It’s time for a trip to Tuscany my loves. Complete with sweet little flower girls, the most amazing twinkle lights, and an olive grove ceremony that is goosebumps embodied. Carlo Carletti Wedding Photographer captured a stunning destination wedding with so much heart, my own aches over the pretty. It’s a gallery for those of us who can never say no to bit of Italy.

From the bride … I first read about Castello di Vicarello in a Vogue feature in January 2011. Right away I knew, from the article and particularly the photos, that it was a very special place. Rio and I decided to visit that spring, and absolutely fell in love with the rustic beauty of the Tuscan landscape as well as the intimate feeling that Vicarello emanates. Our visit to the Castello felt as if we had been transported to an incredibly special, enchanting place, while also feeling totally relaxed and at home. The aesthetic and style of Castello di Vicarello (and of the owners, Aurora and Carlo Baccheschi Berti) was in tune with our own and we felt very comfortable there. The Castello appears to be traditional Tuscan from its facade, however once you step inside it’s different rooms, each feel like a beautiful, well-curated montage of treasures from the families’ travels all over the world. The marriage between the old and the new, the romantic and the modern, is impeccable. Rio and I also share a serious love of food and wine, and both play a part in the experience at Vicarello. Aurora’s kitchen was a dream, and I still cook many of the dishes that she taught me how to make. After we became engaged in Paris, and were thinking about all of the memories we’ve shared through our travels together, we knew that we wanted a destination wedding. We felt that Castello di Vicarello truly embodied all of the things we love and wanted our family and friends to experience: incredible beauty; comfort and warmth; delicious local food and wine; a unique experience; and most of all a place that really felt like “us”.

My mom and I, along with the help of Aurora from Castello di Vicarello and Tommaso from La Rosa Canina, planned everything. From the flowers to the table settings, lighting, menus, maid of honor dresses (which we had made), the flower girl basket and even the nest that the ring bearer carried the rings in – each detail had our mark on it. We wanted to keep everything natural with an almost enchanted feeling, reflecting the beauty of the landscape surrounding us –rolling green Tuscan hills and the sparkling star-filled night sky, and miraculously gorgeous weather.

The one thing that I was not in charge of was the music. My husband, Rio has been in the music business for years, so that was the one area I knew would be perfect for him to be in charge of! Our DJ, Questlove, was so incredible, words cannot even express how Rio and I feel about the music from that night. He had full artistic freedom… did not give one shred of direction and it could not have been more perfect or in tune with our musical taste. It was amazing and truly made our wedding a “party,” which was very important to us. A group of us immediately got on the dance floor after the ceremony and before dinner! My girlfriends and I love to dance, so naturally, we couldn’t resist. The first song Questlove played was Paul Simon “Late in the Evening,” and I still get so emotional whenever I hear it… it takes me right back to that moment.

I absolutely adore my dress. It was a simple beautiful silk-faille strapless dress from Lanvin with a giant bow on the back. I thought the element of surprise when I walked down the aisle would be fun. From the front , the dress looks very simple, almost modern and the idea of the back having this lush, voluminous, super feminine bow was very in tune with my style. I was also what my mom calls a “bow head” – I wore a bow in my hair every day of my life up until about age 11, so needless to say it was very “me”! I also wore a very lovely shoulder length veil made by Leah. C in New York. We jokingly called it a “no veil” veil, because it was a champagne nude color and instead of really showing up it created an ethereal airiness around me which was very pretty and complimented the dress well.

The ceremony was located in an olive grove on the property. I loved how quiet and intimate it felt- each row only had two chairs in it, so I really got see each and every person as I walked down the aisle. The string group was going to play a variation of favorite songs from the Beatles and Van Morrison, but ended up playing the same three or four Beatles songs over and over, which was actually very funny and sweet and ended up being imperfectly perfect! Rio and I crafted our ceremony, taking pieces from different spiritual readings and religions. My best friend’s (one of my made of honors) mother, Pam, did our reading for us, which really meant the world to me. The most beautiful moment was hearing all of our loved ones verbally commit to love and support us as a married couple, in unison. That moment was truly special.

