Sunny Torre Perrotti Wedding Santa Maria di Castellabate

Sunny Torre Perrotti Wedding Santa Maria di Castellabate

Sunshine & Surprises: Torre Perrotti Santa Maria Wedding

Destination Wedding Italy, Torre Perrotti Wedding

Janine and Bryan where do we start for your fabulous romantic fun filled, sunshine Torre Perrotti wedding in beautiful sunny Santa Maria di Castellabate
A princess – yes you are – marrying in your fairytale castle surrounded by your loved ones.  Such a wonderful day and night you had, simply epic!
We loved it!…as did all your family and friends

We were so thrilled to be back here in the gorgeous twinkle town that is Santa Maria on the Cilento coast of Italy.  Our previous Santa Maria wedding was on the beach which was better suited to the early season as not so busy with sunbathers.
This wedding was atop the Palazzo Perrotti Tower roof space, a romantic location overlooking the clear blue waters of the sea.

Janine and Bryan’s day was impeccably planned by the amazing planner  Julie of My Secret Italy.
She excels at being a wonderful host, making sure guests are looked after and providing couples with extra little surprises throughout the day to create a magical day.

Janine and her girls got ready in Residenz 1893, beautiful apartments overlooking the promenade leading to the beach.
Julie pooped along with balloons from Bryan, tied with messages to be opened throughout the morning, and then balloons released to signify she was on her way!
I took a few goes and the wind kept blowing them back in, much to everyone’s amusement! There were a few moist eyes as Janine came down the stairs to her waiting Dad.
Then the bridal party was serenaded along the quaint Italian alleyways to the Perrotti Tower, Janine being led by her proud dad to her waiting groom.

Torre Perrotti Wedding Ceremony

The ceremony was intimate and funny with personal humorous vows, reading from both mums and lots of kisses!
Soon it was time to go back down the tower stairs for a courtyard reception of music and canapes and cake.  Another surprise was a Spanish castanet musician.

Later when Janine and Bryan had signed the registers at the improvised Town Hall and returned there was confetti by the masses as they exited the courtyard gardens of the Torre Perrotti
Then ice cream from Baffo was really appreciated in the warm weather.  Time for portraits and then back to the Lido Azzurro for the evening reception where the guests were enjoying the beach.
…but not before our couple took time to enjoy a stunning Santa Maria sunset.  They are a bit special here

Lido Azzurro Reception

Speeches done  – oh little Ollie did an amazing speech, so natural! touched everyone in the room.
Next up food – a delicious bbq and lots of salads –  and party time! The evening was filled with music dancing and fireworks.
Lots of dancing and singing., a fabulous dance where a member of the family kept being added to the line, and a famous rendition of Rick Astley’s, “Never Gonna Give you Up”
The Maieutiké live band were fabulous as usual, always a pleasure to hear them play and sing.
The fireworks were the icing on the cake of such a memorable day.

Thank you Janine and Bryan for bringing us back to Santa Maria for your wedding, it was flipping awesome!
Wishing you much love and happiness  Sandy & Dave xx

view of Torre Perrotti

Torre Perrotti wedding Santa Maria di Castellabate

 

 

maieutiké liveband at Lido Azzurro

Santa Maria Castellabate Mini- Pre Wed Shoot

Santa Maria Castellabate Mini- Pre Wed Shoot

Santa Maria di  Castellabate Mini- Pre Wed Shoot

Janine and Bryan – nearly Married!

So the following day was to be the big day for Janine and Bryan – their much awaited for wedding day atop the Perrotti Tower in Santa Maria di Castellabate
We had already met up in the UK for a scenic shoot at Hardcastle  Crags during the bluebell season
We could resist however capturing a few more shots of them enjoying the late afternoon sunshine in the beautiful setting of Santa Maria di Castellabate
This authentic Italian fishing village with the old town looking down from the hill above has won a place in our hearts – this was a fourth visit to this little piece of paradise.

We had flown in that morning and enjoying a stroll around town – it was lovely to see a local wedding taking place at the church just below the main the main square too
The steps leading down were beautifully decorated with flowers and a white runner.  We watched the confetti cannons go off, obliterating the couple and listened to the fireworks going off
(couldn’t really see them in daylight!) Really got us in wedding mode though .
Some snazzy dresses being worn in town too, such style the Italians have!

Amway back to our own loved up couple.  Just a few quick shots as a delicious pizza was calling! The sun was setting as we went to the restaurant
Look out soon for the blog of the wedding day itself.
You won’t want to miss that one!

