Life in Italy

Aug 2

I’ve been in Italy a week now and life feels quite normal. Much like the UK (where I live) most things are open and masks must be worn in all shops, bars, restaurants etc. Social distancing of 1m must be observed everywhere.

On the day we arrived San Gimignano was probably around 75% as busy as it would normally be. This was quite a shock to us as we live in a quiet area in Surrey and haven’t really seen many people over the last 4/5 months. It’s incredible that the world has opened up so quickly, but too soon I fear.

It feels amazing to be back here, something I wasn’t sure would happen for a really long time. That first sight of Danielle was very emotional after the year we’ve had!

I can’t help but feel sad knowing that there are very few weddings taking place. So many couples have seen their original wedding date come and go and many more will follow. So many suppliers are taking an unwanted sabbatical and working in other industries just to make ends meat.

So while we’re excited to be together, visiting venues, meeting some of our couples and getting W&W in shape for next year, there’s a huge undertone of the vacant space where weddings should be and the uncertainty of now and what’s to come.

On Friday we had our first couple over to Italy since February. We both joined Matt & Justine for a walk around their venue, planning layout and chatting decor. We then headed to their food tasting which was just a simple antipasti, 4 courses of pasta, dessert and 6 wines… A great way to celebrate being back here.

Yesterday when in San Gimignano with my family, I bumped into another of our couples who I’d planned to see today! Santina & Tom have popped out here to see their venue again and show their parents. The wedding is fully planned as they had to postpone until next year but they were absolutely brimming with excitement for what’s to come.

As always we feel so grateful for our job, for our couples and our wonderful suppliers and we can’t wait to both be in Italy with you all in the not-too-distant future.

We’re taking it in turns to have a week’s holiday from today, my turn first. We’ll see you on the other side and I’ll leave you with a couple of photos I took this week.