More kind words about us...

All of this was amazing.  The music was perfect, the string arrangements of our rather obscure choices was perfect.  The music was not the usual thing and it worked better than I could have ever imagined.  The circus blew my mind they were fantastic.  The fireworks as well were brilliant so spectacular!  The cake moment was brilliant so not what I was expecting it was so dramatic and brilliant and for the lights to go down and the music start before the fireworks literally brought me to tears it was stunning.  I am stage manager and cue shows for a living and that was perfectly timed.

I would really like it if you could let the florist know that the  flowers were the most stunning I have ever seen.  They were so beautiful the aisle and the arch let alone the bouquets and buttons they were gorgeous please tell her thank you thank you thank you.

The food was amazing!  The cake blew me away I did not expect it to be that big it looked fantastic better than I could ever have imagined!  One of my favourite moments it also tasted amazing!

Thank you again you were amazing and the wedding was amazing!  

Much love and thanks.

We will complete that survey email this weekend but I wanted to personally reach out to say what a night!!! What a great couple of nights even the welcome drinks were superb. 

 The staff at Cimbrone were amazing. We will be back for sure. 

 Home in london and it's really a struggle to get back into the groove after such a massive high with family and friends for 2 weeks. I think I have post wedding and holiday blues ha. 

 Thank you again for all of your support. You're incredible. 

 Love Janelle xx  

The wedding was beyond our wildest expectations. It’s hard to properly articulate our thoughts but what we will say is that it was genuinely a perfect day (the skies even cleared for photos!)

Food and flowers were impeccable and the photography / videography were fantastic too. We were thrilled and can’t wait to see the results.

We would absolutely endorse DIW and would be very happy to act as future referees.

All the best,

Louisa & Steven

 And from the Mother of the Bride:

Dear Rosanna and your wonderful team,

I just want to thank you all for helping to make the wedding the most memorable day. Everything went according to plan and could not have wished for a better day.

Thank you for making the planning stages, along with Louisa and Steven, as stress free as was possible, I know they enjoyed working closely with you.

I wish you all well and every success in your future events.

With all best wishes

Carol

I know we made the right choice with DIW, as well as the venue of Gargonza. I never thought we would be stuck with everything as the "Plan B" but it still turned out so well. It's funny, because people always tell you through the planning process that "no matter how well you plan something will go wrong, so try your best not to worry about all the little details." This is great advice and I definitely worked to be carefree (as much as possible!), but other than the weather, absolutely nothing went wrong. Which is incredible in itself - I even got the most beautiful rainbow I've ever seen

Highlights:
> the flowers were beyond what I'd imagined - Nadia did such beautiful arrangements, they were absolutely perfect. Comments on my bouquet included "the most beautiful bouquet I've ever seen" and many compliments from ladies with experience in floral arranging (my advice to others in the future [and my past self] would be to select your colours, maybe your preferred flower types - but the florist is the professional, they'll make it great without needing to be micro-managed!)
> the cake and cake cutting - the cake was exceptionally beautiful. I had not worried about this too much, though was interested in something that was at least consistent with the atmosphere and our style, but overall was blown away by the end result. The last-minute decisions for the cake cutting also turned out so well, the lighting was beautiful and even the moon shone through - perfection!
> the food and service at the restaurant was fantastic.
Everyone at Gargonza was amazing, the service was excellent, everyone liked their rooms (cleanliness), the food was great, and the venue in good order.
I have to thank Raffaela so much for all her work [and patience through mini freak-outs] with me; and Antonella and Giada for everything they assisted with onsite; the last minute advice and suggestions were all exactly what needed to be done and they made sure it all happened without a hitch. Despite absolutely terrible weather, it was perfect!
I would be happy to provide a reference for DIW in the future; you made the whole process seamless (which was the point after all!) and took a huge complicated thing and turned it into many small decisions, made over time that were manageable and simplified - thank you!
Thank you so much again! I can't express how grateful we are for everything that the entire DIW crew did for us.

