Rebecca and Gareth - The proposal

Photos: Jordan Banks

Rebecca and Gareth first met in July 1999 while on a night out with friends in Telford. “As the evening went on, I plucked up the courage to go over and speak to Gareth and managed to get him to memorize my number,” says the bride. “The following day, he called and invited me out on a date.”

On their 10-year anniversary, the couple tied the knot at the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena’s famous Piazza del Campo. “We had been to Italy before and automatically fell in love with it,” says Rebecca. “We’re both well travelled and felt that it was the most romantic of places we had ever been.” To help ensure the celebrations ran smoothly, the couple hired Italian wedding planner Sara Mazzei at Infinity Weddings and Events.

Rebecca and Gareth - the ceremony

At the ceremony, the bride’s father gave her away while her mother did a reading. “It was something she had written herself – a wonderful story about her memories of me and Gareth from the past ten years,” says Rebecca. “Once we had been pronounced husband and wife, we signed the register and were given our wedding certificate – a beautiful document in Italian that is decorated with painted coloured flowers – and a collector-style box of vintage local coins, which are a local tradition to bring luck and prosperity in the marriage.”

Rebecca and Gareth - the dress

The bride looked radiant in a beautiful Maggie Sottero gown made with light gold taffeta. “It was vintage-looking as well as Italian in its style, so I knew it would be perfect for my wedding,” she says. Rebecca’s older sister was her bridesmaid, and wore a burnt-orange Alfred Angelo dress from Beau Belles in Derby.

Rebecca and Gareth - the confetti

Rebecca chose real petals, a beautiful and natural alternative to confetti – try Confetti.

Rebecca and Gareth - the reception

After the ceremony, the bride, groom and their 30 guests went for a wander around the pretty streets of Siena before heading to Castello Di Tornano for the reception. “We hired this venue exclusively for three days,” says Rebecca. “It was perfect – not too big but big enough. It certainly had the fairytale feel and we knew it would be just perfect for the intimate wedding we were after.”

The tables were decorated with pretty orange flower arrangements to match the striking colour scheme, while the chairs were adorned with orange bows. “The theme was vibrant and warm and very inkeeping with the surrounding Tuscan architecture, like the warm terracotta orange tiles or golden stone on the beautiful medieval buildings,” says Rebecca.

Rebecca and Gareth - the favours

“Our favours were traditional Italian sugared almonds dressed in a voile flower,” says the bride. “We also gave guests small boxes of orange foiled chocolates.”

Rebecca and Gareth - masquerade ball

“We surprised our guests by wearing masquerade masks for the first dance,” says Rebecca. “This is very traditional in Italy – and especially Siena – and we thought it would be a nice touch. We even managed to get them to match our colour scheme too!”

Rebecca and Gareth - the evening

“After the first dance, before the rest of the dancing took place, we invited everybody over to the lawn where we gave all our guests sky lanterns from skylanterns.com to release,” says Rebecca. “They looked beautiful and lit up the dark sky as they floated into the distance.”