Real Wedding: Italian Riviera Wedding Roaring 20s themed Wedding

Hometown: London, UK

Love Story:  Kamal and Caterina are a true international couple. She is from Genova, Italy and he is from London. They met in London, working for Giorgio Armani.

The couple’s nuptials were a mix of cultures with their family and friends in attendance from all over the world, most notably Kenya, London, and Italy. They wedding festivities began in London the week before with three days of traditional Indian rituals. From there, the guests made their way to Italy for a beautiful Italian Riviera wedding.

Here, Extraordinary Weddings organised the ceremony followed by a colorful, sophisticated Roaring 20s wedding reception fit for all cultures.  

The Wedding Style: Roaring 20s wedding set in an 18^th Century Italian villa on the Ligurian Coast.

The most important thing to the couple was the atmosphere. They wanted to recreate that warmth and sophistication of typical 1920’s parties. The theme they selected came from the feelings and emotions they felt at a small restaurant in Prague during their courtship – the place they had dinner the day before Kamal proposed. They recalled being surrounded by colorful murals and stained glass in a restaurant that takes its name from the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. They felt they were in different age, a time of gentlemen and true ladies, where love was still important and shown through real gestures. They decided to bring that era back to life for their wedding day with a Roaring 20s wedding theme.

Caterina and Kamal had an elegant, colorful, and fun Roaring 20s wedding with the theme infusing every aspect. The event featured cigars, whiskey, and suspenders for men and feathers, sequins, and fringe for the women. They group danced into the night serenaded by a live jazz band. 

The Preparations:

Colors: Ivory, Antique Gold, Dove-brown

Flowers: Roses, Gypsophila and Orchids 

Bridal Gown:  Justin Alexander: the bride selected a Juliet cap with a side veil

Groom: Tuxedo by Emporio Armani

Shoes: The bride and groom both incorporated the roaring 20s wedding theme in their shoes selection.

Bride: Custom tango shoes with gold heel, t-bar by Madam Pivot.

Groom: Lace-up Oxford by Emporio Armani

“Thanks to Barbara the planning process was very easy. We could visit Italy only once and despite heavy snow, Barbara made it to the meeting. Barbara solves any problem; when the first celebrant did not work out she found a wonderful replacement in 2 days!” The Bride

Ceremony & Reception:  Villa Faraggiana, Albissola Marina, Ligurian Riviera

Music: Jazzlag, a live Jazz band that was perfect for a Roaring 20s wedding.

Photographer: Giulia Molinari 

Dinner: The couple selected an aperitivo buffet followed by dinner. Borghi handled catering. Most of the foreigner guests were vegetarian, so they provided a perfect balance to accommodate everyone’s needs with typical Ligurian dishes to make it feel like a true Italian Riviera Wedding.

“Extraordinary Weddings was a priceless help with the choice of decorations and table settings.” The Bride 

Wedding Favor: To keep the Roaring 20s wedding theme the couple made feather boutonnieres for the men and bamboo, silk fans for the ladies. Kamal handmade 50 boutonnieres with white goose feathers dipped into gold, black rooster feathers, Guinea fowl feathers and pearls. The mother-of-the-bride finished the boutonnieres with a vintage dove brown ribbon. 

Finally, the couple selected traditional Bomboniere by Fantasy; they were packaged in small ivory satin bags finished with a dove brown ribbon and a single pearl.

What is a Bomboniere? Read 7 Italian Wedding Traditions!

Extraordinary Touch:

“Barbara is a special person! She listened, supported, and made the dream of our Roaring 20s wedding a reality with professionalism and patience. Barbara overcame all the obstacles that came up and made our Italian Riviera wedding a fair tale.

She even helped us after the wedding. Thank you, Barbara, you are one in a million!” The Bride

Italian Wedding planner: Barbara Gourdain - www.extraordinaryweddings.com

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