The Los Angeles based couple celebrated their special day in a Villa Corsini wedding ceremony with family and friends in Tuscany. Their first international trip together, as a couple, was to a friend’s wedding in Italy and they have returned back many times since then. So it was only fitting to celebrate the start of their new lives in the country they love.
Kirstin and Chris started out as friends, who often spent time together enjoying each other’s company over a delicious meal. And when they became a couple, they traveled together across multiple countries, enjoying delicious local foods in the places they visit. Though they’ve been in places such as Peru, Thailand and Mexico, Italy has always held a special place in their heart…and in their relationship.
Prior to the ceremony, we took photos of the family, along with the couple, in Florence, in Hotel Baglioni. Afterwards, I, along with the videographer, captured shots of the couple walking around some of their favorite places in the city of Florence. It was a great way to honor and incorporate their favorite place in the world on their wedding day.
From the bride: We kept it simple to not take away from the design of Villa Corsini. The venue was naturally gorgeous, especially with its Italian gardens, with the rolling hills of Tuscany behind it, and its labyrinth garden to its halls with high ceilings and frescoed art. We knew our decor needed to be more subdued to not take away or clash with the design of our venue.
Celebrating our wedding in Italy was in itself the most personalized part of our special day. Italy was our first international trip as a couple and since then we’ve been back many times; we love the culture, the people, the food, just everything about the country. And celebrating it in Florence – our favorite city in the world, was the most perfect location to start our new life together.
We kept to a lot of Italian wedding traditions, simply because some of their rules made more sense to us than American wedding traditions, including doing speeches before or after dinner, our photographer giving us ample time during cocktail hour to mingle and snack on food before we dove back into photos and our favorite one of all – we skipped the American wedding cake and opted for the traditional Italian wedding cake (millefoglie).
One of our favorite moments was one that was unplanned. After we did the first look with my dad and my now husband, our photographer, Julian, suggested we take a walk around the city of Florence to get photos of us around the various places we’ve visited numerous times in the past.
It was quite surreal to be in your wedding dress, walking by the Ponte Vecchio or by the Uffizi Gallery, with locals yelling “Auguri” (“Best Wishes” in Italian) and clapping for us. We weren’t expecting to have that to be part of our day and it’ll forever be a special moment for us and we cannot thank Julian enough for suggesting it.
Associated Vendors
Cinema and Video: Vertigo Wedding films
Caterer: Galateo Ricevimenti
Reception Venue: Villa Corsini
Dress Designer: BHLDN
Beauty: Louna Beauty Wedds
Event Planner: Italian Wedding Event
Floral Designer: Leandro Flowers
Photographer: Julian Kanz