Pienza WeddingsRICHARD CONTI & CATHLEEN BURTON
Civil wedding in Pienza, Tuscany - July 7th 2001
Thanks for the message. Of course we loved every minute of our stay in Italy, and thanks for your help in making it all come true.
Our accomodations in each area were beautiful. Of course Florence is Florence and we spent our jet lagged time buying leather and gifts, dodging the motor bikes, visiting cathedrals and churches.
Pardini's Hermitage on Isola del Giglio was a highlight. The food and surroundings were lovely. We got a lot of exercise hiking the hundreds of stone steps, playing bocce, painting the distant mountains with water colors, and swimming in our own private rocky alcove. Best of all were the people; we made several new friends including some royalty and a vineyard owner. Ghigio cracked several bottles our champagne in honor of our impending marriage, and we danced the nights away. Of course it was very, very hot so we will definitely return in the Spring or Autumn.
The food wherever we went was spectacular. Rick is a true "foodie," and he was in heaven! We had one of our best meals ever in the harbor of St. Stephano waiting for the ferry at a place called The Place. We ordered the special fish of the day but what we received was a six course feast including six of the finest fish dishes that we have ever had, followed by a most delicious and salty arugula salad and sherbert for dessert! We felt like it was Christmas Eve!! Then in the castle town outside of the Harbor del Giglio we had a terrific meat and meat and meat lunch that could not be beat. And, of course, the wine wherever we went was lovely and inexpensive.
The monastery at Santa Anna was another highlight, and we'd recommend it to any of your more adventurous clientele. The room was atmospheric and austere, but the views!!! Our room was on the second floor in the corner and we had two windows overlooking the sun kissed Tuscan hillside dotted with villages, cypress trees, and multi-colored farm fields. We ran back and forth between the romantically shuttered windows trying to decide which was the most impressive view. We never could decide! From this base we explored the countryside by car including Orvieto, Bagno de Vignoni, and many churches and chapels which we especially enjoyed. Next time we'll visit or stay at the Conti vineyard (since that's now my last name too!)
Finally we arrived at Il Chiostro di Pienza which did not disappoint. The garden courtyard is especially lovely and also has amazing views of the valley beyond; we never did tire of those incredible views. The only detail that I would change here in the future would be the room location. We were on the inside courtyard and the sun beat down intensely in the early evenings when we would be trying to nap or getting ready for the evening dinner. Even so it was more than worth it being right in the center of this beautiful village. We loved Pienza and are grateful to you for helping us arrange our wedding here. Sylvia did a great job with my manicure, and she did my eyebrows too, which was a relief since I am blind without my glasses and I was very tired by this time in our travels. The assistant Mayor was adorable in his goatee and sash. I had my picture taken flanked by Rick and the Mayor. The Mayor said I had two bodyguards! The photographer and translator were great sports and even helped us take pictures at a small chapel that we found on the way to the monastery of Santa Anna. Well, we saw it from the road to Santa Anna but didn't know how to get to it; how hard could it be?? So we all had another adventure trying to find our way to this chapel. In the end the gate was closed for the afternoon, so WE WALKED the dusty trail to the site. It was A VERY LONG TRAIL, but it was a dream to have our photograph taken there. Rick really had his heart set and who could disagree with such a romantic idea??
We spent our final day at Chiusi looking at Etruscian artifacts, and had another great meal at the Giardino again overlooking the spectacular countryside. All in all a perfect launching for our new life together as marriage partners.
Rick and I have already agreed that we could and would recommend your firm to anyone interested in getting married in Italy. Your guidance with the paperwork and your agents "on the street" were invaluable to us. We never could have done it without you.
Again, thank you all for making our dream come true.
Warmest regards,
Rick and Cathy
MICHELE MEKJIAN & JULIAN SCOTT
Civil wedding in Pienza, Tuscany - June 15th 2001
COORDINATORS
The wedding coordinators at World Weddings were both great! I can't say enough good things about them. Both were professional, helpful and wonderful to work with.
The wedding assistant in Pienza did a great job translating the ceremony and gave a wonderful talk about Pienza that everyone really enjoyed.
TOWN HALL & CEREMONY
The town hall was beautiful. I keep looking at the photos and thinking how lucky I am to be married in such a beautiful place.
The ceremony was also wonderful, and very unlike any wedding ceremony that I have been to in the past. The vice-mayor and the wedding assistant both did an excellent job and gave very interesting and thoughtful speeches.
