Confessions of a Destination Bride
Secrets of a Sorrento bride
Jenny our real-life destination wedding bride shares her wedding secrets including bridezilla moments, momentary meltdowns and of course her best memories of the most perfect day! Read on to hear all about her wonderful wedding day in Sorrento, the planning process and her advice to all of you Sorrento or destination brides to be!
I chose Italy and in particular Sorrento because …
I’ve always loved Italy, the food, the culture, the scenery, the architecture and the people! Having holidayed in Italy many times and it just felt like the perfect option. I had never been to Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast before and it was definitely on the list so why not have a wedding and a holiday rolled into one. Also, as an older bride (40 and fabulous!) I really didn’t want the whole ‘big wedding at home’ thing.
the best bit about the planning was …
Having a really amazing wedding planner in Victoria from Sophisticated Weddings! Exploring all of the options is incredible and exciting but completely overwhelming at the same time and you definitely need the support, guidance and advice from someone who knows everything well. How scary it initially felt when I realised that I wouldn’t see the venues or meet the suppliers or even be able to communicate with them easily. But Victoria really was a dream – she gave personal advice and guidance, always in a professional manner and she knows everything, everywhere, everyone inside out. Just what I needed to completely put my mind at ease!
Spending hours and hours of my life on Pinterest and joined Facebook groups researching, reading reviews, browsing other bride and grooms photos. You live and breath
your wedding planning and I was determined to enjoy it all. It was my life for 18 months – and I LOVED it!!!
the most stressful part of the planning was …
Worrying about the paperwork and deadlines!!! But this turned out to actually be very easy once I knew what I was doing. Victoria, our wedding planner, took me through everything so clearly step by step and my cousin works for a company who deal with handling wedding documents which obviously helped too. I also stressed a lot about what the guests would think and if they would enjoy it or expect this or that. But I didn’t need to at all – it was absolutely incredible and everyone travels to be with you on your special day because they love you. They’ve spent a lot of money too so of course they are determined to enjoy it all!!!
I had a bridezilla moment when …
I first arrived at the hotel and walked into our room. It was smaller than I had imagined and I really could not see myself and my bridal party getting ready in the room we had been allocated. I cried, I shouted at my Mum and Dad and I complained to the Receptionist. My wedding planner came to the rescue and contacted the hotel, we were offered another larger room, with a better view too, and we actually were offered a larger room in the basement of the hotel for getting ready in. The boys and my hubby used our room to get ready so all in all it was perfect in the end!
I'm so glad that …
We did everything the way that we wanted. Yes, of course we carefully considered our guests, we ensured they had plenty of drinks and supplied transport to and from and in between venues. But we were also selfish – it was our day of course! We only invited people we loved and wanted with us in Italy to celebrate and let’s face it, it’s a holiday too so you are going to have to see your guests on more than just the wedding day! I also did a ‘bride’s speech’ as my husband really did not want to do the traditional groom’s speech, he hates public speaking and would have been anxious leading up to it, so why be put under pressure on a day you want to enjoy every moment of? I actually really enjoyed doing my speech which started – ‘our wedding, our way…’
one of the best memories of the day was …
Walking down the aisle with my Dad! I was so completely overcome with emotion. The Museum gardens looked absolutely stunning, better than I could have imagined. And seeing everyone you love there in such a beautiful location with your soulmate and son waiting for you at the other end is just so so special. The realisation that the months of planning and preparation had resulted in such a wonderful wedding just hit me! I mean, the photos are hilarious – who knew I had so many different emotional faces, flaring nostrils, crumpled cheeks they are all there to see in our wedding album, haha!
what about the budget …
Well – it is what it is and to be honest we have never actually sat down and totalled everything up to this day! I know for sure it was well over 30K including our 2 week holiday there. Yes - we splashed out on our venue, it simply had to tick every box for us and it did – it totally blew us away! We loved it and our guests did too. We added extra alcohol packages and ensured guests didn’t have to pay for drinks. It was essential to us to do this as they had spent money to travel and stay in Italy – we made sure everyone had a fab time. There were lots of things that we didn’t spend as much on like flowers and hair – we managed this ourselves. I think that’s the great thing about a bespoke wedding planner – you can spend a lot on the things which are important to you and you can spend a lot less if you’re not so bothered about something.
I wish I hadn’t worried so much about …
It being a later ceremony at 4pm. You obviously want to make the most of every moment of your wedding day and so initially I was very concerned that a later start didn’t give enough celebration time. But the getting ready is all part of your day too (and we needed all of that time to be fair) Every moment is just so special and each part of the day was so amazing, I didn’t ever think about the time, I had taken the advice from plenty of other brides and got lost in every moment and was enjoying every single minute. Of course, until it was the end of the night when I really did just want it to carry on and on and on.
if I could do it all again I would …
Do everything pretty much the same to be honest. Our day was incredible and everybody had such a fantastic time, we really did not want it to end. There are a few little things we missed like having time to try some of the aperitifs and a few cheeky photos we forgot but nothing that would impact or change anything massively. Ah, I tell a lie – I actually did not have time to give my bridesmaids their gifts before we left for the ceremony. Well actually we’d had five hours or so, I just didn’t do it in the way I’d planned. So if I could turn back time I would have ensured that the distribution of their gifts was done in a more elegant manner than me shouting at my maid of honour as they left the room – ‘ can you give these out on the way there?’ Ha!
and finally my advice to brides-to-be getting married in sorrento or the Amalfi coast …
DO IT!!! And do it your way!
It will truly be the most incredible time of your life, your memories will be so very precious and your guests will tell you it was the best wedding they have ever been to! We were lucky enough to have guests with us on holiday for quite a while before and after the wedding date and so together we went on some gorgeous visits and wonderful experiences – a boat trip to Capri, an Amalfi Coast Tour and a visit to Pompeii. In addition to this, we had Sorrento Hen and Stag evenings, numerous meals out at fantastic
restaurants, lazy days by the pool and chilled days by the sea. We just thoroughly enjoyed spending time with our friends and family. If you can do any of this, it really enhances the whole experience and your wedding celebration isn’t just one day!
Enjoy every second, make every moment count!
With our sincerest thanks to Jenny for her kind words and for sharing her experience. Jenny was a dream to plan with!
Thanks also to : Ceremony Location : Museum Correale // Celebrant : Carmela Cesarano // Reception : Hotel Mediterraneo // Make up artist : Nicky Storey // Photography : Teresa C Photography // Chair & Accessory Hire : Wedding Chairs & Co. // Floral Design (ceremony) : Giovanni Castellano // Floral Design (bouquets) : Jenny’s mum