Choosing a wedding venue abroad

We'd decided to get married in Tuscany, Italy, chosen a wedding planner and decided on September so we could get married around Adam's birthday. The next decision to make was to pick a venue.

What we found tricky about doing this was that, it's more difficult to estimate how many people are going to come! At any wedding, you always hope all your friends and family are going to be able to make it. But, when you get married abroad, there are so many more factors that might prevent them from coming. We could have no guests coming at all!

We would be expecting our guests to pay for their own flights and transfers and also would have to contribute towards their accommodation. So cost would be a factor. Plus our wedding was during term time which would be difficult for our teacher friends and those with kids of school age.

The sort of view we wanted from our villa (photo from the Italy Weddings site)

Added to this that some friends have small babies, or are about to have babies, or trying to have babies, or live on the other side of the world and the fact that some friends and family just wouldn't want to come all the way to Italy for a wedding.

So we decided to send out a "save the date" invitation to try to ascertain numbers. But unlike most save the dates, we sent it out around 9 months in advance and we asked our guests to make a bit of a commitment. (Yes, our friends thought we were ridiculously organised!)

We let them know when the wedding was likely to be, asked them whether they wanted to stay at the venue itself or elsewhere, we asked them if they were happy to contribute towards the cost of the accommodation (and gave them an estimate of how much that might be) and whether they would be happy to pay for the flights (and again gave them some idea for how much that would cost).

We were really lucky as we got an amazing response. Lots more of our friends and family could come than we expected, which was a lovely surprise. And it meant that we could pick a nice, big venue for the day which would be much more fun and glamorous for everyone.

The villa where we are getting married

Another thing that was hard is that we couldn't go and visit hundreds of venues as we simply couldn't afford the time or money for lots of trips to Italy!

Our wedding planner had a really good selection of venues on his website. And to be honest, they all looked really nice. And, having never actually been to Tuscany myself, it was hard to decide between them. We spent ages trawling through the photos and finally decided on the villa which Italy Weddings called Villa Francesca.

We picked it because it could sleep the number of guests we estimated we would have coming. The views were of rolling Tuscan hills with olive groves and vineyards, it had space outside for the blessing to take place and it had a large enough space inside to hold everything should the worst happen and the weather be bad. It was near two Historic Towns called Volterra and San Gimignano which meant we could do the legal bits in the town halls if we decided to. And all the weddings that had been held there looked stunning.

Originally, we planned not to visit the venue prior to the wedding. I think we had a romantic idea that the first time we went to the villa and the area would be for our wedding. But, as time went on, I think we got increasingly nervous about what the venue would be like and some of the decisions we had to make which were much harder remotely.

So, we decided to take a little trip to the villa a few months beforehand. And I would really, really recommend that couples did this if they can.

It is a bit of an added expense to the wedding. We only went to Italy for three days and we probably spend £500. But we found it really useful for doing things like deciding where the blessing was going to take place, where the meal was going to be, alleviating my worries about the wedding planner (as we had actually met him) and making decisions about what we would do if it were to rain (gasp).

I also got to drink lots of yummy wine from the region like Vernaccia and Chianti Riserva and sample some of the dishes we're thinking about having on our menu such as wild boar pasta and Tagliata beef steak.

Plus, it actually got us even more excited about everything. As we had seen first hand how utterly stunning the area is and could properly picture what our wedding day was going to be like. And to be honest, it's 3 months away, but I am started to get really, really excited. Not just about the wedding, but also having 5 days in Italy at an amazing villa with 40 or so of our friends and family. We hope everyone has a wonderful time with us.

Wine I've drunk this weekend

Since I've drunk lots of delicious wines this weekend, I thought I would take a break from wittering on about weddings and share them with you. Plus, one of my friends came round my house recently and complained that she'd been on my blog to try and find a wine I liked to bring round to supper, but couldn't find any. So, Caroline, this one is for you!

