We had chosen to get married at such a beautiful and unique venue that we didn’t want to take away from that.
Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…
Over the years, we have loved travelling together through Europe, Australia and Asia, and when we are not travelling, we love being at home with our two cats, Bangers and Mash, eating our way through any city, shopping and bar hopping. Giac is a real estate agent, and Maddison works in special education, so our time together is limited, but we always make the most of it!
How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?
Our love story began over 14 years ago and, since then, has been a long and beautiful one. We first met in November of 2010. Giacomo was on a working holiday visa from Italy, and Maddison was finishing High School. We met on the dancefloor of the iconic nightclub in Sydney – The Ivy. Giac interrupted their dancing by asking Maddie if she wanted a drink, and the rest was history. This began our long-distance and long-lasting love story. Over the past 14 years, we have lived between Venice, Italy, and Sydney, Australia. We spent 7 years in Venice and moved back to Sydney in 2018. We got engaged the day before our 10-year anniversary at our yearly anniversary destination – Byron Bay. We didn’t grab each other’s numbers when we first met and were both questioning our friends of one another for days to come – luckily, our love of drinking and dancing brought us back together at the same nightclub just a few weeks later!
When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?
We both realised from very early on that we wanted to spend our lives together. After only knowing each other for 3 months, Giac’s visa was expiring, and he had to face the tough decision of moving back to Italy. Those months apart were difficult and emotional so at just 18 years old Maddison found herself explaining to my family that she was moving to Italy to be with Giacomo, we never looked back from then!
Tell us about the vision you had for the mood and style of your wedding.
After scouting wedding venues in Sydney without any luck, we were set on getting married in Tuscany, where we had spent one of our favourite holidays together years prior. From the first day of planning we had a very strong image of how we wanted our day to look, we had chosen to get married at such a beautiful and unique venue that we didn’t want to take away from that, but to add in subtle yet elegant touches to compliment such a beautiful location. We were heavily inspired by the Australian designer Natalie Rolt, who married in Australia who had simple tablescapes with exaggerated tall candles, so working closely with our amazing florists, Le Francesche, we were able to bring that to life while also adding the most gorgeous and elegant flower arrangements to accompany the sea of candles.
What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).
Most of the visual elements of our wedding day came together easily from trust in our amazing vendors and amazing wedding planner, Francesca Santinelli, but one challenge we had was envisioning our aperitivo hour, which was a very important part of our day that we wanted to get just right! We found that Italian catering companies can be quite rigid in their styling and presentation, and as we were getting married in Tuscany, we found many of their styles to be too rustic for our liking, so we worked closely with our caterers to create something they never had before. We had our aperitivo hour by the pool and were able to incorporate exaggerated white silk drapery, a mirrored bar and our enormous champagne tower – which iconically came crashing down later in the day!
What did you enjoy most about the planning process and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?
Honestly, both of us are non-organisers, so for the most part, the planning process was daunting and stressful; however, we both found elements that we really enjoyed. Giacomo took the playlist extremely seriously – which ended in our dinner turning into a dance party – karaoke, people dancing on chairs, white napkins flying through the air, and as a true Italian, he also took the aperitivo hour antipasti, dinner menu and wine and cocktail list just as serious with the best of local Italian wines and limoncello spritz Italy has to offer! Maddison loved the more intricate details, tablescapes, and florals, picking the best vendors that complimented our style, jewels and shoes! Planning a wedding in Italy from Australia meant many hours of zoom calls, we found a few glasses of our favourite wine made the whole experience much more enjoyable and made us look forward to sipping wine in Italy.
Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?
Maddison’s dress was heavily inspired by Vivienne Westwood and her iconic draping. Working closely together with her extremely talented dressmaker, Maddison and Anna took a Kyha Studios dress, pulled it apart, reconfigured the drapery, and added a dramatic 3-metre cape along with a matching Italian tulle cathedral veil to bring Maddison’s vision together. Giacomo combined a classic tux look with a chic Italian twist by adding wide lapels on a double-breasted tuxedo jacket.
What was one, or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).
We found all elements of our wedding to be super important to us. We appreciated that we had family and friends who were travelling, some halfway across the world, to witness our marriage, and our way of thanking them was to offer them the best Italy could provide, from food to cocktails to an epic recovery pizza party poolside with custom merch! One element we found extremely important was our photography, and we feel so blessed to have found the most incredible photographer – Pearce Brennan – who not only captured our day better than we could have imagined but also made the two of us who are camera shy feel so comfortable. They are our favourite memories from the day, and we are so thankful to have met him!
Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?
The most iconic moment happened during our champagne tower, we were standing in front of a tower with over 50 glasses when Maddison ever so slightly hit the table sending half of the glasses and champagne crashing down – It made for amazing photos and videos though! Our favourite moment was standing above all our guests who were poolside for an aperitivo while all 52 of us sang Nel blu, dipinto di blu (aka Volare) – a moment we will never forget!
BRIDE Maddison Lumme, @maddisonlumme GROOM Giacomo, @88jack VENUE Relais Val d’Orcia, @relaisvaldorcia PHOTOGRAPHER Pearce Brennan, @pearcebrennanweddings VIDEOGRAPHER Tears Wedding Film, @tearsweddingfilm STYLIST Francesca Santinelli, @eventi_e_design FLORIST Francesca C and Francesca B – Le Francesche Flower Designers, @lefrancescheflowers CELEBRANT Giuliano Bonelli, @celebrans_by_giuliano_bonelli ENTERTAINMENT Omero & Friends, @omero_and_friends HIRE, CATERING, & CAKE Olivia Catering, @olivia_catering_events STATIONERY Print – Vista Print SIGNAGE Emre NACAROGLU RINGS Kalleh Levonian, @kl_diamonds BRIDAL DRESS Kyha Studios, @kyhastudios VEIL & CAPE Custom Made – Anna Maurer, @annamaurercouture BRIDE’S SHOE Amina Muaddi, @aminamuaddi BRIDE’S ACCESSORIES Custom Earrings – Natasha Schweitzer, @natashaschweitzer BRIDE’S FRAGRANCE De Los Santos – Byredo, @officalbyredo SUIT & SHOE Custom Made – Suitsupply, @suitsupply GROOM’S FRAGRANCE Another 13 – Le Labo, @lelabofragrances BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES Hansen & Gretel, @hansenandgretel
