Rustic Chic Tuscany Wedding in Borgo Stomennano | Hilary & Louis

It all started with a dream. To be surrounded by the Tuscan sunshine, nature, flowers, rolling hills & cypress trees. A dream come true to have this intimate celebration of 30+ guests with our closest friends and family in a dreamy historical site and the perfect backdrop.

The venue is around 1hr drive from the city of Florence, it’s also where we gathered our guests and travel to the region of Monterrigioni, Siena together. The whole party stayed at a hotel 15 mins drive from the venue. It was important to us that the guests are well taken care of and have a great time during the trip.

Why did we decide to go with a destination wedding? We wanted a very special memory for us and also our family and friends, a trip that they will remember as a core memory (and I secretly want a challenging task, which proves to be true, I can talk about the challenges of destination weddings in another blog post.)

Why Tuscany? It’s one of our favourite travel locations, and Louis LOVES wine and pasta (it’s great for conversations & connecting over good food & wine).

Being a photographer, my eyes are set on a location with stunning lighting & plenty of photography spots - it’s a location that I would dream to shoot a wedding.

I love that the venue is not too big and you can find photography worthy spots in every corner. Our guests can access the ceremony spot & dinner spot within a few steps.

The wedding has a simple color theme - white, green with a hint of blush. I started building the mood board around 9 months before the wedding, to communicate with my vendors on what I want and like. I got valuable suggestions from my planner and stylists and my friends from the industry. I got a kind hearted, experienced and passionate dream team to work with.

The invitation is the first touch for the guests to get a feel to your mood of the wedding as well as the location.

“rustic, hand drawn, white on white, textural, minimalistic & chic” (words from the designer Gigi from Steady Hands Creative).

It communicates what to expect for the wedding, including the dress code. It gives excitement and preparation to the wedding. I loved that we could meet up with our guest for a quick catch up when we deliver it.

Printed in soft light gold on handmade paper, giving a raw yet elegant mood to it.

We included a map and drawing to the venue - a lovely detail we would like to include in our memory.

I love the hand drawn olive branch print on vellum paper as well as the mini olive detail on the white stamp. The handmade, raw touch to it reminds me of the raw texture of the venue. A design that looks so simple but so much thoughts and details communicated and created by Gigi.

My white peony bouquet is styled in an organic style, being close to nature is important for me. Roberta from Nina e i Fiori perfectly executed my dreams.

June is the best month to have the wedding in Tuscany because it is the best month for weddings, where you can sit outdoors with the perfect temperature and get a very very long sunset. It happens it is the first day of summer, so we got the longest sunset and the sun went down at 10pm.

This is one special thing about destination weddings, the soft quality of light and the time window to get beautiful photos is longer than Hong Kong outdoor weddings.

The day started with getting ready, a quiet time that I can spend with my bridesmaids and moms, celebrating with champagne, gifting, and having a photo shoot with them. I slipped in a mini boudoir shoot for myself, celebrating having worked so hard for my body shape.

Seeing my bridesmaids in the champagne dresses I chose for them with their bouquets made me feel all wedding planning effort was all worth it.

We allocated some time for detail shots, styled by my favourite stylist Joyce from Terrain Styles. Details can tell a lot of story and I am very happy to have these captured.

Louis and I were both quite nervous about the ceremony, especially the vows, where we chose to have a personalised one. We are glad we wrote our personal vows, because we never had this chance to write something so personal and serious to each other. It told our story and let our friends get to know us more.

At dinner, I vividly remember sitting at the most stunning flowers and tablescape I have ever seen in my wedding photography career, watching the light goes from light to dark, seeing the fairy lights slowly getting brighter, while my friends and family enjoying their pasta and the wine is the best feeling. My dad gave an impromtu speech! What a surprise and heart warming. I have always love speeches.

The night ended with cake, dance floor, DJ and Louis and I getting drunk. We had the most fabulous, once-in-a-lifetime experience. It all ended just so perfect and exceeded my dreams.