With a history stretching back to 1680 and a host of European aristocrats, Statesmen, and new Hollywood frequently alcoving, the honey-colored Villa Cetinale commissioned for Pope Alexander VII feels almost utopian. Steeped in architectural mastery and dripping with Mazzuoli sculptures, this frescoed Roman Baroque venue is just the perfect way to hail the new wedding season and make a couple feel like time has stopped for a while.
Tuscany captured the hearts of our bride and groom Catherine and David, who arrived all the way from Manhattan NYC to exchange their vows in its rolling hills, and I instantly felt the urge to design something that would have both them and their guests dream for days.
It might suffice to have had the famously sumptuous gardens of your wedding ceremony profiled by early 1900s author Edith Wharton, but as we like to have it, the charm is in the service. We wished to imbue the concept with meticulous, personalized design, calm, opulent and gently voluptuous. Drawing from the gracefully proportioned villa, its vaulted ceilings, and trompe-l’oeil paintings we created a deconstructed arch growing from the two cherub statues in the gardens, strewn with soft peach, coral and white blooms.
Alluding to the floristry depicted in the artworks of the Dutch Masters who revolutionized the allegory of sprawling arrangements and the thoughtful inclusion of vanitas, the reception tablescapes featured fringed custom-ordered damask velvet tops, tapered candles, and chandeliers dangling from a tailor-designed greenery-ruffled iron gazebo. Painterly arrangements of garden roses twined with waxflowers, proteas, hydrangeas, and lisianthus, were belted by an abundance of apricots. Custom menus paired to the invitation suites topped antique Florentine chargers, while golden Parigina seating gave plenty of elbow space for the feast.
If you have been crushing on perfect garden-edged horizons among ancient oaks and heavenly slices of sophisticated comfort the private world of Villa Centinale will definitely make your wedding dreams come true.
Image Credits: Gianluca & Mary Adovasio ©.
