Real Wedding: Pop the Prosecco

Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia - Canada

Mike & Katherine’s Love Story: The pair met at a Christmas party in December 2008. After making eyes at each other for two hours, Katherine’s best friend boldly distracted Mike’s date, quick introductions commenced, and a date was arranged. The rest is history.

The Theme: Vintage, Vanity Fair, & Romance in the Italian Countryside

Katherine and Mike wanted to create a weekend-long nontraditional wedding celebration filled with never-before-seen experiences that introduced their guests to the beautiful Langhe.

A Destination Wedding Filled with Cultural Adventures:

Guests: 35

Where were they From? Canada, United States, British Isles, Luxembourg, The Netherlands

A true destination wedding, the couple immersed their guests in authentic Piemonte culture by putting food and wine at center stage. The couple hosted family-style meals at carefully selected and researched small, local restaurants featuring traditional regional wines and dishes. The group participated in VIP wine tastings and tours at Vietti in Castiglione Falletto and Bruno Rocca in Barbaresco.

To enhance the festive tone bubbles were served at every meal – even breakfast! 

The Wedding Style: Keeping with their non-traditional approach, not one flower was used. Instead, the couple let the spectacular rolling hills and vineyard landscapes provide all the natural touches. 

The Attire:

Katherine's amazing dress (Designer label available upon request)

Shoes: Badgley Mischka

Groom Suits: Dries Van Noten

The Preparations:

The Ceremony: Cantina Comunale di La Morra, Piemonte, Italia

Music: Classical 1950s and 60s Italian-inspired crooners. The bride walked down the aisle to Louis Prima’s Buona Sera and the couple walked back up the aisle to Botch-a-Me by Rosemary Clooney

"Barbara answered all our questions thoroughly even before we had hired her. She was instrumental in assisting with picking up the Nulla Osta and delivering it to the La Morra town hall during a very tight timeline, and booked our official translator for the ceremony. She helped lift the fog of legal requirements to ensure our wedding was not ceremonial, but official." – The Bride

Enoteca Aperitivo Crawl: The ceremony took place early in the afternoon so Extraordinary Weddings helped arrange an enoteca crawl at two different wine bars in La Morra followed by a casual authentic pizzeria lunch on a beautiful outdoor terrace at Osteria Pizzeria Per Bacco.

"From wine tours to lunches and dinners all weekend-long, everyone spent time getting to know each other. When it came time to be goofy and have fun while parading around town on our enoteca-crawl photo shoot after the ceremony, everyone let loose. And, the after party in the wine cellar at Palas Cerequio was off the hook. We danced (sometimes on the bar!) until three in the morning". The Bride

The Reception: After the enoteca crawl the group returned to Palas Cerequio in La Morra (where most of the guests were staying).

Dinner: Five course regional gastronomic favorites, including vitello tonnato, traditional pasta of agnolotti with butter and sage, sous-vide tagliata beef, and hazelnut cake.

Wine Pairing: An array of regional wines including Arneis, Barbera d'Asti, Barolo, Moscato d'Asti and Grappa.

Dolce: Extraordinary Weddings helped the couple create a Piemonte "cheese cake"; various wheels of regional Piemontese cheeses were stacked to resemble a tiered cake.

The Wedding Favor: Guests received small welcome packages with a small packets of arborio rice to throw after the ceremony, Italian sweets, and Katherine's handmade gnocchi recipe.

The Extraordinary Touch: Custom sashes were made for and worn by the male guests, each representing their country of origin. These paired perfectly with the officiant's traditional Italian sash worn by the Mayor of La Morra. The sashes were meant to distinguish the gentlemen as guests of honor.

Wedding Advice: "Ditch the online wedding checklist. Dream how you want your guests to feel and create that experience with a clear vision in mind, not the customary "must-dos". Think about the photos and memories you want and how to accomplish them." - The Bride

Wedding planner: Barbara Gourdain - www.extraordinaryweddings.com

Destination Weddings in Langhe, Roero Monferrato - Piedmont, Italy

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