Photographer: Carlo Carletti Wedding Photographer | Location: Castello di Vicarello | Brides Dress: Lanvin | Brides Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Brides Veil: Leah C. Couture Millinery | Grooms Suit and Tie: Giorgio Armani | Flower girl dresses: Baby CZ by Carolina Zapf | Ring bearer suit: Crewcuts by J.Crew | Flowers: Tommaso Torrini of La Rosa Canina | Paper Products: Mr. Boddington’s Studio | Calligraphy: Emily Snyder of Queen Quills

For more information on how Little Black Book Members are chosen click here.
J.Crew is a member of our Look Book. For more information on how members are chosen, click here.

I fell in love with this wedding right away. The poolside nuptials between a couple so pretty was tops and Daniel Usenko Photography hit it out of the ballpark. But then. Then I read the groom’s proposal story. And got goosebumps. Because this blogger was also proposed to in front of a castle of the Disney variety. So obviously, I’ve parked myself (and my happiest tears) in the gallery and don’t think I’ll be leaving anytime soon.

From the handsom groom … In very rare occasions during the course of my life I’ve had moments of perfect clarity wherein I experienced an intimate understanding of certain details of my future. I’d never been a believer in the ‘love at first sight’ adage, but meeting Liz was one of those instants. Within the moment I’d met her I knew she was the girl I was going to marry. Liz has always been captivated by fairytale stories, so naturally an appropriate proposal would need to take place at the most magical place on Earth. When I wasn’t fully convinced by the ideas Disneyland’s guest services offered (they’ve got some great ideas, but just not personal or spontaneous enough), I set out to come up with my own idea – which more or less consisted of a ‘wing it’ endeavor. I’d envisioned an after-hours, romantic walk through an empty kingdom where I could propose in private in front of Snow White’s iconic castle. It was going to be romantic and perfectly magical. Throughout our relationship, I’ve often surprised Liz with out of town excursions. One of our first dates was an impromptu trip to New York, followed by a surprise trip to Hawaii a few months later; and many more throughout the years. I decided that the proposal trip needed to be a complete surprise. I arranged with Liz’s bosses to schedule her for mandatory overtime using Facebook as the means of communication. I made sure to delete all of the conversations so that Liz wouldn’t find out. I scheduled the weekend of April Fools Day. Liz has always enjoyed a good Fools’ joke, and an engagement would be a perfect fit. As the Big Weekend came near, Liz had decided that she had a ‘surprise vacation’ on the horizon. I still don’t have a clue how she got this in her head, but fortunately she didn’t know which weekend or where I’d be taking her. Sometimes she has amazing intuition. The day before we left I told her to pack her suitcase for 80 degree weather. The destination was a surprise, and Liz was excited about the trip. What I didn’t expect is that she would look up every airline website to try to check in for any flight with her name tied to it. She immediately knew that a Southwest flight to Burbank likely meant a Disneyland trip would be associated. Our Disneyland day was scheduled for Saturday. We had a great time all day, and in the evening I’d arranged to have preferred seating at the Fantasmic show. When the show was over, I’d expected the park to completely clear out so that we could have the place to ourselves for the magical moment. I would waltz Liz around the park a bit, walk through the castle and propose in the garden outside or on the gate. I did not expect the place to be at capacity at the end of the night. As we walked through the castle, I knew that stopping and getting on my knee would be like hammering the brakes on the freeway at rush hour. If I’d stuck to my plan we would have been catastrophically trampled by kids and strollers and never heard from again. I pulled the landing gear back up and circled for another approach, hoping the place would clear out by the time we looped through Frontierland. The Disney workers were informing us that Disneyland would be closing soon, and ushering everyone down main street to the exit. With my deadline quickly approaching and the place still completely packed, I’d considered that perhaps a Disneyland proposal under these conditions simply wouldn’t provide the magical moment I’d envisioned. On the other hand, I likely wouldn’t get the opportunity to plan another trip for a few more months. I was committed to getting this done. As we took another run at the castle, the place was still completely full, and the park was officially closed. I faked a quick exit, circled back and asked one of the security guards to take a final picture of us in front of the castle. As he was lining up for the picture I got the ring out and asked the girl of my dreams to be mine forever. After a round of applause from the people around us, we headed out and enjoyed the balance of our weekend in Newport Beach. Photography: Daniel Usenko Photography | Second Shooter: Angela Shae | Flowers: Amore Flowers | Wedding Coordinator: Without a Hitch | Ceremony + Reception Location: Basel Cellars | Invitations: Checkerboard | Shoes: Badgley Mischka | Dress Designer: Oscar De La Renta | Bridesmaid Dress Designer: JLM Couture | Men’s Fashion: Men’s Warehouse