The long wine whiling weekend started with a visit to the only wine shop in the village, Salisbury's Cambridge Wine Stores. We originally went to get some Limoncello. But when they didn't have any, we ended up spending £70 on wine instead!

I love buying wine from proper wine shops. You get that extra bit of help from the staff who genuinely know about wine. Plus, there is usually a more varied selection of unique wines rather than the standard selection sold at many of the supermarkets. On Saturday, Cambridge Wines was full of middle aged men talking guff about wine. However, one of them have us a tip on a delicious Argentinian Malbec and he was not wrong!

La Chamiza Malbec from Cambridge Wines

He recommended La Chamiza Polo Amateur 2012 Malbec. The bottle claimed that, many years ago, the Chamiza Estate was a land of polo horses. But now they grow wines that reflect the polo horse because it is generous, equilibrated and passionate. I'm not sure about all that, but it was delicious!

I think it cost us around £7 which we thought was pretty good value since it was so nice. It was quite a dark, purple wine and tasted of cherries and strawberries with a hint of mocha coffee. It was dry but also velvety smooth. We had it with curry, but would be a perfect wine to have with a burger or lamb steak on the BBQ. 

I've mentioned my brother on here before as he is a proper wine snob and he got me onto wine tasting. As a thank you for organising a recent ski trip, we bought him a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2004 Il Palazzone from Cambridge Wines. He keeps telling me I should upgrade on the wines for the wedding from Chianti Classico to a Brunello but the budget won't stretch yet (sorry, had to mention the wedding). The Queen had it at her wedding apparently, so if it was good enough for her...

We didn't drink the wine as it apparently will be better in a few years. So when he does try it, I'll let you know if it was worth it!

The same brother picked a wine from Dad's wine cellar to drink with our bank holiday BBQ. To say it is a cellar might be stretching the truth somewhat, however, he does have a selection of 30 or so wines under the stairs at his house. My brother picked a rather tasty Shiraz from Majestic with a slightly tasty price point! Dad thought he'd paid around £20 for it, but it looks as though it is currently retailing at £30.

The McRae Wood Shiraz

As an Australian Shiraz, Jim Barry's The McRae Wood Shiraz from the Clare Valley is pretty full bodied. Bottled in 2004, the wine has spent a few months in oak and has a nice well rounded taste of fruit and spice as ell and lavender and liquorice. We had it with sausages and burgers but would be perfect with any red meat dish. Not the cheapest of wines but if you have a special occasion or want to impress someone, this would be a good choice.

A while ago, we went to the Wickham Vineyard which is near to Southampton in Hampshire. It's lovely there and I would definitely recommend a visit. It's about a 20 minute walk from Botley train station and set in beautiful countryside. You can do a little tasting, do an audio tour of the vineyard and buy local produce. Plus, they have a beautiful restaurant which has only recently opened that looks out over the vines.

Me wine tasting at Wickham Vineyard

We bought a bottle of Wickham Celebration Rose 2010 when we were there. We were saving it for when my friend Natalie came round. But she was too slow and it was drunk this weekend! The bottle claims it has "intense strawberry, raspberry and red currant flavours". However, I think it is more subtle than that description. It's actually a fairly, dry and light rose and not too sweet as some roses can be. 

You don't seem to be able to buy it via their website but maybe you can still buy it in the tasting room at the winery. I think it cost around £10 at the time. We enjoyed it with a Marks and Spencer Millionaire Shortbread biscuit but I think it would go with most things, maybe even a light pasta or chicken dish.

The view from the restaurant at Wickham Vineyard

Also this weekend we enjoyed the following yummy wines all of which I would highly recommend:

• The Ruins Organic Pinotage Bon Cap 2010 which cost around £9 from Cambridge Wines
• The Macon Villages 2011 which cost around £9 from Marks and Spencer
• The Barossa Shiraz 2010 which cost around £10 from Marks and Spencer 

So that was some of the wine I drank this Bank Holiday Weekend. Yes, I am off for a detox now. Someone bring me the Milk Thistle.