Caline and Des, Lake Orta wedding

Lake Orta, June 21^st 2006.

My dear friend Martina,

I just cannot thank and praise you enough for truly giving us the wedding of our dreams! Right from start to finish you were always there for us to help me and point me in the right direction. You steered me effortlessly through all the paperwork and legal requirements (even the things I needed to be doing in the UK!). I had never planned or even been involved in planning a wedding before and so the whole task seemed a little daunting at first, but with your help all the way I just breezed through it all.

Everyone here has been saying how well I organised everything, and I have had to admit that it was YOU that made it so easy for me to organise!! I have travelled worldwide in my lifetime and been to some gorgeous locations, but I can honestly say that Orta San Giulio was THE PLACE to get married in. As soon as we arrived we all fell in love with the place!

We had decided on an intimate private wedding with just our two sets of parents to enjoy it all with us and we could not have made a better decision. We booked a villa overlooking the lake and it was very romantic and truly beautiful.

The day of our wedding was TOTALLY SPECIAL. It was a glorious day and everybody got ready and left me with just my father to bring me to the Wedding Hall. That way, no one got to see my dress before my arrival. I got ready in a lovely peaceful setting and was collected by my chauffeur, who was very complimentary and made me feel like a million dollars as did my father! We arrived at Piazza Motta and were greeted by our photographer, Giuseppe, and the interpreter, Philippa Beggi. They were both brilliant.

My father and I then were shown on to a boat and everyone in the square (as it was market day) applauded. I felt like royalty! The boat trip was lovely, a little trip round the beautiful island and then straight into the Wedding Hall to be met by my fiancé at the beautiful ornate iron gates of the Wedding Hall which were opened especially for me.

Our ceremony was very moving with romantic guitar music playing our very own choice of music and it was very intimate. We were even presented with a lovely silver plaque to commemorate our wedding!

Then we went off to take some photos! Giuseppe is an amazing photographer and has captured some wonderful shots of us in the village. He had some fantastically unique ideas for settings and we have a lovely album filled with lovely memorable photos. He made us both feel very relaxed and the time just seemed to fly by. Much more fun that standing around in a graveyard in the UK for hours on end I can say!

Finally we arrived at our reception venue, The Leon d’Oro hotel in Piazza Motta. We had a lovely secluded table out on the terrace overlooking the lake. It was very peaceful and they had thoughtfully provided shade for our two mums.

The menu was unbelievable! We have never had so much food and so well presented in our lives. Our waiter, Mario, was a perfect host for us and attended to our every need for the whole afternoon. We even managed to feed the ducks on the lake with some left over bread which was a lovely relaxing thing to be able to do on your wedding day. The whole meal was gorgeous.

Suffice to say, Martina, that I thank you, Laura and your company for providing us with a fantastic day which will never ever be forgotten… from the beautiful flowers you arranged to match the colour on my dress right through to the locations. I have already recommended your services to two other couples, one of whom is coming out this September to view the location for themselves.

I wrote a THANK YOU note to both our parents and to my lovely husband… but I am also sending you a massive thank you for making all the necessary arrangements to provide us with such a fantastic wedding. Well done!!!!!

Caline and Des May
Farnham, Surrey, UK