Sincerely,
Carmen & Steve

• The villa was as beautiful as we'd planned for it to be (flower set up, table/chair set up, light set up, etc). The one thing people kept saying was "your wedding was the most beautiful one we've ever been to. It was a fairy tale wedding". I can't tell you how many great photos and videos people took!
• The DJ did a fantastic job with the music. We were running at least 45 min - 1 hour behind schedule, which means he couldn't play more than 50% of what we sent. But what he ended up selecting for the English music was just perfect. He played the crowd so well and for that reason all of the guests really enjoyed what they heard. He was also a really nice guy so that was an added bonus :)
• The food was as delicious, if not more, than it was on the day we went for the tasting. People couldn't stop talking about how good ALL OF IT was. Especially the cake! You were 100% correct in saying that the risotto was killer. Two weeks after the wedding people are still talking about it!
• The wait staff were awesome and remained professional all throughout the event. 
• The photographers and videographer were an absolute pleasure to work with. We spent so much time with them on the wedding day that by the end of it it felt as though we were saying goodbye to new good friends. They will definitely be missed.
• Sara and the rest of the ladies had great feedback on Margaret (the makeup artist). Even though she couldn't speak much English she still managed to prep people in a way that made everyone look beautiful. 
• The hair stylist (Pamela) did a good job with fixing up the ladies' hair…..

HATS OFF TO EVERYONE! We're gona miss planning our wedding with you guys and every other person involved in the planning process.

 Best regards,

Manaf and Sara

During our three-day wedding – the DIW team went above and beyond with their attentiveness, with their excellent service and most importantly with their genuine love. 
 
Everything turned out exactly like how we brainstormed it with DIW during the 8 months period preceding the wedding. Starting with our well-organized civil ceremony in the Belvedere Principessa di Piemonte to the charming welcoming aperitivo in Ravello’s square, to the pious church ceremony in St. Francis, to our stunning wedding celebrations in Villa Cimbrone and lastly to our farewell brunch in Cimbrone. 
 
Everything in our opinion was flawless and magical. It surely would not have been the case if Bonnie and Lucca were not accompanying us every minute of the day during the wedding weekend.
 
I remember walking down the isle and looking at all the flower arrangements around the benches while listening to the violinist in the background and thinking how amazing are our planners turned out to be.  
 
Ziad and I are thankful that we decided to go with DIW.  The team is amazingly professional, prompt, assuring, friendly and most importantly loving.  We highly recommend DIW to work with.
 
Lots of love, 
Genane & Ziad

The planning was very easy and once we got to Venice and the big day arrived, everything was perfect and smooth. Stefania was early and ready to help us in whatever way possible.  DIW’s recommendations for vendors were also outstanding.  Yasmin did my hair and makeup (with no trial run) better than I could have ever imagined and her attention to detail is incredible. We are a very “cheesy couple” and they both helped us stay separate (in the same suite) without seeing one another before the ceremony. Stefania exchanged our letters and Luca, our amazing photographer, made sure to capture each special moment of us getting ready, reading our letters and making sure that every special detail was on film.

Of course when you get married in Venice, you have to head to San Marco square for photos and a gondola ride and DIW made that happen without a single flaw.  Everything about our day was perfect. Everyone we worked with was remarkable and we highly would recommend all of them to anyone who ever wanted to get married in Italy. 

We would love to answer any questions that anyone has about our experience with DIW about our wedding planning and experience.

thanks!!!!!!

Angela & Bryan

Photo by Luca Rajna - http://www.progettifotografici.com/

•    Quality of Service 
•    Responsiveness 
•    Professionalism 
•    Value 
•    Flexibility

The reason we didn’t want to  marry in the UK, was because I didn’t want to feel like a manufactured ‘sausage’ , and that is how the UK wedding venues made me feel! From start to finish, it has been such a pleasure working with you both. 
It had always been my dream to marry in Italy, and thank you for making dreams come true!

I know the Villa caters for many weddings, however all the staff made us feel special for the entire weekend. As you know our decision to marry in Florence was decided by the beautiful synagogue. Rabbi Levi, exceeded our expectations on the day, and he arrived with a big smile & sense of humour! The service was beautiful and our guests totally blown away with the synagogue. The service was for me the most important part, and I feel honoured and blessed to have been married in such a special place.

