Amber and Clay were married with a religious blessing ceremony in this wonderful villa in the San Giovanna area, to the South of Florence, and in the North of the Chianti region.

The ceremony was held in the private chapel on the grounds of the villa. This is one of the few villas that has a family chapel open for use for many types of blessing ceremony, and large enough to hold thirty guests.

The reception was catered on site, a buffet aperitif by the pool, overlooking the Tuscan countryside, and the seated meal in the closed courtyard, with speeches, laughter and jazz into the night.

The villa is one of the few which is rented with exclusive use for less than a week, should the couple wish to book this way: you can book this villa for two or three nights for the entire party, and then a few rooms on a nightly basis around the wedding date - the owners have the maximum flexibilty on this, and the villa and grounds will be open for you to plan and coordinate the wedding day exactly as you wish.

The couple write:

We wanted to extend our deepest thanks and appreciation for all that you did to make our day come to pass so flawlessly. How fortunate for us that we found you in our searches while planning! Your organization and services are impeccable. Our wedding day was truly a captivating experience, in which we felt like the world stopped for us in the streets of San Gimignano, just for a few magical hours. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful and seamless day & services to match -- The ceremony, Christina's assistance, our officiant, Giacommo, our photographers, Stefano and Sebastian (a fantastic and talented team) and the delicious meal and staff at the restaurant.

I can't imagine how busy you are with business at Italy Weddings, and I appreciate each & every interaction, phone call, question answered, assistance and hard work you do to make a most important day so special. The process from beginning to end, was so pleasant, from the emailing in advance, decision-making, and your kind guidance. What was even better, was finally meeting you in Firenze. Your personal touch, sense of humor and care shows in every interaction. Christina's sweet and calming presence and professionalism was perfection. My parents are still talking about how special the whole day was for them as well. It most definitely has created memories to last us long into the future. We hope that when we return to Italy, if we are in your area, we can meet again for a visit and say hello.

We have been home for about one week from our travels and already miss Italy so much! It seems that the trip went by so quickly, almost like a blink and we were back. We are already planning our next trip to Italy, wishing to explore other regions, in addition to visiting our sweet San Gimignano once again.

Once again, our most sincere thanks and gratitude to you and your staff at Italy Weddings, for your remarkable services and for making our wedding day something that dreams are made of.

In ancient Rome, a loaf of wheat bread was broken over the heads of the bride and groom to ensure a fertile and fulfilling life. Guests would eat the crumbs for good luck.

A multi-course dinner follows, often as many as 14 different courses (sometimes even more)! Symbolic foods for good luck include twists of fried dough, powdered with sugar

During the wedding receptions friends of the groom usually sneak away to play tricks on the new couple (i.e. walling-in the door of the couple's new home, putting itching powder in the bed).

Before the bride and groom retire for the night, they brake a vase or a glass - the number of pieces that the vase breaks into symbolizes the number of happy years of marriage that the couple can expect.

Chestnut harvest and celebration period - since the times of the Romans up until the 1950s the chestnut constituted a simple alternative to bread, from Piedmont to Sicily. And no part of the chestnut tree was wasted: its wood was worked into roof beams, floors and cupboards, as well as beehives, troughs and gutters. Its leaves softened the pallets of animals in stalls, while the tannin extracted from its bark was used for tanning hides. And naturally there was it's nut (eaten fresh, preserved or dried) which provided flour and food for months after the harvest. In the mountains, chestnut flour was used in many dishes such as pasta, desserts, and bread, in place of wheat and corn. While the chestnut is no longer considered a food staple, the nutty treat has become as much a part of autumn as the chilling of the air. There are some 2 million acres of chestnut trees forests in Italy and annual production comes in at around 80,000 US Tons. There is a great appreciation for the chestnut as it finds a place on almost every table in Italy as Christmas time approaches. Chestnut festivals, taking place in villages from October to November, help to preserve the traditions associated with this age old mainstay. Many offer ecological tours through their chestnut groves and virtually all of them offer countless ways of preparing and eating the nutty wonder.

La prima e' Matrimonio, la seconda compagnia, la terza un'eresia."
The first wife is marriage, the second company, the thrid heresy.

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