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Home > The Tuscan Wedding

A Pronovias Bride for an Intimate Destination Jewish Wedding at Villa Cora, Florence, Italy

27/03/2023 by Karen Cinnamon

Ilyssa-and-Nick-Villa-Cora-Florence-Italy

Buckle your seatbelts, we’re taking off for beautiful Florence, Italy, where Atlanta couple Ilyssa, a strategy pricing analyst for a hospitality company, and Nick, who works as a sales sngineer for a HVAC distributor, held the intimate destination Jewish wedding of their dreams!

Taking their cues from their majestic venue, Villa Cora, Ilyssa and Nick kept things romantic and elegant with plenty of flowers, greenery, candles, and romantic lighting. And their outdoor chuppah was truly the stuff of fairy tales – sitting amidst a stunning backdrop of the autumnal Florentine countryside, covered in greenery and flowers, and set at the end of an aisle strewn with rose petals and lined with candles. Don’t miss it in the wonderful photos by Leigh Wolfe!

We’re also obsessed with the couple’s exquisite ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Danny Azoulay Ketubahs. In Ilyssa’s words, “The verbiage on our ketubah really resonated with us and the life we want to build together through Judaism. The verbiage ended with ‘Set me as a seal on your heart.’ I had this engraved on the inside of Nick’s wedding band, so we can always remember what our ketubah represents even on the hard days.” Awwww!

There’s so much more to say about this very special Jewish wedding – like, how great is it that instead of a wedding came Ilyssa and Nick opted for a midnight pizza bar?! – but we’ll let Ilyssa herself fill you in on the rest…

Ilyssa-and-Nick-Villa-Cora-Florence-Italy Ilyssa-and-Nick-Villa-Cora-Florence-Italy Ilyssa-and-Nick-Villa-Cora-Florence-Italy Ilyssa-and-Nick-Villa-Cora-Florence-Italy
How we Met

Ilyssa, the bride: It was your typical modern day romance… We met on Bumble in 2016. At the time, Nick was living in Atlanta while I finished my undergraduate degree in Athens at The University of Georgia. As we are both big beer fans, it was only natural that our first date was at an Atlanta brewery. After dating for 5 years Nick finally asked me to be his wife at the Cator Woolford Gardens in Atlanta, Georgia.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

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A Rita Vinieris Bride for a Multicultural Jew-ish Wedding at Villa Medicea di Lilliano, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

05/12/2018 by Karen Cinnamon

  Jewish wedding Villa Medicea di Lilliano, Florence, Tuscany, Italy_0024
We’re not sure what we’re more excited about in today’s Jew-ish wedding: the ultra-personal ceremony the couple crafted that blended their collective Italian, Israeli, and American backgrounds to perfection, or the jaw-dropping Tuscan scenery–and photographer Edoardo Agresti’s exquisite captures of the day, which somehow manage to be natural and artistic all at once.
 
Oh… and we’re going nuts for the couples Fiat 500 wedding car too!

Lital and Andrea, who run Padano Productions –providing sound, lighting, and AV for events (yes, that includes weddings!) in the LA area–knew their top priority was crafting a wedding that was totally them. That meant combining Andrea’s Italian heritage and Lital’s Israeli-American background, and making sure the Jewish traditions they incorporated into the day were meaningful and fit with their personal beliefs.

Our favorite example? They reworked the traditional seven blessings to put a unique, personal spin on the ancient text, and then had their closest friends and family read them aloud — 3 in Italian, 3 in Hebrew, and 1 in English.

And then there’s the ketubah. Lital and Andrea found the perfect combination — text that reflects who they are as a couple plus fabulous design — in mega-talented Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Stephanie Caplan from The Ketubah whom we ADORE!

On a less spiritual note, we also love the fun favor these two opted to hand out to their guests: hats! But not just any old junky hat to shade them from that midsummer heat during the outdoor ceremony. These were super nice, sylish straw hats that, Lital reports, many of the guests are still wearing to this day!

Now over to the bride, who looked totally gorgeous in her boho chic gown by Rita Vinieris — not to mention her epic flower crown!

Jewish wedding Villa Medicea di Lilliano, Florence, Tuscany, Italy_0067


How We Met

Lital, the bride: we met on J-Swipe (even though Andrea is not Jewish)!

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