The flowers exceeded expectation on every level,  truly beautiful. 

I am so grateful to Bonnie & Luca and I will miss the daily emails & planning.  The entire weekend ran to perfection, with their true professionalism and expertise.  Nothing was ever a problem, and I never wanted to be a Bridezilla!!! 
We feel very lucky to have worked with Bonnie, she was amazing!

Our Villa exceeded expectation on every level. The food & wine  was outstanding, something which was so important to me. 

Everything was truly perfect! 

Without hesitation we would act as a possible reference for couples considering your services.

With Kind Regards 
& Truly heartfelt Thank You’s

Justine and Simon

Initially Distinctive Italy arranged a shortlist of several venues, all of which were beautiful locations. We choose Casa Country House which greatly exceeded our expectations. On the wedding day a representative from Distinctive Italy, Antonella, spent the full day and night with us and everything went so smoothly with her coordination. 

The suppliers that Distinctive Italy sourced for us were all genuinely amazing. The band, the DJ, the guitarist, the  florist, hairdresser, the church and the venue were all flawless.  Our guests were all really impressed with every part of the day and we couldn’t have been happier. Our impression is that Distinctive Italy would not work with suppliers that are not of a high standard.

Throughout the planning, we were kept fully informed of the costs and at no stage did we feel that we weren’t in control or being pressured into buying services that we did not want or were above and beyond our budget. Distinctive Italy offered practical support in a very clear concise way.

We are so grateful to Raffaela, Antonella and Rosanna at Distinction Italy for all their hard work and guidance. They really took the stress away from us and made our wedding day the best day of our lives. They are professional, very well organised and personable.  We highly recommend services.  Natalie and Barry

To be honest with you, when everything was all said and done, it was so much more than we could have ever imagined or expected.  The Castle  was something out of a dream - and all of our guests continue to tell us that often as we look through photos. We would rate the venue, including all of the staff, 5s across the board. The owner, Ruth, made us feel so welcome, and told us often how happy they were to have us there. She was outgoing and friendly to all of our guests all 4 days of our stay. The reception staff were extraordinary - not only did they take care of odds and ends quickly and with a smile (i.e. setting up cab rides for our guests to get into Bolzano, quickly pressing everyone's shirts and things for the wedding, and assisting 3 of our guests with tracking down and receiving their luggage which had gotten lot along the way). All of us appreciated that any question we proposed was met with “Of course, that is no problem".  The bar and kitchen staff, especially Imre, deserve our utmost thanks. From the moment we arrived they accommodated our large group for meals, again, with a smile, and kept everyone happy and laughing in the lounge and at the bar until the last person retired to bed. They never made us feel unwelcome and were just truly kind people.

The day of the wedding was no exception - staff were helpful and kind. What we will remember most is the food! From the wine and appetizers during the aperitif to the truly incredible 6-course  meal, every detail was perfect. We were very excited about the wedding menu, and it did not disappoint. The caliber of the food, and the creativity of the presentation, are things we will never forget.

No words could really describe how we felt about the Castle - just know we appreciated their hospitality and professionalism and will be back again as soon as we can!

Regarding the florist - I did not personally them, but Dan did. They were very nice and very positive about the weather going our way :) For not having a clear idea myself of what I wanted the bouquets to look like, they were spot on and fit our motif perfectly. The arch was stunning and was all that was needed on the terrace to make the ceremony simple yet classy, which is what we were hoping for. Not too showy, but beautiful with a rustic feel as we overlooked vineyards and orchards.

Alessandro and his assistant were energetic and fun!! They kept everyone smiling for sure. We have not yet received any photos but know they will be stunning just based on where we were, and the creative shots Alesssandro set up. We anxiously await a sneak peek, but want him to take his time of course. He was professional and from the work I have seen on his website, worth every penny!

The women who came to do our hair and makeup were kind, and really did a great job following the photos we showed them.

