It’s midday, which means all Italians stop doing anything important for a few hours to just hang out and chill. I’m in Ilaria’s beautiful office where there is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful wifi, so during lunch I finally have some time to play catch up.

A few days ago, I went on my first inspection, a day in which future husband and wife go around to a bunch of different vendors to see who and what they like. Since it was a day of caterers and photographers, two of my favorite parts of a wedding, I was in heaven. 

On inspection days, vendors try to bend over backwards to please potential clients, and the wedding planners are right there alongside them. So for each and every appointment all day, we had amazing cappuccinos and wine forced upon us. It was awesome. 

My favorite caterer is one of the best in all of Italy. (I’m not going to name them, or any vendors, since it’s part of our business to find them for clients - and when I get home, I am definitely convincing all of you to get married here). These particular guys are the caterer for the likes of Lacoste, Gucci, and Salvatore Ferragamo. So, you know, no big deal. It means they’re incredibly stylish as well as delicious. 

At another caterer, we even got to test out a few dishes. I pride myself on being basically a bottomless pit when it comes to food, but Italy is testing my strength of will and stomach. After some cheeses and prosciutto, a couple different pastas made from scratch, and a delicious fancy tomato mash thing, I had no clue how people were expected to keep on eating long afterward. Oh, and lots of wine. Always lots of wine.

This caterer was also really neat, because in addition to weddings, they’re responsible for a lot of the huge public events in all of Florence’s most important and beautiful places.

Visiting a couple photographers made my heart ache a little bit, and I started to daydream, absurdly, about become a professional photographer like I used to in like the eighth grade. 

The first one we visited was a little more classic.

The second one, a little more fun and lighthearted. She has the most gorgeous old polaroid camera I have ever seen, and does a special extra service with it. 

How do people actually pick vendors? When I go through this process personally I am going to have multiple heart attacks from falling in love with absolutely everything.

We were showing around a painfully stunning couple currently living in London - he’s British, she’s Australian with Iranian parents. Ilaria (the wedding planner I’m working for, if you’ve forgotten) says one of the best parts of this job is getting to meet with people from all over the world. I know we’re going to get some Bridezillas, but these guys were truly the sweetest, and it’s just so great to be around people who are happy and in love and planning their dream wedding. They’re getting married next summer, and I’m incredibly bummed I won’t be there, because it will be amazing. Persian, English and Australian traditions and styles are all going to blend so beautifully in this very Italian celebration. The bride told us about one Persian tradition where she and her fiance, immediately after being officially married, each dip a pinky finger in a jar of honey and feed it to each other, to sweeten life. Ilaria and I swooned. 

Weddings are magical. Italy is magical.