Rosalie and John’s Relaxed and Intimate Rustic Italian Wedding by Zonzo

Today’s wedding sees us head across to beautiful Abruzzo in Italy for the relaxed and intimate wedding of Rosalie and John. After spending their holidays in the area for ten years, they knew that Abruzzo was the perfect location for their wedding. The rented a simple and relaxed day, so kept the guest count to an intimate fifty and filled the day with delicious food, beautiful flowers and an amazing venue. With quirky and rustic decoration, this wedding is filled with lovely details and of course the happy couple, all captured perfectly by Zonzo.

Relaxed and intimate. A celebration of food, wine, the Italian hospitality… oh, and our relationship!

Rosalie and John were married on 1^st June, the ceremony was in the town of Guardiagrele, Abruzzo, Italy, in a square overlooking views of the surrounding hills, The reception was at Agriturismo Campoletizia, Abruzzo, Italy. ‘We have been holidaying in Abruzzo for about ten years, since Rosalie’s parents bought a holiday home here. We were thinking about getting married here, and after going for lunch at Campoletizia we knew it was the perfect place! 50 family and friends traveled to Italy for the wedding and it took about twelve months to plan.’

How they met 
We met though friends at university. It took us over ten years to actually get engaged, but it was well worth the wait!

The proposal
John booked a weekend away. I knew he was going to propose as we had chosen the ring together. However he wouldn’t tell me where we were going, I only knew we were going North! He had booked a weekend at the Midland Hotel in Morecambe, where I’d always wanted to go, and we got engaged in the freezing cold on the pier!

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
I splurged on my dress and shoes, but saved by wearing my favourite Alex Monroe jewellery I already had.

How did you choose your photographer?
We asked our venue for recommendations, and they suggested Simona and Angelo of Zonzo. We loved their portfolio, and after meeting them we knew we could trust them completely. They also speak good English, which was important for us, and the fact there are two of them meant that they didn’t miss a moment.

The dress
My dress was by Rime Arodaky, from The Mews in Notting Hill, and my shoes were by Jimmy Choo.

The suit and bridesmaids
John wore a suit from J. Crew. The bridesmaids wore skirts from Reiss and tops from Oasis.

Theme or colour scheme
We knew we wanted lots of colour in the flowers, and wanted to keep things a bit rustic. Other than that we were pretty flexible.

Flowers 
Livia at Campoletizia arranged all the flowers, a mixture of flowers from her garden and more brightly coloured things. We knew we could trust her to put something lovely together as she has such a good eye, and we weren’t disappointed!

Decoration 
We left everything to Livia and Nicola at Camploletizia, and they did an amazing job… haystacks, bunting, flowers, vintage armchairs, quirky accessories like a vintage typewriter: everything looked amazing! There was even a cat!

Food 
An Italian antipasti buffet, followed by a sit-down meal of pasta, roast pork, local wines… and a whole buffet of Italian desserts!

Wedding cake
A huge sponge with chocolate cream filling made at a local pasticceria (bakery), La Mimosa.

Entertainment
Music was supplied by DJ Roxy Rose.

Who supplied the stationery?
I designed the stationery myself.

Personal touches
We made our own bombonniere, traditional Italian wedding favours of sugared almonds tied in little parcels, and made our own menus and seating place cards.
We didn’t use a wedding planner, as Livia and Nicola at Campoletizia were so helpful and did so much themselves, but we managed to get everything else just by asking around: a local neighbour drove me to the reception in his vintage Fiat, and a local hotel provided a coach for guests.

Special moments 
Just that so many people made the journey to share the day with us. For that reason the speeches were really touching.

Advice for other couples
If getting married in Italy, make sure you get all the legal paperwork in order to ensure your marriage is legal in the UK – there’s lots of translations and official stamps to get! Be open-minded and flexible on the small details, and definitely use local vendors where you can.

Biggest surprise 
Probably when John, who speaks no Italian, arrived at the local post office on the morning of the wedding to pay the fee for the wedding only to find a queue fifty-people deep. Fortunately, someone in the queue spoke English and helped him to get to the front of the queue, otherwise he might not have made it on time!

Supplier Shout Outs

• Reception: Agriturismo Campoletizia 
• Photography: Zonzo
• Cake: La Mimosa
• Dress: Rime Arodaky at The Mews
• Shoes: Jimmy Choo
• Jewellery: Alex Monroe
• Hairband: Hila Assa Jewelry through Etsy
• Hair: Gianni Fuschi
• Suit: J. Crew
• DJ: Roxy Rose

 For more information on Zonzo Photography go to

www.zonzo.studio / [email protected] / +393924179540 / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM

“We’re Simona and Angelo, destination wedding photographers based in Italy. We set up ZONZO a few years ago with the aim to travel around the world, discover new places, meet cool people and understand facts around us. We love thinking about our job as a journey into contemporary people’s lives. Human beings, with their different ways to get through life, are what makes us curious. To us, wedding photography is a longterm commitment. Once over, we would love to have explored happiness and love from different points of view.”