Alistair and Katie, Part Two
Lucca, Italy

What a beautiful morning for a beautiful destination wedding. Katie is the kind of girl that cherishes details, especially when it comes to gifts. Upon arrival to the hotel in Lucca, guests were greeted with a custom made linen gift bag with their wedding logo (yup, they totally had the cutest logo!) filled with some Tavernello wine and potato "crisps" for an afternoon snack (that's potato chips for all of us Americans), a map of the city with fun restaurants and cafes circled for guests, bottled water for morning sightseeing, and a schedule of events for the wedding week. I'll be featuring more of Katie's custom stationary and gifts surrounding the wedding, and you'll love all of her creative ideas! She was the perfect hostess for her 100 Scottish and Irish wedding guests that opted in for an Italian holiday with Katie and Alistair!

The morning of the wedding was filled with meaningful gifts and details as well. I love this little ring bowl that she inscribed with their wedding date and a phrase from Irish poet William Butler Yeats, "Tread Softly Because You Tread on My Dreams."

Jeff and I got a quick education in kilt accessories through the week, and this, my American friends, is called a sporran. I loved that there were so many new traditions to learn about, and I'll do my best to talk about them accurately here on the blog! Ha! Everyone has full permission to correct me for anything they'd like during this week!

Katie then gave these little jewelry dishes to each of her bridesmaids. So cute!

And she wrapped up jewelry and handkerchiefs for her sweet flowergirls.

All of the boys prepped their kilts...

While Katie donned her gorgeous dress...

And we all made our way to the hill top duomo in the mountain town of Barga outside of Lucca.

But every wedding day needs it's unexpected turn of events. Even though it had been sunny and beautiful all week, the clouds opened up and started to rain just as everyone arrived for the wedding! Thanks to some quick thinking groomsmen who grabbed the choir's stock of umbrellas and ran them down to guests.

It was at this point that I found two things that I love about the Scottish and Irish - they're extremely good sports in any condition and they all wear bright, colorful summer hats to weddings! More on the hats later - for now, let's make it up the hill through the rain!

A bagpiper met the guests at the top of the hill, so everyone just had to follow the sound of the bagpipes as they made their way to the church.

Katie was a champ with the rain, and it doesn't hurt to have a gentleman for a brother-in-law!

I love these moments of anticipation just before the ceremony.

They couldn't have picked a more beautiful and intimate church setting.

Married!

As the ceremony ended, the rain ceased and the sun burst through the clouds to show off the spectacular view of the mountains around us.

One of my favorites! Just look at that view!

After mingling with guests after the ceremony, everybody headed back towards Lucca to La Casa Gialla, a lovely villa tucked into the countryside with a view of the rolling Tuscan hills. Jeff and I immediately fell in love with the place and we've got all of the AMAZING details coming to the blog tomorrow. For now, enjoy the lovely Katie and Ally!