For more information on how Little Black Book Members are chosen click here.
Badgley Mischka is a member of our Look Book. For more information on how members are chosen, click here.

I do adore a good love story. With all the right pieces. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl don’t realize how perfect they are for each other until years after they met and become friends. Boy and girl fall in love, boy proposes, and boy and girl call Leo Timoshuck to shoot the prettiest engagement session, complete with puppy. It’s the classic love story, and I fall for it every time. And, if you can believe it, this is just the tip of the pretty iceberg. There is a whole gallery waiting right here with so much more.

From the bride to be … I met my future husband when I was just seven years old. That’s right. The man of my dreams and my best friend today, walked into my life when I was the ripe old age of seven. He was 12 at the time, and while I did not recognize just how special he would be, my older brother somehow did. They quickly became best friends, and I was the annoying little sister. Three years after that Brian moved across the country to Colorado, and out of my life. Luckily, my brother and Brian stayed close, even rooming together for four years in college.

It wasn’t until 16 years after our first meeting that Brian and I would again take notice of each other. While living in the same city we hit it off as friends and soon realized just how similar we were. Hang out nights turned to date nights and within nine months we were moving across the country together. Throughout the three and a half years of our relationship we have lived in several different cities together, experiencing the joys and hardships of life, always leaning on each other for a good laugh or cry. Today, Brian has two best friends, the friend of almost 20 years, and his annoying little sister that luckily turned out to be the love of his life as well.

Brian told me he was going to marry me two months into our relationship. It was before we had said I love you, and I was just dying to tell him. One night we were lying in bed and he leaned over and said, “I’m going to marry you one day.” I have no idea what I said to him, but I know the next night I decided it was more than ok to tell him I loved him, so I said the “L” word first, knowing that he was the one.

The proposal was sweet. At home, very quiet, very us. Brian walked in with two wrapped gifts and told me someone had left them downstairs for me. I hesitantly opened the first, only to see the wedding magazine, “The Knot.” At seeing that, I froze and internally totally panicked. The back story to this was that I had secretly gone onto The Knot weeks prior to this and registered for an account, putting in a fake wedding date. So, when I opened this gift, I thought they were sending me a free magazine, and I panicked thinking this would scare Brian! After several times of him asking me what it was, and me awkwardly trying to pretend I didn’t know what it was, Brian said, “Jen, it’s the wedding magazine” and then slowly proceeded to pull out a large box and open it to a beautiful diamond ring. I was in such shock that I just kept asking if it was real and if it was really happening.

After that I proclaimed that we needed to celebrate and Brian agreed, noting that we should call our families first. When I called my family their first question was, “How did he do it?” and my answer was to look at the phone with a blank stare, asking Brian to tell the story. I had apparently partially blacked out on the details of what exactly he had said! Luckily Brian remembered. We topped the night off with more phone calls and drinks with a few great friends.

The one thing we love most about each other is that we make each other laugh. We’re dorks in our own sense and we have a variety of nerdy inside jokes, words and expressions that can always put a smile on the other’s face.

Photographer: Leo Timoshuk | Engagement ring: Demarco | Bracelets: Alex and Ani | Necklace: J.Crew | Boots: Frye | Heals: Ann Taylor | Black & White pants + grey top: J.Crew | Pillows, mercury glass candle & chalk sign: Paper Source | Red Notebook: DIY | Other notebooks: Kate Spade | Blanket: Target

For more information on how Little Black Book Members are chosen click here.
Ann Taylor and J.Crew are members of our Look Book. For more information on how members are chosen, click here.