Tuscany · Villa GamberaiaAnastasia
Anastasia and Stefano came to me with a single idea in mind: to marry in Tuscany. It was already a place they held dear, because it was here that they had spent their first small holiday after Covid. And so it was in Tuscany that they chose to gather their families and friends, arriving from different countries and cultures, to celebrate their love.
Finding the right venue was not easy. Anastasia and Stefano knew exactly what they wanted and were particularly demanding: the place of the wedding was, for them, one of the most important elements of the whole project. After a long search, Villa Gamberaia became the perfect setting for what we had imagined.
The real challenge was to bring together the Russian origins and the international breadth of Anastasia’s family with the Italian culture and traditions of Stefano’s.
Their wish was that every guest, whatever their background, should feel welcomed and at home. So we looked for a balance between different languages, traditions and sensibilities, building a wedding able to represent them both, naturally.
What gave everything its coherence was an unconventional choice: to use a single variety of flower for the entire wedding — delphinium. With its slender stem made of many small blooms, delphinium became the thread running through the event, accompanied by nothing but greenery. It appeared for the first time on the invitations, framing the initials of their logo, and then returned in the graphics, in the settings and in every detail of the wedding.
The tableau de mariage too was turned into a great delphinium as tall as a person, made of many single flowers. On each one were written the guest’s name, their table and their seat. During the aperitivo everyone could take their own flower and discover exactly where they would be sitting for dinner.
The wedding favours brought the couple’s origins together in a single object: a matryoshka, a homage to Anastasia’s Russian roots, holding a small bottle of Vin Santo, the emblem of Stefano’s Italy. Each matryoshka, hand-painted, carried a delphinium on the front, closing the thread begun with the invitations. Small details, thought through to tell their story — and able to make all the difference.
Delphinium became the thread running through the event, accompanied by nothing but greenery.
Anastasia began the day at Villa Cora, with a long preparation shared with her mother. From there she joined Stefano at Villa Gamberaia, where he had got ready and where the guests then arrived for the ceremony. The rite took place in the Nettuno garden, a space of rare charm surrounded by ancient cypresses: so tall and imposing that they too seemed present, as witnesses to the union of Anastasia and Stefano.
After the ceremony, the guests moved to the wonderful terrace looking out over Florence. A September sunset, excellent food and live music accompanied the aperitivo, while the saxophone moved among the guests, surprising them with its interludes.
With the light still warm, the guests were invited into the majestic Italian garden for dinner. One long imperial table welcomed them all together, like a single large family. Above it, a continuous decoration of delphinium hung from overhead, wrapping the dinner in a romantic atmosphere. Between one course and the next, Italian music got the guests up and dancing, while the speeches of those closest to them gave the evening its most moving moments.
The cutting of the cake was planned in a side area of the villa, more intimate and secluded, against a backdrop of flowers and lights. The caterers prepared the millefoglie the couple had wanted right in front of the guests, and Anastasia completed it with a final dusting of icing sugar. As they cut it, lights and smoke-filled bubbles began to envelop the couple and their guests, creating an almost unreal atmosphere.
The celebration carried on late into the night in the inner courtyard of Villa Gamberaia. Among mirror balls, smoke and lighting effects, the guests danced, accompanied by a buffet of Italian desserts, sugared almonds and small gifts chosen for them.
Shortly before the ceremony was due to begin, a very strong wind put the programme at risk and gave us no small amount of worry.
These are the moments when you have to watch, judge quickly and keep coordinating everything without passing any tension on to the couple or their guests. In the end everything went ahead as planned, and that sudden wind remained nothing more than an invisible part of the work done behind the scenes.
Of all the moments of that day, I remember one that seems simple: Anastasia and Stefano dancing together a little way from that wonderful table.
For a few moments there seemed to be no one but them. An intimate moment, in which they enjoyed their own love and all the beauty we had built together over our long journey of planning.
That is the image that has stayed with me: two happy people, at last inside the day they had imagined.
For a few moments there seemed to be no one but them.
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