Inside Ava + Paul’s unbelievable Portofino wedding
Photo: Faye Wilde Photography
This is the stuff of fairytales - the big white wedding dress, a handsome groom, the clifftop venue, family and friends having the time of their lives! What you don’t see is the months, even years of planning, the team behind the dream, the dramas and the problem-solving. Ava + Paul’s was a complex wedding to plan with intricate logistics, guests travel, the heat of peak Italian summer, church legalities and a detailed décor design. All planned in essentially 6 months…let’s get into how you achieve the dream.
“This wedding had to be stand out, an experience that guests would never have imagined nor have again, every aspect fully personalised to Ava and Paul’s taste.”
Lucy, planner
The Rehearsal dinner, Portofino harbour
The Budget
Working with multiple 6 figures is on the larger scale of wedding budget, but don’t be fooled or comforted by all the zeroes….this budget is easy to spend when you’re booking a wow-factor venue, 4 days of elevated events and multiple guest experiences.
The Vision
Guest experience formed the backbone of planning Ava & Paul’s wedding. With the clear objective to deliver a celebration like nothing they’ll ever experience again - guests were paramount. Comfort, communication and ensuring they felt well-looked after across the 3 hotels they were staying in. Supporting on travel, hotel bookings, dinner reservations and more, guests felt calm and clear on plans.
Communication is always key to a well-executed guest-centric wedding, but when there are 4 days of celebrations and various transport logistics it is crucial guests have easy access to this information. And remember, they will forget timings and information - so gentle reminders, including a very clear welcome itinerary are so helpful.
Another aspect to a guest-centric wedding is choosing the right locations, for ease of travel, guests enjoyment and more. And alongside this very well organised transport. With 4 accommodation locations and 5 venues across the 4 days in traffic-controlled Portofino, this was one of the most important aspects of planning this wedding.
“I wanted the whole vibe of the wedding to be extremely romantic and evocative of old-world Italy. In order to achieve this vision, we incorporated lots of candelabras, dramatic flowers, frescoes, and a baroque style to all the stationery. Having a wedding abroad allowed us to have a smaller, more intimate wedding where we were able to interact with and share in the joy of our day with each one of our guests. I have detailed, specific memories with each and every guest that attended which is incredibly special to me.”
Ava, bride
The White Party, Grand Hotel Miramare
The Planning
Ava + Paul started out with a planner they found from the US. After many months of struggling to find a venue, they hired Wiskow & White, with 7 months to plan the wedding with already secured venue, La Cervara, Portofino.
The Wedding Venue
An old monastery overlooking the legendary bay of Portofino. Loved by the couple for its exclusive location and a very limited number of weddings each year. Due to its exclusivity, La Cervara is the gatekeeper for catering, sound equipment, floristry and transport. Aka, they only work with set vendors and have rules on the communication between external vendors (planners) and these companies. This hugely affects the way you plan your wedding, so ensure you discover all the venue’s T&Cs from that initial call.
What Portofino has in beauty and notoriety it lacks in infrastructure, with the only one road through often having long traffic delays. It is a particularly complex area to work in and one you wouldn’t want to tackle without expert support.
“Watching Ava give Molly (mum of bride) her gift. We’d been through a lot in a relatively short space of time with Ava and Molly, so it was beautiful to see this very special moment.”
Lucy, planner
The Photography
“With this wedding, I knew even two shooters wouldn’t be enough with the amount planned and multiple locations, so I bought a third shooter to focus solely on details and candids. This meant someone was on hand to capture cocktail hour and guest arrival at the venue, while I did family formals and couples portraits at the church, and the second could be at the venue waiting for the couple’s arrivals Later, someone could get birdseye views of the first dance from a vantage point, while I focused on the couple and my second shooter guest reactions. If you’re concerned about missing moments due to a busy timeline, speak to your photographer and ask them for guidance. They’ll be able to review your priorities and advise on how you can capture as much as possible.” Faye, photographer
Best Money Spent
“The money that was best spent was on the tenor at dinner. He brought so much energy and excitement leading up to the dancing portion of the evening. It was such a surprise to all of the guests and it allowed them to have an interactive experience to break up such a long dinner. He made the dinner 100x more enjoyable and truly brought the Italy vibes!” Ava, bride
The Styling
Styling was always important to Ava. With a number of events, the couple had the luxury to play with a multitude of strong themes - fun and playful for the welcome, through to classical for the wedding day. The wedding day styling both complemented the grandeur of the venue and the couple’s looks. And at the heart of all, the reoccurring theme - Old world, Italian glam.
“We had the best candyfloss sky at the cocktail hour (which felt like fate as their colour scheme was pink and lilac). The styling was immaculate and seeing their guests dressed to the nines with that iconic backdrop was everything and more.” Faye, photographer
“For Ava and Paul, their wedding was very curated, design led and experience focused. They wanted to really encapsulate the old money / Italian riviera vibe and it was important to choose a detail led photographer who would shoot things in a stylish way. Portraits were also really important so they wanted someone confident who could chorale guests efficiently leaving lots of space for candid coverage and organic moments.”
Faye, photographer
“I loved when Ava saw her dinner setting…I’d been hand stringing pearls, spent hours and hours on design work and there it was, an intentional, stunning table in real life. Always a favourite part of the wedding for me as I’ve visualised the tablescape so hard for so long!”
Lucy, planner
“Getting high quality videographers and photographers had the most impact on the day. My photographer made my husband and I so comfortable in front of the camera and made taking photos a fun experience rather than a time when we were wishing we were at the party with our guests. Our videographer was fantastic and truly captured the raw emotion of the day. The film that he produced will ensure that we can continue to relive the magic of our wedding day.”
Ava, bride
“The highlight was knowing that my guests would have an unforgettable experience and that the wedding was going to be phenomenal regardless of if I had to let go of little details that I initially envisioned. I had full confidence that the day would be beautiful. Due to the venue’s rules I just had to let a few things go in the process of achieving the vision.“
Ava, bride
The Challenges
“I thought I could achieve a much more custom, detailed aesthetic for the budget that I had. However, I did not do enough research before booking a venue which limited me greatly. I booked my venue before I teamed up with W&W which was a HUGE mistake. Almost all of the vendors had to be booked through the venue and their prices were outrageous. This greatly limited how much of the budget that I was able to allocate to customize and add detail to the wedding day.” Ava, bride
Planning challenges included:
- Timelines on information given from the venue
- The heat
- Stationery
Advice for future couples
“Prioritise the experience over “Pinterest worthy” elements. For example, I initially really wanted a Prosecco tower for the iconic photo op. However, it was WAY more expensive than I anticipated. I had to let it go as it ultimately would not better the experience of my guests. I wanted to focus on entertainment and all things that would elevate the guest experience as they were travelling all the way to Italy for me.” Ava, bride
VENDOR TEAM
Wedding planner: Wiskow & White | Photographer: Faye Wilde | Videographer: Paul Van, Ben Walton, DFilms | Venue: La Cervara | HMUA: Alex Perrin | Dress: Leah Da Gloria | Tenor: Maurizio Marchini | Content Creator: Content for Brides |
Don’t go into planning alone or ill-equipped. We have got your back in our planning membership, The Club. Join hundreds of other couples putting themselves and their weddings first and get the expert guidance you need to nail every decision you make. Get it right first time!
Categories
PLANNING | REAL WEDDING | BUSINESS | SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT | INSPIRATION | WANDERLUST