THE RESTAURANTS
This was absolutely one of my favorite parts of the wedding. At "Buca delle fate" restaurant we had the best meal that we had in the three weeks we were away. There was so much delicious food and they kept feeding us until we couldn't eat any more!
Everything else was absolutely perfect. The service and the food were both exceptional.
The night before the wedding we had a family dinner at Dal Falco, which was also wonderful, although I am glad that I chose Buca delle Fate for the reception because that was the best meal I have had in as long as I can remember!
PHOTOS
I received the pictures today and they are just beautiful! I can't believe what a good job the photographer did. I am so excited to send the photos to our family and all the wedding guests. I can't tell you how happy I am about the quality and the beauty of the photos.
BOUQUETS
The bouquets and boutonnières were beautiful!
HOTEL
The hotel was very nice. The owners were helpful. The hotel was pleasant and enjoyable.
Thank you again for everything. You really did an exceptional job and I think that I had the best wedding that I could have imagined!
Warm Regards,
Michele and Julian.
P.S. I would be happy for you to use me as a reference and I will tell everyone what a terrific wedding I had!
LEAH PAYNE & HENRY DAVIS JR
Civil wedding in Pienza, Tuscany - June 1st 2001
My experience with World Weddings was exceptional! This company is wonderfully organized and gives superb service. My wedding coordinator planned for us several excursions that were fun and exciting. We had no problems and the entire staff's number one priority was making sure we enjoyed ourselves and that our wedding was all we wanted it to be. Our wedding turned out beautifully and we couldn't have asked for a better location. Thank you World Weddings for all your help and for an experience of a lifetime!
Leah Payne Davis
Macon, Georgia USA
LISA KLYNSTRA and STUART YAROST
Civil wedding in Pienza - April 10th 2001
The arrangements for the Wedding were wonderful! We will have memories to last the rest of our lives. Thank you and all your people in arranging this event for us.
Yes, we received the wedding photographs. The pictures are fantastic! We can not imagine a more beautiful set of pictures from our wedding. The photographer did a wonderful job.
You can definitely add our e-mail to your testimonials. You and your associates did a wonderful job with the planning and execution of our wedding.
KATHY and MORGAN LEHTO
Civil Wedding in Pienza - March 2000
We just got back into the country on Thursday the 13th and have just today started back to work and replying to our mail.
The wedding was incredible, it was more than we imagined it to be. The views of the countryside from Pienza seemed to go on forever. Everyone was so incredible to us, from the hotel staff to the interpreter and photographer and the staff at the restaurant. We had some time to shop around in between the ceremony and the dinner and we were inundated with good wishes from the towns people everywhere we went. The town was so friendly and I was even able to meet and thank the florist who had made my bouquet (which by the way was incredibly beautiful).
The restaurant was very gracious and even though the times were confused they thought that we should wait until dinner when they could give us the dinner intended, so we walked went back to the hotel to ask if they knew of any place we could get a small lunch to hold us over. To our surprise the hotel opened up their restaurant for us and served us a 4 course meal! It was very nice because we knew that the staff were on their break and the waiter and the cooked stayed to feed us.
When we did go to the restaurant we were glad we waited until dinner because everything was as beautiful to see as it was to eat. The food and wine seemed to go on forever and everyone had a glorious time. The waiting staff was so lovely and treated us like kings and queens. We felt very spoiled.
They even brought a bouquet of white roses for us that I was able to give to a young single girl the next day who hoped to be married soon.
Thank you so much for helping us choose Pienza, it was just the right size for us and it overflowed with beauty and romanticism. We had no idea how romantic it was until we saw the names of the streets (the street of love and the street of kisses).
The photographer was so fun and he worked very hard to make sure we had every picture one could possibly take in Pienza.
We look forward to seeing the pictures and I'm sure you will let us know when we should be expecting the proofs. We are so excited to see the pictures. I also wanted to know if you could give me the name and address of the man who interpreted for us. After all the the excitement I was able to personally thank and give something extra to the photographer and the guitarist, but I left out the interpreter. I would appreciate it. Again I can't thank you enough for all your help these past months, you have done a wonderful job and left us with memories we will take with us forever.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Kathy and Morgan Lehto
VICKI and CRAIG GIACOBBO
Wedding in Pienza, Tuscany
Thought I'd send you a quick note thanking you for all you did for us and our wedding, everything was perfect!!
