After the delicious Italian wedding reception, you have to cut the Italian wedding cake, do your first dance and PARTY!
Cutting the cake
Once dinner finishes it’s time to move to the party but before you can hit the dance floor you need to cut the cake. In Italy, the Italian wedding cake is traditionally a millefoglie or thousand layer cake. It consists of many layers of fine pastry with a Chantilly-style cream between them and on top they put fruits of the forest. If you prefer a more traditional wedding cake there are plenty of specialist cake makers that can make a cake with tiers and icing with your preference of style and design.
You can decorate the table or area where you cut the cake to make it even more beautiful, flowers and candles don’t cost much but make a huge difference to the aesthetics. It’s quite common at the moment for people to light sparklers during the cake cutting.
As well as having a wedding cake quite often there will also be a dessert buffet. This offers other delicious Italian desserts, mini cakes, chocolate fountains and crowd favorites like tiramisu! Often it is also accompanied by a coffee corner for those that would like an espresso before starting the party. A very elegant solution is to offer some sweet dessert wine which many haven’t tried but everyone likes.
The first dance or dances
The first dance traditionally takes place after you cut the cake but I see couples having their first dance whenever they want. I have seen it at the start of the reception and during it and even during the co*cktails. However, most people still have it at the end of the evening before the party. For my American clients, it is also common for them to have the father-daughter dance and the mother-son dance. I love these dances as the parents are often so emotional!
If you need to bustle your dress before you dance so you can move more freely then make sure the people that are going to bustle it for you know how to do it. It’s worth practicing once or twice before the wedding as it’s not much fun having to go to your room and stay there for 20 minutes as someone figures out how to bustle the dress – you will be missing the party!
Some dresses bustle better than others and some don’t look very nice when they are bustled. So while you are choosing the dress you may want to check how your dress bustles.
The Party
My photography of the party is purely documentary. I am there to capture people having fun and the atmosphere. Earlier in the day, we did the group photos, these usually include the parents, relatives and bridal party, and often we don’t have time to include other people. However, later in the evening you can take more photos with your friends as you are having fun!
If you are having any surprises then make it a surprise for someone but not for the photographer! So if you have organized a surprise fireworks display let me in on the secret so I am ready for the photos.
My photography of the party is purely documentary. I am there to capture people having fun and the atmosphere. Earlier in the day, we did the group photos, these usually include the parents, relatives and bridal party, and often we don’t have time to include other people. However, later in the evening you can take more photos with your friends as you are having fun!
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Stunning Wedding Receptions
Here is a collection of images of Italian wedding reception themes, decor and ideas. I love photographing all sort of events and themes from the over the top extravagant, to rustic chic, modern, elegant and understated it doesn't matter what the mood I love to photograph the colors, textures and shiny twinkly stuff!
Portfolios & Advice For Each Part Of Your Wedding
Discover inspiration and expert tips to perfect every detail, from the "I do" to the final dance, in these comprehensive wedding photography portfolios.
Italy wedding locations photos
Bride getting ready photos
Intimate portraits – couple photo session
Destination wedding details – wedding details pictures
Italy wedding ceremony photos – photographing the wedding ceremony
Italian wedding reception themes, decor and ideas
Groom getting ready photos
Italian wedding cake, first dance and party
Heartfelt Testimonials
Explore rave reviews from treasured clients. Find out why couples are over the moon about their wedding photography experience.
Jules handled our photography in Florence for our wedding. The photos came out PERFECT and more than we could imagine!!!! We worked with him prior to the wedding from the USA via email and zoom and everything went off ........
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Paul Wegert
Paul Wegert
Jules handled our photography in Florence for our wedding. The photos came out PERFECT and more than we could imagine!!!! We worked with him prior to the wedding from the USA via email and zoom and everything went off great!!! The only thing I would have done differently was to hire his wife also as a wedding planner. I thought it was going to be easier and it would have saved me a few grey hairs!!!