Last, but certainly not least, we would rate the quality of service received from you all at DIW a 5 for sure. Like I said, it was difficult to trust that things were going according to plan since we were so far away from everything. We really put our trust in you, Stefania, and every step of the way you responded to our (many) questions patiently and with understanding.  You were flexible in making time to Skype with us over the long year of planning, which we appreciate given the 6 hour time difference. There were some times that it took longer to receive responses, either because you had to communicate with the venue or vendors before getting back to us. but any anxiety that caused was quickly squashed when we would see that we had an email from you.

The day of the wedding you were so relaxed, and calm it made me feel like I had nothing at all to worry about - I even give you the credit for making the sun come out :) You had everything under control down to the music, which we appreciate you taking charge of. Overall, we could not have been happier. The pictures our guests have shared only tell part of the story, but the stories that we will share for the rest of our lives will keep those memories alive for us forever.

I apologize if this sounds cliché, but thank you for helping make our wedding everything we could have imagined and more. Really :)

Best,
Carla

Quality of service- 5. 
The castle was simply stunning, and always made sure we had what we needed. The flowers, centerpieces, candles, food was all very impressive and exactly what I dreamed of. The photographers and videographer were courteous and attentive, so I know our pictures and video will be amazing! Can't wait to see them.

Responsiveness- 5. 
Bonnie was always very responsive in not only returning my emails, but in making sure my voice was heard. When the castle ran out of vodka, she made sure they got more. When I was unhappy with some changes they were making to the reception, she worked to arrange a reception I would be pleased with. I chose to go with a planning service so that I didn't have to be bogged down with the little details and I am so happy that I never had to worry about anything because I knew she was taking care of it. 

Professionalism- 5. 
Absolutely everyone we encountered during our wedding weekend treated us with the upmost respect. 

Value- 5. 
It's tough to compare since we don't know anyone that's ever gotten married like we did! I do know that if I had chosen to get married back in the states it would have cost my father a small fortune, and not even have come close to as beautiful as our wedding in Rome was. 

Flexibility- 5. 
I don't think there was ever a time where I didn't feel as if you all were being flexible with me. I felt like I received everything I dreamed of and more. You can absolutely use our emails for references! We'd love to tell people how special our day was and the exemplary level of service you provided. 

We are nearing the end of our honeymoon and leaving beautiful Positano for Paris, but cannot wait to get back home to start our lives together. If the rest of our lives are as great as our wedding we are in for an amazing ride! Thank you for everything!

Best,
Megan and Neil

Raffaela was able to execute every last detail to perfection! Every guest was blown away with the beauty and overwhelming feeling of love and warmth at our Welcome Dinner and Wedding Day. We have had so many friends and family tell us that it was the wedding of the century, and that they have never and will never again attend such an amazing wedding celebration. We only wish we could have stopped time to soak it all in...the Borgo with the 360 degree views of Val d'Orcia, the delicious food, exquisite floral decorations, and regal table arrangements!  Not to mention David Righeschi, the tenor who sang throughout the evening and gave goosebumps to everyone. It was truly magical! Thank you so much for making our dream wedding a reality! We will never forget it!

Please feel free to use any part of this email on your website, or with other clients. Thank you again for everything!!!

All the best,
Deborah & Rafael

Hairdresser : Even if i had only one trial and that until the day of the wedding i didn't really know what i wanted to do, she understood directly what i didn't like in a chignon and made it perfectly.

Make up : She made something soft and classy and it's totally my style.

Photographer : I LOVE him , he is so nice and professionnal, he showed me sometimes his shots and WOW they are amazing , i can't wait to see all the pictures. ( He told me if i want some sneak peek i can write him , i would like some if he can for the 8th of August, we have a reception in Montreal for those who didn't come).

Boat : Extra service, we loved it.

Aperitivo : I didn't eat at the aperitivo i was talking to the guests but everyone said it was the best food they have ever had. (italians knows better than anybody else about food)

Dinner : Excellent, food amazing, marquee amazing and finally spacious not feeling crowded!

Band : They are the best band i have ever heard, Hany loved them more than any other band in Canada, they put so much energy that everybody was in a mood to dance all the time. She has such a nice voice!

Cake : wow i didn't know it would be that big and we were really happy!! We had the firefountains and the week before the wedding we saw fireworks in Cernobbio we prayed to have them on Saturday and it works :):)

Open Bar : We started the open later than 22h because of the delay of the other services but it was perfect, good service .

