Zarah + Jack by Cybele Buffile

The venue, Castello di Petrata, in Umbria, Italy, was really the beating heart of the wedding.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

Jack has just started his own AI tech company, and I work in pharmaceutical advertising, so on paper we’re seemingly two very technical people. But where we actually connect is through culture, food and travel. Jack is Irish, and I’m from London with Bangladeshi heritage, so being together has given us the opportunity to explore each other’s worlds and cultures, while creating one of our own.

Since we met, we’ve travelled the world together and tested our relationship by living together for the first time in Tokyo. Building a life together in a completely new country, with different cultural norms and a completely different environment, was nerve-wracking but also one of the most exciting adventures we’ve had. It gave us a strong foundation for the life we were building together.

We’ve also been through some pretty life-changing experiences together. We locked down during COVID after only six months of dating, and early in our relationship I lost my mum. Going through those experiences together, particularly so early on, gave us a level of trust and understanding that has continued to grow over the years.

Our wedding felt like a chance to celebrate all of that. Not just getting married, but everything we had experienced, how much we had changed as people and how we had evolved together. More than anything, it felt like a celebration of the life we had already built and the life we were about to begin.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

We met on Hinge. I was slightly late, although Jack and I have very different opinions on exactly how late, and we met for a drink at a bar in South London. We were both quite nervous at first, but quickly realised how similar we were in so many ways, while coming from different backgrounds. Jack has said that I was surprisingly icy at first, considering I had been so late, but he soon wore me down with a few jokes and quips. But for me, there was one moment that night where I really felt like we had been together forever.

Wedding Day

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).

The venue, Castello di Petrata, in Umbria, Italy, was really the beating heart of the wedding. We fell in love with it straight away and, when we secured it, I cried with emotion because I was so happy. We had only visited in winter, when everything was much quieter and more bare, so arriving the day before the wedding in June and seeing it in full bloom, with all the incredible views, was quite overwhelming.

We also loved that the venue had so many different spaces. It meant we could have different parts of the wedding unfold in different settings, which gave the day a natural flow and allowed each moment to feel distinct, rather than everything happening in one place.

For the wedding itself, our florist Luisa created the most beautiful, vibrant florals throughout the venue. We wanted the flowers to feel as though they belonged there, almost as if they had grown naturally from the landscape, rather than feeling placed on top of it. Seeing the colours and flowers woven through the venue made everything feel incredibly romantic and completely at home in the setting.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process, and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

By far, selecting the venue and vendors was our favourite part of the planning process. It was when we really started to figure out our style as a couple and then look for people who could bring that to life. I also loved creating moodboards for the florals, photography and videography. It was so interesting seeing how different couples and creatives expressed themselves, and it really made me appreciate how much thought and care goes into a wedding, not just from the couple but from all the different vendors involved.

Our biggest tip for couples would be to commit to a style and try not to combine too many different aesthetics. It’s so tempting to be influenced by different colour palettes, venues and vibes and want to incorporate all of them. But we found that once we committed to a particular style, all the smaller decisions that came later became much easier. When you have a clear direction, everything starts to come together quite naturally.

Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?

Cybele, our photographer, was truly one of the most special parts of the whole experience. We feel incredibly lucky to have found her. Her style and creativity are so full of love and passion, and somehow she managed to capture both the vibrancy and emotion of the day so beautifully. Looking through the photographs, we can feel what the day felt like, rather than just see what it looked like, which is something we will cherish forever.

She, along with Domi and Carlos, her team of photographers and videographers, felt more like friends at the wedding than suppliers. We were so relaxed around them, and they were always completely on the same page as us. They captured us and the people around us so naturally that we never felt like we were performing for the camera. We actually missed having them around after the wedding, which probably says a lot about how much we loved having them there.

I also want to give a special mention to Giorgia, our wedding planner, and her brothers, Giovanni, who also runs the venue, and Luca, the head chef. Giorgia was our voice of reason and a constant source of calm throughout the planning process, and she was amazing across all the wedding events. Giovanni even stepped in as DJ at our welcome party, which was so much fun, and Luca created some of the most delicious dishes for our wedding menu. Everyone kept telling us it was the best food they had ever had!

Another special mention goes to The Shire, an Italian band who specialise in traditional Irish music. As we were having a fusion wedding, with a Bangladeshi-themed welcome party, we wanted to make sure Jack’s Irish heritage was part of the celebrations too. The Shire were absolutely perfect for this. We gave them a list of our favourite Irish songs for the ceremony, and hearing them play as I walked down the aisle was such a beautiful moment. It was a really special way to bring a little piece of Jack’s home into our wedding in Italy.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, and is there a story?

