Kim and Frank’s Relaxed Italian Country Wedding by Liam Collard 

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you are all ready for the weekend ahead of us? Have you had a good week? I do hope so. This weekend we are off to a street food market on Saturday and meeting family for a bike ride and catch up on Sunday, so pretty chilled really. What about you? Today I am taking you to beautiful Italy for the wonderful wedding of Kim and Frank. Now who doesn’t love a wedding in Italy, even if they did get a surprise visit from a rain storm! The whole day is full of rustic elegance, soft greens and creams, beautiful flowers and the most amazing venue. Big thanks to these stunning photos by Liam Collard.

Kim and Frank were married on 28th May 2022 at San Michele Di Arcangelo, Perugia, with the reception at Borgo Colognola, Perugia in Italy. It was the May bank holiday weekend, or so we thought…then the dates changed because of the Platinum jubilee, but still meant lots of our guests could make a holiday of the trip to Italy if they wanted to. We ha 80 guests.

The proposal
We got engaged on Boxing Day in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Much like the rest of the world, we were spending Christmas away from family for the first time ever and had plans for a quiet Christmas in our flat in London just the two of us. Unbeknown to me, Frank had plans to propose on Christmas Day, but I’d inadvertently invited our neighbour round for some drinks as he was on his own for Xmas. He ended up staying for lunch, drinks and he didn’t leave until after midnight, by which point Frank’s proposal plans had gone out the window. So instead he proposed in bed on Boxing Day morning which took me completely by surprise!

The dress 
I wanted a relaxed dress that would work with the surroundings and wouldn’t feel like a heavy, restrictive type dress that I couldn’t move in. I chose a simple, lace dress that had a small train and was very comfortable an easy to wear. It was from a lovely boutique wedding dress shop near where my parents live in Somerset and the whole experience from first appointment to final dress fitting was amazing and incredibly personal.

How did you choose your photographer?
A friend of ours thankfully recommended Liam and Stam after they photographed their wedding in Thailand a few years ago. They were absolutely incredible! It’s rather challenging planning a wedding abroad and not knowing how all of the suppliers will work out, but having them on board from the beginning was absolutely invaluable to us. They were such an integral of the wedding and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the amazing photography, and also for being such a lovely and calming part of the wedding itself!

Theme or colour scheme
We didn’t have a specific theme in mind, other than relaxed, country style affair. We wanted everything to work with the aesthetics of the venue which was in the middle of the Umbrian countryside – so very rustic and relaxed.
From the invitations to the wedding stationary and flowers on the day, it was all inspired by the location and the olive grove type feeling – so dark greens and olive colours with cream. One of our wedding guests and good friends is an amazing illustrator and wedding stylist and she was incredible at helping out with the theme for the day.

Food 
One of the main reasons for getting married in Italy was for the incredible food and wine! The caterers were incredible and we had so many lovely comments about the wedding food on the day. On arrival we had a selection of antipasti which was arranged around the Borgo – from freshly deep fried vegetables, a whole meat section, local cheeses, breads, bruschettas etc. we then sat down for a 4 course meal which started with champagne and truffle risotto (a speciality of the region), white lasagne with pork cheek, then an incredible veal steak for the main. For dessert we had a selection. Of profiteroles, creme brûlée, custard tarts and a sweet station.

Entertainment
Well…the lead singer of our band pulled out the day before and the band that turned up weren’t who we booked and didn’t know any of our song choices, including our first dance! But we rallied around and made the most of it – the DJ was great and kept the party going until the early hours. Then we actually had our ‘first dance’ the day after during our day 2 celebration which was a very relaxed bbq by the pool affair – it was actually perfect in the end!

Who supplied the stationery?
Hannah Sykes

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
As we were driving we only had a week to get back to the UK, but we spent a few days in Tuscany in a beautiful hotel, before heading to Portofino  and then up to Monaco and Nice before heading back up through France.

Personal touches
We drove down to Italy from the UK so we could bring as many personal touches with us. We bought a lot of Guinness which was important for the Irish guests as apparently Guinness in Italy is just not the same as back home! We also had A large champagne bottle for people to sign as our guestbook, along with champagne we picked up in France en route for the toasts.

FORE MORE INFORMATION ON LIAM COLLARD 

www.liamcollard.com / www.liamcollard.com/miami-destination-wedding / [email protected] / 44 (0) 7584 255 361 (UK Number) / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / PINTEREST / TWITTER

Based in London, we are internationally-awarded London Wedding Photographers, french bulldog lovers and passport stamp collectors who have worked at destination weddings across 4 continents. Real moments are what make your wedding photography stand out from everyone else’s. That is why we developed our signature style of working unobtrusively around your wedding day, while always staying available to guide you through it every step of the way.