How I enjoyed the planning and the photo shoot for my new website

Finally, after a few months of working together with the patient staff of Dotflorence, my new website is online: I want to celebrate this with an inside look of the planning and the photo shoot for my new website. Besides that, I want to share with you some moments of fun.

The Planning

Well it’s hard to say when I began thinking  about my new website. Of course, may-be I wanted to start already 1 year ago, but the wedding season last year was very intense and it was not easy to focus on other aspects. So, as soon as the wedding season 2018 was wrapped up and I had some days of relaxing, I started to plan the first steps in December. It was after an interesting meeting with Dotflorence, the agency who managed the web design. 

We analyzed the recent page and we thought that it could be interesting to create new pages that could help the couples getting a better idea of their wedding planning and my services before the first contact. Therefore now you find these new parts:

1. Portfolio: with the updated photos of my last weddings

2. What my couples say… with some new reviews and letters I received from my couples.

3. Venues: a first selection of some venues I like to collaborate with).  

4. Wedding Service with a presentation of my wedding packages. 

Of course, as you know I do not only plan weddings but also wine tastings and private events. Moreover I love to promote the territory I am living in today, so I decided to indorse also the two wine tasting experiences that I promote together with the Agency Italian Days in the Montalcino’s area. 

With all these new aspects, I am very satisfied with the new presentation and I hope you too… but let’s see also another important aspect of the planning:

The photo shoot

The selection of the photographer

As many couples know choosing the right photographer and the right venue, is not always as easy as it seems. Therefore couples can be happy if they have the right wedding planner that can help them in finding the right service… As I am a wedding planner, I shouldn’t have this problem, because I have a lot of contacts of photographers, but it didn’t help me a lot. I would have chosen every photographer I already worked with and did already great jobs – what should I do – select 10 or more photographers? At the end I had to choose only one: and I contacted Diego Poggialini. I know him from the beginning of my activity in Tuscany and he was one of the first photographers I started to work with. Therefore, I know him very well and it was easy to make a “relaxing” smile in front of the camera – a situation which I am usually not very comfortable with, but he did a really wonderful job and I hope you can see it in the photos. But now you can see that I completely understand my couples when they say it’s not easy to find the right photographer…  

The selection of the venue

Another important aspect was the selection of the venue for the photo shoot. Again, as wedding planner, I have a lot of contacts of wedding venues, wine cellars and estates. But I wanted something different: not the usual photo in front of an oak barrel or vineyard. So I remembered a small charming estate that I visited some months ago and I remembered the wonderful view from their terrace – a terrace with a wonderful ancient wooden table that could be perfect for an elopement or private dinner. It is the estate of Fattoria Armena, a small authentic Tuscan agriturismo in the countryside of the “Crete Senesi” with a stunning view. Giulio, the owner was very happy to hear my plan and offered me all the spaces I needed … and at the end he also prepared a homemade Chocolate mouse which taste I still remember … (Sorry, but it was so delicious that I need to thank him for that. ;) 

The selection of the flowers

Flowers  played always an important role for me and in my life. Of course, as wedding planner I cannot miss to use them. But also in my daily life I love to have fresh flowers. Therefore I didn’t want to have only a glass of wine in my photos, but also fresh flowers. Thanks to the florists Margherita and Michela from Agriflor, we prepared a lovely bouquet, a wonderful wreath and some fresh single flowers that I used for several arrangements. At the end there is also a lot of beauty in simple things and I love the effect we created and Diego and me had also fun in creating some unique compositions. 

The weather and Plan B

Last but not least, another point that plays also an important role for the planning of a wedding and not only for a photo shoot is the weather and a Plan B. 

Imagine: I planned every single detail, there were the weeks before the photo shoot full of sunshine and warm temperatures… Then the day I planned the shooting came along and I woke up: it was grey and when we started with the photos, it started to rain… “It was just a perfect timing.” I still remember Diego complaining about me and the “natural shower” of that day, but even with the rain we did a good job and fortunately the venue has a wonderful covered terrace with arcs where we could continue with the shooting. 

But this situation remembered me again how important it is to consider always a good plan B… 

So these are some phases and anecdotes of the planning and photo shoot for my website. As you can see, there is a lot of work behind it and many people were involved in this project. Therefore, I want to thank everybody I already mentioned above for their great work and patience, but I also want to thank Alice & Rosella from Rosella’s Hair in Montalcino for their Make-up and Hairstyling. And I want to thank Nicole and Anne who patently corrected the German and English texts of this website. Without them my expressions wouldn’t be so perfect. ;)