For my Bangladeshi/Indian outfit, I wore a lehenga. As I was searching, I really wanted it to feel like me. I wanted something that felt striking and different, but that wouldn’t overwhelm me. I had quite a specific vision, which made it surprisingly difficult to find exactly what I had in mind.

It actually started with the veil. I found the veil first and then began building the rest of the outfit around it. I knew I wanted the Mehndi and welcome party to have a striking, moody and slightly mysterious feel. Once I found the veil, I eventually found the lehenga and customised the skirt to work with it.

Sourcing the accessories for the Mehndi was also so much fun. In traditional Bangladeshi weddings, the bride is often adorned in jewellery, and I wanted to use the opportunity to showcase the beauty of that tradition and the incredible craftsmanship that goes into it. It was one of the parts of the outfit I really enjoyed putting together because it felt like a celebration of my heritage, but in a way that was still very personal to me.

For my wedding dress, I wanted to feel like myself too. I knew I wanted something simple, modern and sleek, rather than overly traditional. I tried on quite a few dresses before finding the two-piece corset and skirt from Seraphine. As soon as I put it on, I knew it was right. It felt modern and understated, but still special enough for the occasion.

For Jack’s wedding day outfit, our black tie dress code gave him the perfect excuse to find a tuxedo that fit him perfectly and that he could keep forever. It was also a really lovely experience because his dad, who lives in Spain, came over and they were able to do the suit fitting together. They came away with a beautifully tailored piece that Jack can wear for years to come, which made it feel much more meaningful than simply finding a suit for the wedding.

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

I had never really given any indication of what type of engagement ring I would like to either Jack or my family and friends, so Jack had a tough starting point. He actually contacted his friend Benjamin Hawkins, who is a brilliant jeweller in London, and together they designed a bespoke marquis engagement ring for me. Little did I know that Jack had been using pictures of my hands to identify the perfect shape for me. And when he proposed, and I saw it, it was absolutely perfect and better than I could have ever imagined!

Our wedding rings we chose to keep quite simple, one lunch we went to Hatton Gardens in London and perused the many shops trying bands on and finding it amusing how the whole area was just full of couples doing the exact same thing. We ended up going for simple gold bands.

What were 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?).

Definitely food. We knew we wanted our guests to have delicious food and plenty of it! We were especially keen to have a late-night snack, and were delighted when the venue had a cacio pepe option!

Photography was also really important to us. These are the photographs that will stay with you forever and allow you to relive the memories of the day years from now. So finding someone who shared our vision and could capture the love, energy and joy of the wedding in a way that felt natural to us was something we were very happy to prioritise.

Was there a favourite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?

One of the highlights was our welcome party and Mehndi day. A Mehndi is a traditional South Asian pre-wedding event, usually filled with food, dancing and often choreographed performances. We had organised lessons for the groom and bridal parties to learn separate dances, so seeing everyone come together on the night was probably one of the most fun parts of the whole wedding.

Seeing everyone commit to it and genuinely enjoy themselves, while getting involved in something that is such a big part of my culture, meant so much to both of us. Also, with the backdrop of the Umbrian sunset, we felt like we were in a movie.

Another highlight was the speeches. We had a mixture of happy, funny and sad stories, and getting to hear all the different anecdotes and memories from our friends and family was incredibly special. It was a rare moment where everyone had the chance to express how much they love and care for us and vice versa, and hearing it all together was something we will never forget.

Welcome Event

What does being married mean to you, and are there any special rituals you have that you would like to share?

For us, marriage feels like a fresh new adventure, a journey that we’re choosing to take together. It feels like a reflection of how much we love each other and how much we’ve evolved as a couple. Declaring that commitment in front of our friends and family felt incredibly special, almost like a launchpad into the next chapter of our lives together.

One little ritual we think we’ll keep is our mini Christmas. Before we got married, we used to spend Christmas Day apart, so
we started having our own little Christmas evening beforehand. We’d exchange silly, small presents and have some time just for the two of us before getting swept up in the chaos of a big family Christmas.

This year we’re spending Christmas together, but we’re still going to find a little pocket of time for our mini Christmas. It’s become a small tradition that feels very us, and one we hope to carry forward.