Sixties Psychedelia Meets Lana Del Rey Meets American Gothic

Giulia Masci

July 7, 2017

Giulia and Fabio were married in Cesena, northern Italy. The day was inspired by the bride’s love of Lana Del Rey and all things retro, and the groom’s appreciation for American Gothic aesthetics.

“We were inspired by the 1960s psychedelic world, Brian De Palma’s Carrie (without the blood bucket!), Sofia Coppola’s Virgin Suicides, Johnny Cash, King Dude and two iconic couples of the 1960s: Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra and Elvis and Priscilla Presley”, said Giulia. “We wanted to mix the Cowboy Psychedelia mood with a warehouse venue. We found Ca’Bevilaqua, a B&B in Santa Maria Nuova and it’s beautiful restored warehouse full of plants, tapestry and old paraphernalia.”

The most important thing to this pair was that they did things differently to the weddings they grew up with. “We loath the classic Italian stereotypes in every shade and form”, she continued. “We feel we’re world citizens, we love to travel and to learn from different cultures. Our wedding had to be different because our cultural and style references are definitely beyond Italian borders. We didn’t ask for the help of professional wedding planners because we knew that everything had to be in our way, not a featureless copy of somebody else’s wedding.”

“When we discovered Ca’Bevilacqua and its wonderful corners we knew that it was the perfect location for our wedding. We didn’t want to have a classic boring wedding with people sitting at their table just eating and drinking without interacting with each other. So we set a quality buffet, good wines and craft beers, a soundtrack with all our favourite tunes and a special photographic project where everybody could disappear for a moment and have a laugh with all the other guests.”

“Almost everything was DIY. We collected and bought all the decorations, the jars for sugared almonds and candies, plastic toys and a vintage radio for the Disappear Project, the golden curtains for the DJ corner, the wildflowers. Even the cakes were homemade by my aunts and they were imperfectly perfect! We wanted to have a folksy situation and we made it!”

Their ceremony was short and sweet, only 10 minutes long, and they didn’t have it photographed. “We wanted a private event just with our parents and the wedding witnesses”, she explained. “And the photographer had a bad flu so we wanted her to rest for the party!”

“The best thing about planning our wedding was to create a small world lasting just for one day which was containing who we are, what we like and the love we feel for each other”, she concluded. “We did have to settle for a lot of annoying compromises with our parents about selecting guests, but in the end everybody was happy.”

 

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