I met the groom, Tommaso, about 10 years ago at his brother’s wedding; meeting him again after so long with his beautiful bride Samantha was lovely. Tommaso is Italian and Samantha is American; their wedding ceremony took place in the magnificent Basilica di Santa Maria del Carmine, in the historical center of Florence. After the ceremony we drove to the majestic setting of the Medici Villa La Ferdinanda, located within the Artimino Estate in the Florentine countryside. The beautiful weather allowed them to get married in Tuscany and forget the dark moments we have all been through; they flew back to Chicago with stars in their eyes. Seeing so many Americans being able to travel to our splendid Country was encouraging, after the long pause of foreign visitors.
Below, some lines Samantha and Tommaso wrote about their special day:
We met in 2016 while we were both studying in Rome and started dating (in English as Samantha’s Italian was still in development!) in March of 2017. Since we were moving to the US for Tommaso’s PhD program, we knew we wanted to get married in Tuscany where his family is from. We were grateful that Santa Maria del Carmine in Firenze had ample and beautiful space and welcomed us to have a safe wedding. While many American guests were unable to come, Samantha’s cousins showed up in full force and friends and family made long COVID-complicated trips for which we are so grateful. La Tenuta di Artimino hosted all of our out of town guests and all of our events — from a welcome party on Thursday night to the dinner and dancing on Friday evening — they had plenty of outdoor spaces to be able to celebrate our marriage with minimal stress and maximum love. Our wedding was infused with the hospitality and beauty of Tuscany, Tommaso’s home and Samantha’s adopted home. We are so grateful to have been able to celebrate in COVID and even more grateful for vendors like Andrea who guided us through the process and was a true friend during our wedding (our guests even commented on how wonderful and fun Andrea was to talk with!!). Being able to celebrate with our families and loved ones has been a truly unexpected and heart-filling gift!
Heartfelt thanks to Nataly Montanari (@natalymontanari_ph) for her precious help.
And thank you to the vendors:
Venue: @artimino
Flowers: @albertocappellini_fiori
Catering: @ilfattorepartycatering
Dress: @francescapiccini
