Intimate Elegant Wedding in Positano

Chic & Stylish Weddings
Chic & Stylish Weddings -

The fall wedding in Positano we are sharing today has mesmerized us! From the gorgeous ceremony setting to the lovely green and gold table setting and the stunning Pronovias wedding dress, this wedding is just perfect! The bride shared with us: “Dan and I got engaged on July 26th, in Iceland, while on vacation with my family, and when we got back from our trip, we immediately started the wedding planning process. However, it took only 2 weeks for us to realize that a long engagement and a big wedding was not for us. Dan’s Father has cancer, but was (and thankfully still is), doing very well, and it was for this reason, that we decided to get married only 2 months later, on October 31st, in Positano, Italy (ironically, a country neither of us had ever been!). Ultimately, we decided that going with on a vacation with family and friends was more important to us, and with Dan’s Dad doing so well, we wanted our wedding to be a celebration of our families uniting”.

Photography : Matteo Crescentini

“Prior to planning our wedding, I envisioned a 2-year engagement leading up to a 250-person wedding in Hudson Valley, NY, near where I grew up. Our wedding ended up being a far departure from that…in fact it was about a 4,400-mile departure from that, and we couldn’t be happier with the way things panned out”.

Photography : Matteo Crescentini

“And once we picked our wedding venue, Villa San Giacomo, in Positano, Italy, we had only a short amount of time to get to work…but what started as a small wedding with just our immediate family and a bohemian style, turned into a 50 person 5-day Mediterranean affair. We took a lot of risk getting married at the end of October, and the very last week of tourist season on the Amalfi Coast, but ended up having 75-degree weather – not a cloud in the sky – every single day of our trip!”

Photography : Matteo Crescentini

“Since we were getting married in Southern Italy, we went for a color palette that reflected the destination; with white, olive green (an ode to the endless olive tree groves), with a hint of apricot to add a softer color accent.”

Photography : Matteo Crescentini

“In terms of unique elements, we had our best friend, also the one who introduced us, marry us, and wrote the entire ceremony ourselves. Since Dan is Jewish and I grew up Christian, we incorporated traditions from each of our religions (plus a whole bunch of personal, non-denominational elements) in our ceremony. We definitely did not realize how time consuming writing our whole ceremony would be, but it was truly so special to us in the end. My sister and brother-in-law sang a piano duet of the Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding song, “I Need Your Love,” and instead of the traditional 7 blessings in a Jewish wedding, we had 4 blessings; each one read by our parents and all 4 selected by us – (including a verse from Game of Thrones!)”

Photography : Matteo Crescentini

“I had three favorite moments! My first favorite moment was the morning of our wedding, Dan still hadn’t written his vows. He was feeling really nervous about it and wanted me to help him. While initially, I felt like it defeated the “romantic surprise” of saying our own vows, I ended up loving the moment. So on our wedding day, first thing in the morning, as the sun was rising over the Mediterranean, Dan and I sat on our balcony, cuddled up under a blanket, (October mornings in Positano can be brisk), and wrote our vows together. It was so romantic and such a moment of connection for us, it still makes me smile just thinking about it. While the actual day flew by, that was a part of our wedding day that felt like forever. There was a line in the reading Dan’s mom did during our ceremony – from American astronomer, Carl Sagan – that says, ‘Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with the person you love for an hour and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.” And that’s what that moment felt like to me’”.

Photography : Matteo Crescentini

“My second favorite moment was after our first look, when we walked down into the town of Positano with our videographers and photographers to take photos together. As we were walking down the beautiful windy little cobblestone streets, all of the Italians kept calling to us “Auguri! Auguri!” which our photographer told us meant “best wishes and to many more!” It was such a sweet and special moment.”

Photography : Matteo Crescentini

“Finally, my third favorite moment was during the reception, when we surprised our guests during our first dance song with a performance by an electronic violinist. When we decided on Italy, we started thinking about music and looked into a few Italian bands that played top 40 music. However, the sound of an Italian man singing Justin Bieber just wasn’t for us. So we opted for a DJ, although we were a little bummed not to have any live music element. So for our ceremony and cocktail hour we decided on a 5 piece string quartet and pianist, and for our reception, we had an electronic violinist play along with our DJ. Dan and I selected ‘Young and Beautiful’ by Lana Del Rey for our first dance – we both loved ‘The Great Gatsby’ movie, and there were elements of the movie incorporated in few “hidden” details of our wedding. When the chorus first picked up during our wedding dance, the electronic violinist walked out to accompany the song that was playing. Then, she played along to the DJ’s playlist for the first 1 – 1.5 hours of our reception. It was such a unique element to the music for our guests, and added a “live music” component to having a DJ.”

Photography : Matteo Crescentini

“As a side note, Dan would definitely say his favorite moment that was captured on camera was the photo of his niece (one of our flower girls) looking up and watching the drone after our ceremony. Making sure our videographer brought a drone was very important to Dan, so he thought that was a particularly fun photo and moment!”

Photography : Matteo Crescentini

“Our color palette was all white with lots of greenery and apricot accents. For the greenery, the florist used silver dollar eucalyptus, then roses and orchids for the white flowers, and apricot-colored roses for the accents. The flowers were more challenging than I expected to coordinate from afar, it was important for us to find a delicate balance between bringing in floral arrangements, and letting the beauty of Villa San Giacomo and the Positano backdrop stand alone.”

Photography : Matteo Crescentini

“Another unique element was part of the décor. Since we couldn’t have all of our closest friends and family in Italy with us, my mom came up with a very sweet way to ensure they still had a presence at our wedding. At my bridal shower, all of our guests were asked to decorate 1 paper lantern, which we then packed and took with us to Italy. The actual lanterns were assembled at the Villa, and then used to light up the pool area, where we cut the cake and served dessert, while the catering team was resetting the hall for the non-seated/dancing portion of the reception.”

Photography : Matteo Crescentini