Craig & I really didn't know what to expect for our wedding day and I don't think either of us thought it would be as perfect as it was. The day went smoothly right from the start, Sylvio and James arrived at our farmhouse ahead of schedule because they did not know where we were staying and didn't want to be late.
Both of these gentlemen were wonderful and were nice enough to give us a little history lesson on the region during our drive to Pienza. Thanks to Silvio our day was without confusion as he handled the paperwork and directed us smoothly throughout the day.
James picked beautiful music for us and it was breathtaking to listen to him. These two men really complemented our already perfect day and we hope you continue to use these gentlemen for future weddings.
Pienza was so very charming, we all loved it. People were very friendly there, for example, we took our photos before the wedding outside in the piazza and people began to gather and started taking photos of us as well! On our way to Dal Falco people stopped us and congratulated us. It really was a wonderful town and we're very glad we chose it.
Another great surprise was being married by the mayor. Our family kept asking us who was marrying us and we never knew what to tell them because we never even knew so it was a wonderful surprise when the mayor walked in the room. Dal Falco was amazing. The atmosphere, service and food left a lasting memory for all of us, it was three hours of delicious food on a perfect day in the perfect town.
Everyone raved about the restaurant and we are still talking about it to this day!
San Gregorio was charming and very convenient as it was so close to Dal Falco. We completely enjoyed our stay there and would like to thank you for the beautiful flower arrangement. Speaking of flowers my bouquet was perfect like everything else, I only wish I could have dried it and taken it home with me for memory's sake.
.... we can't thank you and your staff enough for making our day unique and stress free. Craig and I didn't experience the typical wedding stress that we hear about from others, it was literally a stress-free day and wedding as a whole. We had the time of ours lives and would love to recommend you to others wishing to marry in Italy. Our entire trip was fabulous, Tuscany is so beautiful!!
Thanks again!!!
Vicki Giacobbo
THOMAS and RHONDA CLINTON
Wedding in Pienza, Tuscany
We had a fantastic time in Italy and our wedding day was extra special. Pienza was such a beautiful town, and the people were so warm and friendly. Actually we visited San Gimignano the day before and found it to be too touristy, so we were pleased that we couldn't schedule that location. Our meal was wonderful also. Thanks for helping us to make our day memorable. By the way, we are making our plans for a 10th of maybe 5th anniversary in Pienza and the beautiful Tuscany countryside. Can't wait!
CHRIS & MELISSA BOOTH
Wedding in Pienza, Tuscany
First of all, Italy is incredible, everything was wonderful from the minute we got to Rome. The gentleman who picked us up at the airport in Rome was great, we had a little time after getting the Atto Notorio, which Daniella got us through painlessly, so he gave us a nice mini tour of Rome before dropping us off at the train station for the ride to Florence.
Florence was amazing! The staff at Hotel Della Signoria were very accommodating and helpful with all of our requests and questions. The hotel was in a very good location, walking distance to almost everything.
Petringano de Lago was also exactly what we were looking for, the service at the farmhouse was excellent and the accommodations were beautiful. Perfect location, if you are looking for a place for rest and relaxation.
Rome was the most chaotic place we have ever seen. We made a quick decision to return the rental car as soon as we got there. Not a good place for a tourist to be driving. Besides that, the hotel was also an excellent choice, walking distance to many of the attractions. The guide you arranged for the Vatican tour was very insightful and we received VIP service, no waiting in lines.
Pienza was perfect, everything that we had dreamed our wedding location would look like...quaint, beautiful and romantic. The walk from the hotel to the ceremony was filled with applause and congratulations from the residence of this wonderful little town. The ceremony was wonderful, the flowers were just what we had wanted...Silvio kept everything running very smoothly, from the time he met us at the hotel before the ceremony to the time we said good-bye it was a problem free event. The guitarist played beautifully, and it sounded great on the video. We were very pleased with the video and the wedding photos, if possible please pass along our thanks to the photographer and videographer for a wonderful job. Our reception luncheon at Del Falco was also a great choice, the food was delicious and the atmosphere wonderful. The hotel was very nice, and the view from our room was breathtaking!
Finally, we want to thank you for making our wedding and honeymoon more memorable and wonderful than we could of ever imagined. The service you gave us far exceeded our expectations. You managed to turn our thoughts and dreams into reality. Everyone from your staff was extremely helpful, and it was nice to know that you were only a phone call away if we needed anything. Please feel free to use us as a reference anytime, we would love to recommend you to anyone looking for a once in a lifetime experience.
Once again thank you very much. You are the "best".
Chris and Melissa Booth |
