The last few days as we've been wandering through this town I've come across a few shoe stores that had some of the most unusual shoes I've ever seen. Up to this point I've really been exercising as much self control as I can muster when it comes to all of the fabulous shoes and boots for sale. However, my hair and make up stylist had on the MOST adorably fantastic pair of high heel, wedge sneakers the day before and I just HAD to have a pair. I saw a shoe store with a few different styles in the window and ran in. I picked out two styles to try on and approached the salesman to get them in my size. He was a very tall, slim well put together, effeminate man and when he spoke we were speechless for a minute. He spoke in almost a whisper but in a very high pitched voice. He asked me what size I wore and I told him that in US size I'm a 7. He responded very seriously, "I'm sorry but that's impossible. Nobody could possible have a foot that small." LOL!!! I wish I had video with audio so that you could all understand how funny it was. Anyway, we figured out my size, tried some on and picked out a pair. I was so stoked about them that I made a last minute executive decision and declared that they were going to be my wedding shoes! I don't know that my Mom was so thrilled but Dan looked pretty entertained.
A little more wandering and shopping and then, of course, more food. I left Dan with my parents to sit and have a relaxing lunch but I had to run back to the hotel to meet Daniella to start my hair and make up at 2pm. On my way to the hotel I stopped for a slice of pizza and decided to try something a little different. It was a square with pastry on both sides and spinach and tomato and cheese in the center. Seemed sort of healthy but with my first bite I realized it was one of the saltiest foods I'd ever eaten which is not good if you are about to get strapped into a tight wedding dress in a few hours. In the garbage it went. I got back to the hotel and realized that Dan had the keys...awesome. So I had to practically run back to the piazza, find where they had decided to eat and get the keys and then run back to the hotel. Right after I get there the make up artist and a translator arrive, early. However Shannon, our photographer has not showed up yet so we wait a little while hoping she gets there soon. I'm worried about her becasue I know that getting around Italy is not easy and usually full of surprises. But I know she's a resourceful lady and will be here. 2pm comes, my Mom has arrived and we decide to go ahead and get started. Daniella and her friend are a ton of fun...super sweet women. I'm extremely flattered that Daniella goes on and on about how gorgeous my eyes are. Considering she works with supermodels at Gucci for a living I fell pretty damn good about myself!
Suddenly there is a knock on the door in in comes Shannon all out of breath! Phew, I'm so relieved to see her ok. Apparently she drove into town a little farther than we had the other day and the police stopped her and made her turn around and go into a parking lot clear across town so she had to find her way and haul all of her equipment through town up and down the hilly cobblestone street in some super fab high heel boots. What a superwoman! She doesn't hesitate and starts taking pictures immediately. Another knock comes at the door and it's Dan and my father here to get Dan all dressed and ready. The women all scramble to make sure he doesn't see me...hahahaa! My Dad helps him with his tie, which is adorable and before they leave my father comes in and tells me some very beautiful things that start to make me cry but just before I can shed a tear Daniella is up and across the room and pinches my arm and yells "NO! NO!!!" and charades that there is to be no crying. Ouch! Ok, ok...no crying! The boys leave for town hall and I'm ready to get into my dress. It's a team effort but I want it tight and those girls strap my girls in! We strap on my new sneakers, snap a few pictures and run out the door. Of course, the bride was going to be fashionable late!
What a blast it was walking through the streets of Siena in my gown with my bouquet and my little entourage with strangers congratulating me all along the way and snapping pictures. I felt like a goddess, a princess, a supermodel, a blushing bride about to marry her perfect love! When we get to town hall I see my father outside looking concerned and I know something is wrong. As I walk up he kisses me and starts to usher me in and tells me that the guests have not arrived yet. Oh boy. We hired a bus to pick everyone up at the villa and bring them to Siena but apparently the bus driver didn't speak any English and was a little lost. Fortunately for us, everything and everybody runs late in Italy so they were not concerned at all and there was nothing scheduled after our ceremony so we had time. I was led up to a landing on the stairs above the entrance to the room we were going to be married in so that nobody would see me when they finally got there. Dan was on the other side of the wall in the room waiting as people who were just wandering around touring the gorgeous historic town hall kept coming in and asking him where the batheroom was...like a guy in a suit with a hot pink tie with a unicorn on it works there and knows where the bathroom is makes perfect sense. Dan did make sure that a tourist wearing socks and Crocs got the hell out before I saw him becasue there would have been trouble.
As we wait Shannon gets a few more photos (which I think will turn out gorgeous) and then the guests finally arrive at about 4:30. Time for my big entrance! My father comes out to meet me, kisses me and tells me I look beautiful. The musicans start (Luna by Smashing Pumpkins) and in we go. I turn the corner and walk through the door and I see my Dan looking so handsome! His face is absolutely beaming and I can see it happening...tears. I start to tear up myself and feel that ghost pinch on my arm and reign it in. The ceremony is a fairly legal process for the most part. A lot of reading civil laws about marriage. The mayor of Siena marries us and she is gorgeous. Is everyone in Italy beautiful or what??? Another song by the musicians (You and I by Ingrid Michaelson which we realize half way into it that there is a very high pitched section of the song that the singer is about to get to and we turn to her to see what happens...she hits the notes and bravo and apologies to her). The mayor presents us with a gift of coins minted from the original molds of the first coins of Siena, very cool! A few more legal things, we exchange rings (we put Dan's on his wrong hand) and then the big smooch which we jump the gun on but who cares!!! Yet another song (The Way I am by Ingrid Michaelson - love her). All that is left is to sign the documents and we are pronounced husband and wife...WOOHOO!!! We walk out to Sail Away by David Grey and hang out in the "lobby" for pictures and congratulations.
