ABOUT US
We have been married for 20 years – yay! We tied the knot in Florence with a civil ceremony in the Old Palace – it was so beautiful! We had all our close family and friends at a local farmhouse for 2 days of celebration, everyone still talks about our wedding in Florence 🙂
We love being here for people getting married in Italy, it’s always such a happy moment. Below is a description of each of us, we’re very different and that’s probably why we’ve been together so long in work and in life ♡
BONNIE
I am an ordained, non-denominational wedding officiant from California who has lived in Italy for almost 30 years. I worked for 15 years as a wedding planner assisting over 500 couples with their weddings in Tuscany, Venice, Lake Como and Lake Garda, Amalfi Coast, Rome. Three years ago I decided to focus exclusively on the most heartfelt part of the wedding day and I now offer my guidance and experience exclusively for wedding ceremonies.
I am grateful when couples getting married in Italy choose me to conduct their ceremony, it means a lot to be able to make the day memorable through the words of the wedding script. I compose all of our ceremonies from scratch, working closely with the bride and groom through the feedback they give us in our questionnaire – each ceremony is unique. I offer inspirational material for ideas and I am open to performing any special rituals like lighting a unity candle, the salt ceremony, the wine box ceremony, and other rituals that may be part of the bride and/or groom’s heritage. For more spiritual couples I am happy to conduct interfaith ceremonies or add readings from the bible. Since I have experience planning weddings, I can also offer advice for music, ceremony area set up, bridal party staging and processional etiquette.
LUCA
As an authentic Italian from Rome, I am proud when couples choose my country to celebrate one of the most important days in their life. I am always amazed at how couples travel so far for their wedding, although I cannot blame them for choosing Italy! I have been performing symbolic ceremonies in English since 2006 and each one is very special to me. I love meeting couples on skype for the first time to talk about how the ceremony will go and make sure that both are comfortable with how this important moment of their day moment unfolds.
I am always available to add a little Italian touch to the ceremony (besides my pizza English, lol) by reciting something in Italian myself or suggesting readings in Italian for someone else to read.
I am also happy to give suggestions on how the ceremony area should be set up in terms of p.a. system, where readers should stand, etc. I am open to performing special rituals such as handfasting, unity candle lighting, salt ceremonies, and any other cultural rituals.
GIVING BACK WITH GOOGIE
Our golden retriever Googie came into our lives through the National Guide Dog for the Blind Training School in Florence where we have been puppyraisers for the past 10 years. When we were given Googie they told us she had been selected as a breeder, which meant we were responsible for taking care of any puppies she would have for the first 60 days after birth – a puppy bonanza! She had 3 litters and 15 pups, some are now guide dogs while others are pet therapy dogs at the Children’s Hospital and the Florence Center for Autistic Children.