Santa MAria Castellabate pre wed shoot

 

sunet town beach Santa Maria di Castellabate

Bohemian Elopement: Santa Maria, Italy

Bohemian Elopement: Santa Maria, Italy

Gorgeous Santa Maria Seaside Boho Elopement Italy

Boheain elopement Santa Maria, Cliento Coast, Italy

How gorgeous was this shoot on a workshop, led by the fabulous Claire Penn, in Santa Maria di Castellabate during the Secret Retreat workshop
A loved up Italian couple, wow what chemistry Luigi and Antonia! …well they were married just a few days ago for real,  it really shines through these images.
We were privileged to be given access to the normally off-limits summer palace and villa Sirena, by the island of  Licosia, belonging to the Prince and Princess of Belmonte.

Antonia’s dress is a genuine vintage 1960s Mexican wedding dress purchased from Etsy, perfectly complemented by a feather headdress and feather details in her barefoot sandals.
Luigi or Lu as he is known is a local lead singer in a band.  His styling was simple, his own clothes accessorised with a mustard bow tie, love those braces too!
The picture-perfect picnic by the sea was masterminded by the uber-talented Mandy Beck of Saddleworth Shindigs.
She has a wealth of goodies in her Aladdin’s cave treasure trove and squirreled some away for this shoot.  The ceremony arbor hung in the trees was decorated with lace ribbons, feathers and hand made dreamcatchers.  Mandy is so super talented.

A perfect laid back boho wedding elopement and picnic reception by the sea, doesn’t get more chilled out and idyllic than this!
An evening party ensued with good friends at the Azurro Lido on the beach, with music from Lu himself and lots of dancing…oh and fireworks on the beach, outstanding!
Hope you enjoy these images!

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Location: Villa Sirena, WWW.PALAZZOBELMONTE.COM/EN/VILLA-SIRENA

Styling: Mandy Beck: SADDLEWORTH SHINDIGS

Organisation: THE SECRET RETREAT + MY SECRET ITALY

Italy Destination Wedding Workshop: Santa Maria Secret Retreat

Italy Destination Wedding Workshop: Santa Maria Secret Retreat

A picture of a quaint authentic Italian seaside town, Santa Maria, or twinkle town as I later learnt its affectionate name, tugged at my travel-prone heartstrings. Booked a holiday here…and then just a short while later The Secret Retreat workshop was launched. I had to go, simply could not miss this opportunity with 3 fabulous photographers I’ve admired   for a while Claire Penn, Andrea Ellison and Lucy Woodrow in this special place. No lie it sold with an hour … …but yay I got a place!!

As we were flying in to Naples I took some shots of  islands just offshore Naples, I knew it wasn’t Capri…. Mental note to google map later.

So there we were 30 girls all mixing well and having a great time in the sunshine, eating pizza, sunbathing by the pool, we had a party night with music, dancing and surprise fireworks…..oh  yes and we did get t to shoot in two amazing palaces  with real couples head over heels in love with each other and meet the Prince and Princess of Belmonte who were so hospitable to us. What more could we want!

Each day a  leader set up a styled shoot and gave an informative talk and exercises to help with the business planning  side of things, something for everyone whatever level. Even with many years’ experience but I craved new inspiration, new creativity and new guidance on branding and marketing, always developing.

I can honestly say I got all this out of it and so much more – really cannot thank ALL the girls enough for this experience.  Valuable time was also spent networking and bouncing ideas off each other.  Special thanks to Mandy the creative expert from Saddleworth Shindigs for all the goodies she used was in detail heaven!  And to the florist and make up artist who did a fabulous work on our amazing couples Paul and Bev and Luigi and Antonia.  Extra special thanks to Julie McKenzie and daughter Emily of My Secret Italy  they really are the best wedding planners her and go the extra mile for you– can appreciate how much hard work goes into organising such an event, often having to make impromptu changes on the day.

Words are inadequate to fully sum up this amazing amazing experience, we all received motivational kick up the backsides and I know not only myself but everybody else will be buzzing from this magical workshop  and putting things into practice for a good few months yet.

I dared to dream ….and  my dream is coming true I will be back here in May 2016 for a wedding….and as for those islands I discovered it was Ischia and Procdia…places I wanted to visit on honeymoon 30 years ago   …and now we are in less than 2 weeks time carrying on the love affair with Italy.

Santa Maria in the summer

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Want to see more of this amazing workshop – then check out this amazing secret retreat 2015 video

captured by Laura Jane Dale Photogrpahy – huge thanks Laura, fabulous memories