A true Italian wedding in Calabria

A true italian wedding in Calabria (Italy). Every now and then everything falls into place as a wedding photographer. This is one of those weddings. Every photographer have their own version of a perfect wedding. This one comes very close to my ideal wedding as a photographer.

Let me try to explain why I feel this way. Let me start with the most important part – the couple. I already had two photo sessions with Vanessa and Raffaele which allowed me to get to know them, as a couple. Already here we created two of my favourite portrait sessions to date – you can see why here ‘Engagement session in Zug‘ and ‘Engagement session in Calabria‘. They are a couple who are very happy together, like having fun and truly in love. The key, I believe, is that they allowed me to see their true self very quickly. This allowed me to capture some great and honest photos of them.  The reason I wrote that they are the most important point is that I truly believe I could take this guys to a garbage station and still get some great photos. Luckily their wedding did not take place at a garbage station but instead a fantastic location in Calabria (Italy).

The wedding preparation and ceremony took place at their local village called Amaroni. A dream location for any photographer. It is a village with lots of character and tradition. When walking through the small streets everyone was greeting each other and joking around.

I also loved that the wedding traditions of the village is still alive. Vanessa told me she had seen a countless weddings as a child at her village and that they always did the same thing (more or less). On her wedding it was exactly as she described. For example, when she walked from her house to the church we saw people sitting by their window and cheering her on. After the wedding they were still there and threw rice on the couple. What I also loved was that all wedding guests came to the bride’s house and walked with her to and from the church. It reminded me of the final scene in “Love Actually” when the writer went to propose to his lady in a local Portuguese village.

After the ceremony it was one big massive “attack of hugs”. They came down the stairs from church and then it was “first come, first hug” approach. Felt very genuine and fun. We then took some wedding portraits in their village and even went to the stairs where her mum had taken wedding photos. Tradition!

Before leaving Amaroni they lived another tradition. They jumped into a car and then drove through the entire village so people could congratulate them. Family and friends threw rice as they were driving around. It was great fun to see. After that we did some portraits at Farmhouse Arcobaleno and then at the sea side of Pizzo.

The wedding dinner and party took place at Ristorante Mocambo in Pizzo. It is a big place with a lovely view of the sea. Here the wedding guests showed their fun and spontaneous side by breaking into chants and dances when they felt like it. It was a brilliant wedding.

As you can see from the amount of text I wrote – I really loved this wedding and hope my photos will also reflect that. Enjoy the wedding photos!