Discotheque : it was a good idea to do a discotheque, the older guests started to go and the youngest had so much fun there with a really good DJ!

And FINALLY your wedding planners are amazing, they are my best support and it was a pleasure to meet them. Raffaella always asked if i was ok and helped me with everything from the beginning to the end. Same for Rita , she talks with the guests and make them confortable. Anna Maria is kind and always behind us if  we need something as water or help. Also Anna Maria from catering, i like her a lot.

THANK you Again Rosanna for everything , i'm sad that it's ending that why i'm crying almost everyday because it was a big project and i want to continue this project with you. 

We'll talk soon

Krystel

Sorry I can't give you more constructive criticism, but we can't put out finger on anything that could be done better from your side.

Same goes for all of the providers. Blunotte - fantastic performance of the ceremonial songs! Same goes for the DJ and sax - WOW! Everyone was dancing their socks off and commented of how great it all was. Didn't get to hear the pianist unfortunately, but my mother said it was wonderful.

GHT has been a pleasure staying at as always, and very accommodating to our big Scandinavian crowd - even if some of our guests tried to break into the pool for a night swim..:) Amazing experience!

Barbara was great to have around - could see at once that she knew what she was doing. Looking forward to seeing the photos ALOT!

Rita, and the lovely helper I can't remember the name of, NO WORDS. Made my day stress-free.

And yes, of course you can use my email as a reference. Would be happy to strongly recommend you for anyone who wants their dream wedding come true.

Let me know if there is any thing else we can help with.

Best wishes,
Elise and Lars

It took a lot of trust on our part to have you plan our Florence wedding while we are in California. We were not in Florence, nor could we travel there, to see the church or reception venue options. We only saw pictures of the places.

We particularly like the Villa Hotel because it had a villa-like atmosphere yet still within the city. The hotel had a wonderful view of Florence. The food was delicious! Alina and the staff at the Villa were accommodating and a great pleasure to work with. She gave us a tour of the hotel and walked us through the plans for the reception, including a back up plan in case it rained.

Our hair and makeup stylists were also great! Our hair stylist knew what hair style looked best and our make up stylist made us look beautiful without overdoing the make up. Our flowers and decorations were gorgeous. We enjoyed the harpist, but honestly, I cannot really remember the music during the ceremony because a lot was happening and it was a very emotional time. Our photographer, Alessandro and his assistant Laura, were fantastic and creative! We can't wait to see all of the pictures.

Overall, Adam and I are very happy with DIW's services. All of the vendors were easy to work with and they exceeded our expectations. We are happy to be a reference for future couples planning a wedding with DIW.

Grazie mille and warmest regards,

Abby and Adam

Overall
We couldn't have been happier with our wedding – it was a spectacular day and everything went off without a hitch. Everyone had a great time and some of our guests even said it was 'the best wedding they have ever been to' which we were absolutely thrilled about!

The wedding was a success because of the huge amount of planning that went in and the support of talented and professional vendors, both in Italy and in the lead up to the wedding in the UK. Our Italian vendors, suggested and coordinated by DIW, exceeded our expectations through their professionalism, punctuality, quality of service/product and accommodation of our requests. We would recommend all of them to other couples getting married in Italy, and note that time invested communicating with vendors will pay dividends on your big day and in the memories captured.

Venue
We fell in love with our venue on our first visit and are thrilled to have been able to have our wedding here. We were proud to share this venue with our guests and we are pleased to say everyone loved it! The venue looked amazing in both our wedding photos and video, and it was great to be able to use different areas of the property for parts of the day. Giacomo and Barbara were amazing hosts and a big part of the reason we selected it for our wedding. They did a fantastic job on our wedding day, which they managed to perfection and they were always keen to offer help or advice without any fuss. We just could not have picked a more perfect location for a truly perfect day!