Don’t think twice about hiring Jules – everyone I spoke to kept asking “How did you find Jules? He is the best”
THANKS A MILLION Jules!!!
I can more than recommend Jules as a high-end wedding photographer.His photos are in a flawless quality and every single picture is worth framing, which makes it really hard to choose.He is a gentle character, you ........
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Franzisca Ulrich
Franzisca Ulrich
I can more than recommend Jules as a high-end wedding photographer.
His photos are in a flawless quality and every single picture is worth framing, which makes it really hard to choose.
He is a gentle character, you will not notice most of the time (during ceremony or while speeches) but will give you instructions for the posing to obtain a perfect result.
The reworked pictures arrived in less than two weeks, and if you think that might be short to do a good job let me reassure you, that Jules does simply not have to use thousands of filters for his photos.
He works so beautifully with the light and his equipment, that all photos are stunning and the reworked photos are only the final polish.
I would describe Jules as an absolute perfectionist in his job and that is what you get, the perfect pictures for your perfect day.
A wedding experience is one of the most amazing yet stress inducing moments of one's life and it passes like a flash.Whether you like it or not, one's choice of photographer is up there in importance in many ways with ........
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Sam Stylianou
Sam Stylianou
A wedding experience is one of the most amazing yet stress inducing moments of one’s life and it passes like a flash.
Whether you like it or not, one’s choice of photographer is up there in importance in many ways with your Best Man on the day because his or her role is both to beautifully capture as many of the awesome moments that pass that you and your partner will of course miss because you are talking, dancing, eating, laughing, crying, etc and doing so whilst effectively corralling your crowd through the stages of the events, in a way that reassures and relieves you of the task.
Jules was always kind, funny, smiling, serious when needed, organised, in control without ever being overbearing, and we are now left with images just as special as those days to remember them by.
If we had to do any of it again, it would not be without Jules.
Jules instilled a sense of ease, confidence, and fun in each area from the organization and timing of our wedding day all the way through the beautiful finished product he offered us. A true professional in every ........
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Robert Yeilding, Psy.D.
Robert Yeilding, Psy.D.
Jules instilled a sense of ease, confidence, and fun in each area from the organization and timing of our wedding day all the way through the beautiful finished product he offered us. A true professional in every sense.
He knew when to offer more presence and helpful humor, as well as when to create space for the moment to unfold. Would highly recommend and hope to work with him again someday!
Jules provided the most unbelievable experience of our lives! If I could provide a 10 star review, I would. Jules supported me in planning every aspect of our elopement abroad.I was lost as to what location would best ........
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Kaely Ferrara
Kaely Ferrara
Jules provided the most unbelievable experience of our lives! If I could provide a 10 star review, I would. Jules supported me in planning every aspect of our elopement abroad.
I was lost as to what location would best provide the vibe we were hoping to achieve, and I fully entrusted Jules in leading the way. We were blown away with how our event turned out. Friends and family have all shared that the photos from our special day are extraordinary and truly encapsulate the emotion we experienced that day.
To see our friends and family become emotional while viewing our photos gives evidence to how gifted Jules really is. Jules has challenged the notion that family and friends have to “be there to experience it”.
My husband and I were completely at ease and we were able to focus our attention on being present with one another. Jules kept the day fun and allowed us to bring our own personalities to the table, while also offering enough structure to ease our nerves. His recommendations around where to stay and who could style my hair were top notch recommendations.
I can not stress enough how much I would recommend Jules to others. If you are searching for unforgettable photos- Jules is your guy.
Jules was great to work with - he was extremely focused and helpful and knew exactly what to do to get the right shots.The quality of the photos are fantastic and the turnaround time was exceptional - we had over 200 ........
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Claire Willco*ck
Claire Willco*ck
Jules was great to work with – he was extremely focused and helpful and knew exactly what to do to get the right shots.
The quality of the photos are fantastic and the turnaround time was exceptional – we had over 200 photos of the day within 4 days of the wedding and the remainder (about 2000) within a week.
Thank you Jules!!
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