Marcus & John

Marcus & John had travelled to Italy many times when they decided to get married in Tuscany. Marcus, an interior designer and John, a real estate entrepreneur from Florida, envisioned a three-day celebration with a rehearsal dinner, wedding and day-after brunch.  They wanted timeless, chic and elegant.

Instead of a traditional rehearsal dinner, they welcomed their guests with cocktails and a standing dinner at The Lodge, a sleek, contemporary, venue with views over Florence’s historic “skyline”.  For the wedding, they opted for Villa Mezzomonte, a Renaissance villa with outstanding gardens and very elegant, richly decorated interiors.

Despite June’s normally picture-perfect wedding weather, a light shower kept us from staging an outdoor ceremony, which we organized instead in the long, chic corridor of the villa. We kept the initial concept of two parallel lines of chairs facing each other and open at the ends, and the two grooms entering from opposite sides and walking down the aisle at the same time, meeting in the center.

After the ceremony, as the weather improved, Mark and John joined their guests for cocktails in the lush Italian garden that enjoys marvelous vistas over the Tuscan countryside. The seated dinner, inside the villa’s dramatically frescoed gallery, was embellished by tall candelabras and blue and white flowers, and was followed by beautiful fireworks that guests could admire from the gigantic windows overlooking the garden.