The Big Wedding Blog

I'll try to keep this short and use pictures to tell the story. Erika and Valerio were married on Monday and I had the great pleasure to be there. First of all the church was right across the street from Erika's house so it was VERY convenient. She could get ready at home with her friends and then just walk across the street to the church. Valerio meanwhile lives a short distance away and this photo is him arriving with Marco showing the way. Marco was the life of the party all night. I had no idea he could dance so well.

What's wedding without flower girls?

This is Erika leaving the house with her father. I know I have seen or heard about the tradition of cutting the ribbon as you see here but I can't remember the significance.

This is the crowd leaving the church. I thought maybe you could get a feel for how people were dressed and what they were like. The service was very similar to catholic weddings that I've been to in the US except we seemed to be standing a lot more here. The priest gave advice just like in the US, there were a few readings by friends and family, and of course some singing. Yeah, I would say it was very similar to when my cousins on my mom's side were married and also all the Oliverio weddings that I've been too! Maybe I'm catholic by now...

This photo will require a little explaining. A short walk from the church is a place we call "L'ufficio". This is where we meet up to go out. You can just say "L'ufficio alle 9" and everyone knows. So we met there quickly for a few photos before going on to the reception.

This one is for the ladies out there. Look at all those southern Italian guys
!

Marco Russo driving the married couple around. Don't drive that car like you do your Lancia! Wait Antonella is there too...

The reception was great and a big part of that was the location. It was so big and everything outdoors. This first photo is the area where had a little aperitif and toast to happy couple. The place had three courtyards. One in the front shown here. One on the side where we ate and danced to live music and one in the back where had desert by the pool.

This photo is where we ended the night with deserts and dancing(dancing again! My legs felt it the next day). I didn't get a photo of the area where we ate because I've already learned not to be taking photos when a buffet is involved. The curious thing is that we started dancing after the cheese and prosciutto part of the appetiser so I passed on the pasta dish because we were having too much fun dancing. Then the smoke from the grill caught our attention and we sat down for the meat portion of the meal.

Yours truly with Francesco (aka Miami Vice). In my defense I was reaching to adjust my tie when the photo was taken.