Photography
We could not have made a better choice than Claudia and Luca for our wedding. Firstly, our photos are absolutely stunning: they truly captured the essence of our amazing day. Their fine art photography/editing give our wedding photos an x-factor; the images are interesting, vibrant, candid, capturing everything from the wider landscape to the finer detail, and it's obvious a lot of care has been taken in their production. It was also great to have two photographers on the day to capture it from different angles/ perspectives.
It put our mind at ease being able to meet Claudia and Luca the night before the wedding, and we were thrilled that they stayed for an extra hour at the end of the night to make sure they captured the cake cutting, our first dance and the start of the party. They conducted themselves extremely professionally, but had a lovely relaxed and unobtrusive attitude and style.
Prior to the wedding, we spent quite a bit of time thinking about what we wanted them to capture on the day, including some group photos, and they managed to do it all plus so much more. They are lovely people to work with and we would 100% recommend them to anyone getting married in Italy.

Videographer – Denis
When we started to plan our wedding, we weren't 100% certain if we were going to have a videographer. We are really pleased Raffaela encouraged us to do this, and also for her personal recommendation of Denis. We were a bit apprehensive because the example video's we saw from Denis weren't in the style of wedding video we were looking for. However, Raffaela assured us that Denis was happy to accommodate our requests and adapt his style. So we invested lots of time in defining the style of video we wanted – what we did and didn't like – finding music – and finding examples of other videos to share with Denis. This approach was 100% successful, as the short trailer video we have just received is exactly what we wanted and more! We are so excited to see the longer version!

We really appreciated meeting with Denis and the second videographer the night before the wedding, and were really impressed to later learn he also visited our ceremony venue to ensure he was prepared for our wedding day. Denis also arrived on the wedding day 2 hours early, so he could get all the shots he wanted and not to have to rush or clash with the photographers! He also stayed an extra hour in the evening to ensure he captured cutting the cake, first dance and start of the party without any bother.

Overall, we found Denis's approach to be very professional; we were very impressed with his preparation and organisation, his accommodation of our requests and the high quality of the video. It is clear that he is a brilliant videographer and he is a lovely person to work with. Additionally having two videographers really helped capture all of the special moments throughout the day and they did a great job of capturing a combination of the beautiful buildings, landscapes special moments throughout the day and all of our guests.

Flowers
The flowers provided by Stiatti Fiori were beautiful and it's clear they are very professional and talented florists. The bride and bridesmaid bouquets were absolutely beautiful and the flowers for the tables were very pretty. We added the glass hanging tea light holders to our order late, which were hung from the trees in front of the marquee, and really finished off the dinner and dancing area perfectly. Our parents' buttonholes and corsages were also really nice.

DJ
The DJ was great and we cannot believe he stayed until 4am – it was fantastic!! We provided a list of music and he did an awesome job of playing it – everyone was up on their feet dancing the whole night! We really appreciated he was happy to play our choice of music and had that he kept the party going until the early hours.
It would have been great to know he was happy to stay later as we could have arranged and paid for this up front.

Hair & makeup – Samantha & team
Samantha and her team did a great job of the hair and makeup; the bride, bridesmaids and mothers of the bride and groom all looked beautiful. They were all very professional, punctual and we appreciated that the team included an English speaker to translate! They also took the time before setting up to work out the room with the best light, which was important for the photographers and videographers as well.

I did a hair and makeup trial with Samantha 6 months before the wedding and her and her team were really sweet and accommodating. After the trial I was slightly nervous about my makeup, but I LOVED it on the day.

Distinctive Italy Weddings
We are happy we choose DIW to help us organise our wedding and appreciate the genuine efforts made to make our day the best it could be. We enjoyed working with Raffaela – who is lovely, professional, organised and patient in replying to our endless emails of questions! We were very happy to have Raffaela was present on our wedding day; in particular it was really special to have her involved in our ceremony as the translator. She also has a great relationship with the vendors and ensured everything ran smoothly and to time.

Overall the vendors were fantastic: high quality, professional and good value for money. We were also impressed that they were so flexible and accommodating of our requests, such as the DJ playing exclusively from our music list, and the videographer adapting his production style. It was reassuring to know that all the vendors were recommended by DIW and their services were being coordinated by Raffaela. The smooth running of the day is testament to the professional planning and organisation of DIW and communication with us and the other vendors.

Pippa and Josh