I hope you guys don’t mind a few wedding posts!

And a whole lotta wedding photos…

LOL.

I promise to take it easy, just be patient with me.

Guess what? I FINALLY received our pictures from Italy and am soooo looking forward to sharing with everyone how we made our wedding the perfect fit for us and how I hope to inspire future brides and grooms to do the same.

I believe a wedding is a HUGE reflection of who you are both as individuals AND as a couple. You know what I mean? No matter if it’s your first or your third, a wedding reflects who we are and at what stage of life we are in through our choice of venue, theme, style, decorations and guest list.

For example, if I liked punk rock and four wheeling on weekends, I probably would have chosen a more casual venue with a completely different ambience, menu, decor and theme. I could totally see a desert wedding with electric guitarists, bright colored decorations and roasted marshmellows for dessert.

In choosing our venue, I made a list in my head of the things I am most passionate about in life. The ocean, travel, and hues of blue all quickly came to mind.

(Yorkies are always my number one, trust me. We were even going to bring them to the villa. But I just got too dang nervous about the long flight and how their little bodies would hold up. So they wound up vacationing with their Auntie back home. We definitely plan on more pictures in full dress with them of course:) ).

Lucky for me, Anton is a pretty laid back guy and loves everything I love, so I could basically proceed with guns blazing and plan everything exactly how I envisioned.

Oh- and lucky for him (LOL), he loves the ocean, travel and intimate gatherings of close friends so we were on the same page the entire time.

I guess getting married made some sense, HAHA!

Next, I listed the places I could envision getting married. Cabo, Punta Mita, Dominican Republic and Argentina all came to mind. But then I saw some of these amazing photos from George and Amal’s wedding. You know, that gorg celebrity couple we all can’t get enough of? And I thought “Gee, now there’s a fantastic idea!”

Italy is one of my most favorite places on the planet! I honestly don’t know why it didn’t pop into my head sooner… I guess I was thinking closer to home. But if you’re only planning on getting married once and with a small group of people, heck, the distance factor can easily be overcome.

And not to forget, Anton is Russian and his remaining family members all live in St. Petersburg. I thought this was the perfect compromise. We could meet them sort of halfway between the US and Russia.

Basically, when I get an idea in my head that I like, I just take off running and can make any of my crazy ideas seem totally logical.

So Italy it was. Dad and Anton had no objections. And none of my family had been to the Amalfi Coast including me (which is why I chose it) so we were good to go!

Now finding a venue can be challenging but honestly, I think I really lucked out. Either that or the google Gods were looking out for me because our Villa San Giacomo just kept popping up everytime I entered “Italian Wedding Villa”. It had the perfect number of rooms, the most amazing views, and unbeatable services.

And I have heard over and over and over again how fantastic the little town of Positano is. So to have accidentally chosen a villa here was sheer luck or genius?

I’ll let you decide that one.

Oh and guess what was so fantastic? We could all stay in the villa for 8 days and have the wedding on the night of our choosing at no additional cost!

Seriously, I think everyone should have a destination wedding. For much less of the cost than where I’m from (San Diego), we could treat our guests to a week’s stay in a luxurious five star villa with our own staff and personal chef AND have a wedding.

OH- and we’re not twenty anymore haha. So a villa seemed like the perfect, relaxing, quiet getaway and place to say our “I do’s.”

In my twenties I totally would have chosen Mexico with margaritas, fish tacos, loud music and a venue close to downtown for more dancing and partying all night long. But again, now that I’m in my 30’s, my lifestyle has definitely evolved and my passions have changed.

Do I sound boring?

LOL.

The villa idea was mine from the beginning I’ll admit, because I really wanted to treat all of our friends to something special. I truly feel so blessed having the friends I have, who have supported me through the worst and best of times, that I felt like my wedding was as much theirs as it was mine.

I don’t know if that makes sense, but I just really felt like I was transitioning into a new chapter of my life thanks in part, to the support and love of my close family and friends and I wanted to thank them.

Hence, another reason why your wedding venue choice is so important. I feel like my friends know Anton and I as an adventureous, coastal loving couple who also very much enjoy luxurious vacations (okay, me way more than him) HAHA, so I felt that the venue totally represented US!

Don’t get me wrong, I work my ass off for those five star accomodations, EVERYTIME! And I’m sure I’ll be working this one off for a while longer. But it was sooo worth it.

And one of the best things about the villa was its simplicity. Luxurious yes, but nothing fancy or over the top. Everything there was breathtakingly beautiful. The garden, the pool, the view, the villa architecture. The villa inspired my vision for flowers, decorations, dinner, drinks, dancing and pictures.

Everyone needs a venue where they feel inspired and comfortable!

Looking at our pictures everything just looks so incredible and soooo how I wanted it to be!

And you know how efficient I like to be. Multitasking is second nature to me… this time we got married, travelled and saw a new destination!

So what did we love about our Italian villa stay? Well, for starters, we were all together for 7 nights and 8 days. Our friends and families got to meet and mingle. We enjoyed the most delicious, fresh, amazing Italian dishes. Guaranteed, we could not have found a better place with a better chef than our Giuseppe! And we didn’t have to leave the villa unless we wanted to. We had everything we needed… a pool, view, garden, chef, snacks, booze… the list goes on and on. Everything was so magical and so convenient.

And I think I did a really really good job of scheduling things BUT we let people do what they wanted to do. Hey, it was everyone’s vacation and they all spent a lot of money getting there. So if everyone joined us for dinners great, if not, that was okay too.

I would define our venue as relaxed, elegant, chic and breathtaking. A one of a kind experience that I am so very excited and happy to share with you all.

Now I know this venue may totally be the wrong one for many or all of you reading this. And hey, I LOVE THAT!

I want you to make your lists and have your discussions and budget run downs and figure out where you can get married that will give you the satisfaction, the overwhelming feeling of happiness, and the sheer joy that our villa brought to us.

YOU deserve everything you want, YOUR WAY!

And now I’m off to go through the 98237483 wedding photos I have yet to get to 🙁 .

xx Shanna