We make our exit to the Piazza and Shannon gets some pictures with family and friends and out of one of the side streets comes an gang of young guys who start cheering for us. So cute! The chant "Bacio, bacio, bacio" so we oblige and kiss and they go nuts. We decided to invite them in to get some pictures with us and they are strangely stoked about it and even hand over their own cameras and phones to get pictures for themselves. Off they go still cheering.
At this point we send our guests off to get some gelato and Shannon takes us off to get some pictures around the square. What a blast we had! We got some gelato ourselves (I get strawberry and OMG it is so fresh and tasty) and played around with it getting pics, we hijacked some strangers scooter for a few shots and as we are getting those shots a man comes out of a restaurant across the street and tells us they have a gorgeous wine cellar that would be perfect for pictures and invite us in....how amazing is that??? They weren't lying, it was really beautiful. After that we get a few more pics outside and go to find our family and friends. What follows is a black spot on the day and since we are going to forget about it I won't write about it here. We get on the bus and head to the villa for the reception! Keep in mind that when we spoke to the caterer and florist that little to no English was spoken so we are not sure what we are going to find at the villa...eep!
When we arrive and get off the bus there are tables with white linens all around the yard with candles and lanterns and a scrumptious looking spread of appetizers laid out. Not to mention the very cute servers they sent...right Jen!!! The welcome buffet consists of:
* Bellinis, Rossini cocktails, Class cocktails, Prosecco and fresh fruit juices
* A cheese selection of Italian Marzolino cheese, goat's milk cheeses, gorgonzola cheese, a variety of spiced cheese, Italian "canestrato" with honey and mustard and Apulian "burrata" cheese.
* Fast cut Salami DOP corner with Impruneta's Sbriciolona, Pratomagno's ham, San Daniele ham, Sausage with hot red pepper and Soppressata cubes.
* Italian breads and crackers
* Fried vegetables of courgette flowers, courgettes, aubergines, artichoke's heart, cauliflower hearts, onion rings, sage leaves, thinly cut potatoes, round buffalo mozzarella and ascolona olives.
Are you hungry yet? I walk inside and I see the table set up and we are blown away at the job the caterers and florists have done. So soft and romantic and exactly what I had envisioned and more. It is perfection.
We all move inside to the long, wooden table and the courses of dinner start to come out:
1st - Risotto with crispy Italian bacon, radicchio and saffron.
2nd - Fresh pasta with pecorino cheese, figs and arugula.
3rd - Chinghiale in umido con fagioli all'ucceletto (wild boar ragu with white beans) and Eggplant parmesan for our vegetarian friends.
For dessert I was really a bit worried about the cake because we really had absolutely clue what we were going to get. I had not seen the bakery's portfolio and even though we had emailed the wedding planner the flavors we wanted I had no clue if they were going to make them or not. Out comes the cake and holy shamoly it was more than we could have hoped for! It was two gigantic layers all sparkley and covered in giant sugar anemony flowers! The touch of perfection was the cake topper hand crafted and painted by none other than the talented artist Dan Beaulieu. We were so impressed and relieved. We had a toast to each other and cut into the cake to feed each other (which we did gently) and when we tasted the cake we were glad we didn't get what we asked for because our tastebuds were rejoicing :) We still don't know what it was but it was a vanilla cake with mini chocolate chips and soaked in some sort of alcohol. In addition to the cake there was a fruit arrangement and an assortment of mousse (lemon, chocolate, pistachio, strawberry and white chocolate I think, maybe more flavors even) and to top it off bottles of limoncello, grappa and bitters (herbal liquor). We were all so stuffed but somehow kept eating!
After all the food was demolished and the liquor and wine had been flowing we turned up the music and the dancing started. Somehow a chain of people doing splits started! I had no clue how limber and bendy my friends were!!! This went on for quite a while and I'm shocked there were no crotch injuries...hahahaa! At some point, Don brought out a pan lid and wooden spoon for me and all the men tied their ties on Dan and we ended up doing some sort of weird almost ancient looking pan banging tie head crazy dance. Classic. A little dance battle broke out and again we were surprised at the breakdancing skillz of our white bread friends. One of our songs came on and I led Dan outside to dance in the moonlight of one of the most stellar, bright moons you've ever seen. It was so romantic. What a perfect, perfect evening. The funniest part was when we all went to bed and Dan had to get me out of my dress but that is private you pervs!!! Except for Ryan who was apparently listening outside the door.
Guys, it was the most perfect day in our lives and we couldn't have been happier to have been surrounded by our friends and family instead of eloping like we had originally planned to do. Thanks Mom for ruining our plans <3 There were a lot of you who we wished were there but know that you were not out of our thoughts all day and we were sending love your way.
See all the pics I have so far here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzSpnfG I will post more as friends and family send them!
Also, wedding video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqGA8aSXwoI
Tomorrow...will you even tune in now that the big day is over? You should, the adventures don't end.
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