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| Missy and Christopher - Symbolic blessing |
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Missy and Christepher were married in a
blessing ceremony at a private villa just
outside of the medieval village of San
Gimignano.
A select group of family and close friends
witnessed their exchange of vows in a
symbolic blessing held in the grounds of the
villa. Our services included handling the
blessing, arranging the music, the catering,
and in particular very careful attention to
the flowers and decorations. Weddings in
early summer give us a great range of options
for the flowers and colors, while late summer
weddings require a little more attention
according to the availability.
Weddings in villas give us the great
flexibility to arrange a relaxed and intimate
event: guests all on site, flexibility on
timing, the beauty of the Tuscan countryside,
top local caterers and our in house florist
make for an unforgettable event.
The symbolic blessing is also wonderful for a
completely personal and romantic event: the
couple have the option to write their own
vows, the readings and text of the ceremony,
and the music to be played during the event.
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| Louise and Rob - Catholic blessing |
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Louise and Rob held a Roman Cathilc blessing
is San Gimignano, and then returned to a top
local villa for the wedding reception
The ceremony was a full Catholic mass
celebrated in English, with music performed
by a string quartet with tenor. The couple
chose the biblical readings, and a full
Eucharist completed the ceremony.
The couple wished to have a particularly
relaxing and light hearted reception for
their guests, most of who stayed at the villa
or within a walking distance,and who enjoyed
a week long stay in the beautiful southern
Tuscan area of San Gimignano and Volterra.
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| Dawn and Michael - Protestant blessing |
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Dawn and Michael held a full Protestant
blessing in the gardens of a private villa
with a party of 60 family and friends.
The couple write:
"...It is hard to believe in your mid
forties that you will have a fairytale
wedding and you begin to think in a more
practical manner, much to my delight, it was
the perfect "fairytale wedding"; a day of
excitement and emotion that we will never
forget. An anonymous author once wrote "life
is not measured by the number of breaths we
take, but by the number of moments that take
our breath away"; this certainly was a moment
of breathlessness.
I wanted to take some time and express our
sincere appreciation for all that you did for
us during the past year and a half to assist
us with the most extraordinary wedding we
could have ever imagined. It was wonderful to
meet you in person after so many posts and
for all to determine that we are warm, caring
people. Our time in Italy especially the week
of our wedding exceeded every expectation.
Every detail was provided to our desire and
beyond. Your
suggestion to move the wedding outside to the
grounds was perfect and the fact that you
could make that change at the last minute
without effort was impeccable. Everything
looked incredibly beautiful; Marisa is quite
the designer and the floral arrangements
exquisite, we hated leaving them behind. It
was so thoughtful of her to provide me with
the extra bouquet for our civil ceremony and
the boutonnière for Michael, who we know
fought the whole idea up to that point.
Please extend our thanks to Marisa, as we
were not able to meet her during the time she
was there, although we had hoped to, in order
to thank her in person.
From the moment Roberto arrived to style my
hair to the moment the cake was made,
everything was flawless. You anticipated all
our needs and those we didn't even know we
had. The photographers were absolutely
perfect, I believe they recorded every moment
of the day and we are anticipating the
arrival of the photographs.
All of our guests in awe of the beauty of it
all, expressed it was the most moving wedding
they have ever attended and I believe much of
that had to do with the location, my brother
and the coordination that was provided by you
and Italyweddings.
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| Jill and Joseph - Reaffirmation |
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Jill and Joseph a part of Italyweddings
extended family: we arranged a Protestant
blessing for them in 2004, and returned a
year later on their anniversaly for a
symbolic reaffirmation ceremony
While the Protestant ceremony was held in a
large villa, with 70 guests, the symbolic
blessing was an entirely personal event -
just the bride and groom, a personal text
written by Italyweddings staff, and vows
written by the couple - a top class hotel in
Southern Tuscany, and the promise to meet
again for their 5th anniversary!
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Types of blessing |
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There are several types of blessing ceremony
that we can arrange, but broadly speaking the
term means any type of ceremony that is not a
legally binding wedding - it blesses the
union the couple have already made legal.
That legal wedding may be in the couple's
home town prior to coming to ITaly, and thus
avoiding paperwork issues here, or may be
held in a separate civil wedding in a town
hall in Italy, prior to the blessing.
The advantages of a blessing ceremony are
plenty: it's simple to arrange, in most cases
completely personal, intimate and meaningful
to the couple's faiths and backgrounds, and
can be held in a private, beautiful setting
such as the grounds of a villa.
Symbolic blessing
This is a ceremony with minimal religious
implication, other than the readings and prayers
that may be added. The ceremony is the most
flexible, and is usually written in
collaboration between the couple and
Italyweddings experts. The ceremony is
celebrated by a non religious officient
Roman Catholic blessing
This is perhaps the hardest to comprehend, as
the Catholic church itself is a little vague
on the concept of a blessing. Naturally, for
the Roman Catholic church, there is only one,
eternal wedding for every individual, so in
most cases, a Catholic blessing is identical
to a typical Catholic ceremony, excluding
those parts pertaining to legal paperwork.
Protestant blessing
This ceremony is held by a Protestant priest,
and can be held in a church, many chapels,
and the grounds of the villas we work
with. The ceremony is a full religious
ceremony, inclidng readings and prayers, vows
and exchanging of rings.
Jewish blessing
Occasionally possible to celebrate, as for
other religious ceremonies, but typically in
the grounds of a villa. All aspects of the
traditional Jewish ceremony can be included,
and we can arrange the chuppah and other
elements from the Jewish tradition.
Reaffirmation
For those wishing to celebrate and reaffirm
their wedding vows, we often arrange 5th,
10th and 25th anniversary blessing ceremonies
- occasionally as a surprise to one of the
spouses...!
For more information of what may work for
you, please don't hesitate to contact
us!
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