreting.
July’s couple of the month could be not other than Richard and Bethan, knottied in Venice.
We really can’t thank you enough for all you did for us to make our wedding day go so perfectly. Tammy was absolutely fantastic and was able to haggle us a great price for our wedding gondola ride. It was quite surreal walking over the Rialto bridge and having our photo taken by so many tourists! We lost count of the number of times people shouted ‘Auguri!!’ at us!
Thanks again and best wishes,
Richard and Bethan
The Florence City Council ruled in favor of applying a 3 euro/night tax on all non-residents staying in hotels. The maximum charge is limited to 30 euros (10 days). Hotels in the city have joined together and are appealing the ruling, which is effective from July 1st.
One of the most beautiful brides I’ve ever seen in my decade of planning weddings in Italy inspired style rule #6 for Italian brides. Jewelry should be minimal and should not overshine the radiance of the wearer. Parures are ok if tasteful and in tune with the wedding gown. The no-no is a wristwatch: however designer, whoever the giver, whenever the ceremony. The only one keeping time on your wedding day should be your planner.
Just too unique. Sorry my photographer friends, I took these myself and wanted to post them right away because the emotion behind being in Venice is overwhelming …
Ok, so there are way too many tourists
Way too many boats
never enough gondoliers
but then there are amazing storefronts
authentic restaurants
wondrous ways to dispose of rubbish
a universal language
oh yes, and one of the most breathtaking backdrops for your wedding
and then some
I was frantically looking in the thesaurus for a word to describe these …. delightful (too weak) …. gorgeous (not enough) …. amazing (close, but no cigar) Italian Wedding Confetti.
Can you imagine someone – namely Francesca from Dolce Creazioni – hand-decorating each single petite candy-covered almond by hand? Outstanding (still not there …)
P.S. Special thanks to Atelier delle Amiche for posting about Francesca on twitter xxoo
P.S.S. I included a pic of bride and groom cookies because they were too cute :0)
My all time favorite for Italian wedding gowns is Atellier Aimee’ (pronounced a-tell-yeah em-ay). They have three collections: Precious Princess Glamour, Young Romantic Dreamer, and Sophisticated Chic Elegant. Their idea for young brides is a bold statement: springtime patterns, vivacious colors, sensual fabric. The 10 year anniversary album shows off slendering corsets and fluffy up-dos, plus classic lace and tender pinks. Yummy!
You have the gown you’ve been dreaming of since you were a little girl, so don’t stop now:
GET THE SHOES!
If you want to feel better about spending sooooo much on a pair you may only wear once, well then go and clean out your closet and give your gently worn wear-no-more shoes to Sole4Souls and they will make sure someone who needs them, gets them.
If you’d like to spread more of the love, ask your maid of honor to host a shoe drive at your bridal shower and have your girlfriends donate too.
Just think: there are over 300 million children without shoes. So there’s an idea for your baby shower too 
http://www.sole4souls.org
http://www.facebook.com/GiveShoes
I just couldn’t resist. The markets are full of crates upon crates of strawberries. How could I not make some simple vanilla pudding to put my fresh cut and sugared strawberries on? So I made two, one for me and one for my hubby (he should really go on a diet!)
fresh strawberries sprinkled with a little cane sugar, no lemon, no wine
Freshly made pudding
Recipe for the pudding:
Whisk together 2 egg yokes in a bowl. Pour 1/4 sugar, 2 T cornflour, pinch salt into saucepan and stream in 1 cup milk while stirring over medium heat. When mixture thickens pour about 3/4 cup into bowl with yokes, whisk and transfer back into saucepan. Cook for a few more minutes, fold in 1tsp vanilla, let cool then refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
