Wedding inspiration board

Inspiration boards are a good way of organizing your thoughts during the planning of your wedding. There are so many things out there to inspire you and one can imagine having the wedding in many ways. It's hard to actually narrow it all down and stick to a certain style. In fact in the beginning of my wedding planning my ideas were all over the place! In the end, I started realizing that there were certain elements that I had really fallen for and a specific style started to emerge.
The first thing we chose for the wedding was the wedding location, and after that we could start thinking of a specific vision that we wanted. The location for our civil wedding was the lovely Scaliger Castle in Malcesine on Lake Garda. Absolutely stunning, right on the lake, with a 180* view of the water and mountains.
I wanted a eco-friendly look, with many DIY elements. I hand-drew the invitation card together with one of Marco's best men, made all the table decorations myself, sew the flower girl dress(tutorial and result), made the ring pillow, made wedding program fans, a road sign with distances to where our guests had travelled to be there,  rice and lavender cones, designed my own wedding dress and had it made, had a song written for us by a good friend. So it was very personal!
To have a look at the final results of the decorations click here.  And for the wedding pictures as a whole (although not the official photos) check them out here.

This is the newer inspiration board that was made about 3-4 months before the wedding. Several things were still changed from this board but it is pretty similar to the final result.

This was the first inspiration board that I made before Marco even officially proposed! We had started talking about the wedding and this is what I envisioned. Not many of these details were actually used though. The skirt of the dress and the flowers remained the same, a location on the water (the country is different though), are the same.

The bridesmaids inspiration board can be seen here.

Our wedding decoration

 Here are the decorations from our wedding. I did so many things in order to make our wedding as personal as possible. It all turned out amazingly and I was given many compliments. Our guests appreciated the personal touches making them feel special as well.  

 This is a road sign that I made where all the places are indicated where our guests had travelled from to be there for our wedding. 

 The table decorations. The napkin had a champagne coloured ribbon (our colour theme). Fabric flowers, a Protea flower, a pot with grass with the table numbers.

 A close up of the table decorations. 

 The cakes and the cake presentation that I came up with myself. The white chocolate of the cakes resembles the bark of the tree stumps. The beautiful seeds that I had collected over some time. The tin cans with babies breath flowers, and also the cake toppers that I had made of us. 

 The headband for the flower girl. 

 The cake toppers that I made of ourselves. They're made out of Polimer clay that are baked in the oven. 

 The ring pillows with the same lace that we also had around the jars on the tables and of the leg band. 

 The hair flowers that both I and the 3 bridesmaids wore on the day. 

 The window on which I wrote the table seating. Each rectangle had the names of a table. 

 Wish tags that were placed in the birds house, which our guests wrote their wishes to us. 

 We put photos of our parents, grandparents and other family members on their wedding days. It was a way to celebrate them and show our respect to them.

 The wedding program fans. On the first page it has the program, second page has the bridal party names, the third page had the text of That's Amore which we sang together with our guests after the ceremony. 

 Small flags which the guests waved after we were wed. 

Wedding inspiration _ Castello Scaligero di Malcesine

 So after looking for a dream location for our wedding all around the world, we finally found this amazing place! It's the Scaligero Castle of Malcesine, on Lake Garda. It combines the cinderella dream of getting married in a castle as well as having the gorgeous view of the lake. (I've always wanted to get married close to water). Lake Garda (Lago di Garda) is a gorgeous lake in general. It's surrounded by 2000m high mountains that look breathtaking. The colour of the water is clear blue which is unusual for lakes in general which tend to have a more brownish colour. The temperatures are lovely in wintertime and many people come to do different water sports such as windsurfing, sailing. The cities around the lake are quite small and very turistic. The clustered harbour villages are bustling and have a lot of good restaurants and shops. There are also quite a lot of beaches to go swimming. If you don't have a car you can get inbetween the main cities by ferryboat. It is rather slow, but it is an enjoyable trip. From the most northern point to the most southernly it takes almost 2,5 hours. Trips inbetween Malcesine and Limone only take 15min and it is a good chance to see 2 villages at once. The cabin cars will take you to the top of Mount Baldo (1700m) from Malcesine and give you a spectacular view of the lake.

Also while near Lago di Garda, why not visit the gorgeous city of Verona? See a show at the ancient roman arena. Also Venice is not too far away and is probably the most unique city in the world with it's roads of water!

The Scaligero Castle of Malcesine and the beautiful city of Malcesine right on the lake Garda. A dream location for a wedding!

The lake and the castle when you arrive from the north. Isn't it stunning?

These are the first set of steps leading up to the garden beneath the terrace.

Stunning view from the castles terrace where the outdoor wedding would take place.

The seating for the guests. During the ceremony they are covered with white pillows.

Can it get any better than this? No I don't think so! What a gorgeous outdoor dream wedding!

The gorgeous terrace of the castle overlooking lake Garda.

Lovely view of the old city center of Malcesine and the lake in the background.

The covered area where the bride and groom will sign the registry and be wed!

These are the stairs leading up to the castles terrace where the outdoor weddings take place. The steps are all rounded cobble stones and rather difficult to walk on. Good to keep in mind when chosing shoes and for guests that might have difficulties climbing the stairs.

Some of the gardens inside the castle.

This is the room where one gets married in case its bad weather *crossing our fingers it won't be*. The room is quite nice with large windows overlooking the lake. They have seats for 50 and standing for an extra 30.

There are many great spots to take the wedding photos. For example this one: a gap between the castle walls overlooking Lake Garda and the mountains in the background. Quite spectacular!

Cottage

This country cottage in Italy has been transformed into a youth hostel. It seems like a great place to stay. Unfortunatly when I downloaded the photos I forgot to write down who the architect is and where it is...I'm so helpful...not. But at least you can enjoy the photos!

Refurbishment _ Marche, Italy

 This villa in the Marche countryside was in need of some tender loving care. And it sure got some! The swiss based architecture team Wespi De Meuron gave it just the resuscitation it needed. It is now a very beautiful and luxurious home with a guesthouse and swimming pool. 

The countryside of Marche is becoming more and more popular amoungst foreign tourists looking for an unspoilt beautiful landscape with marvoulous medievil city centres. The landscape is simular to that of Tuscany with bellowing colourful hills and valleys. Also the region is on the adriatic coast which means that even if you are inland you can reach the coast relativley quickly. Many abandoned villas can be found in the rural parts and they are a popular buy amoungst foreign buyers looking for a bit of history when investing in a home to spend their summers. One could say it's thanks to many of these foreign buyers that these houses are getting restored. 

The Umbau haus of Treia, Marche is one of those. As one aproaches the villa one sees an amazing outdoor area with a swimmingpool and a covered outdoor kitchen and seating area overlooking the pool and lovely vineyards. The guesthouse is also situated in a seperate small building linked by this same outdoor space. When entering the villa one is overwhelmed by the light. The bricks have been cleaned and dusted with white chalk. All the indoor furniture, floors and walls are also white letting the sunlight to reflect on every possible surface. The open floorplan also allows both light and air to flow freely from one end to the other. In the master bedroom one has the bathtub in the room whereas the other bathroom facilities are in an adjacent bathroom. The kitchen is ultra modern almost industrial with its stainless steel surfaces and gas stove. The furniture is of latest design and in general the aproach is very minimalistic.

So if you are looking into investing in an Italian dream villa in the countryside, Marche is the place to look! And I'd be more than happy to help you find, refurbish and design your dream home!