Reasons to get married during weekdays and why to avoid Saturdays & Sundays part six

Public church/religious ceremony schedules are naturally heavier during the weekends. Priests, Churches and Civil ceremony grounds are extremely busy on Saturdays and Sundays and usually take on double bookings. This means often you can be (diplomatically) rushed out of a church/religious location after your service, as another ceremony is waiting to start. Choosing a weekeday avoids this problem and also gives you more chance of finding your first choice of Church or Religious venue grounds.

Reasons to get married during weekdays and why to avoid Saturdays & Sundays part five

Hotels, Bed & Breakfasts and Residences are also more likely to have availability for both yourselves and your guests during the week. This is particularly important if you have a large guest list, and are looking to create a holiday group feeling, with all your guests staying in the same hotels and close by to you. Some places also offer group booking specials, and considering a week day might help you to get all your guests into the same places.

Reasons to get married during weekdays and why to avoid Saturdays & Sundays part four

There are more and cheaper flights available. This isn't as silly as it sounds. Especially for those who are looking for flight availability on the low cost airlines like Easyjet, Ryanair and Flybaboo. Flight schedules with these airlines are often operated Monday - Friday, and during these days great flight deals can be found. It is important to consider this especially for your guests, who will be travelling, to help them also keep costs down.

Reasons to get married during weekdays and why to avoid Saturdays & Sundays part three

Larger suppliers like florists, musicians and caterers that have the capacity to take on more than one booking during one day, are less likely to have double bookings during the week. Whilst this is not to say that when there is a double booking on your wedding day, your level of service is anything less than 110%, it just means that during the week you will are more likely to get 200% undivided attention.

Reasons to get married during weekdays and why to avoid Saturdays & Sundays part two

You 've chosen a weekend, but aren't an early bird that caught the worm, and then you find your dream venue, planner, florist or photographer just six months out from the big day. If they are good more than likely they will already be booked, which might break your heart. Consider a week day around the same period and you might just find your luck. Monday to Thursdays are more likely to have schedule gaps.

Reasons to get married during weekdays and why to avoid Saturdays & Sundays part one

Choosing a weekday in the beginning might seem like a crazy idea, but nowadays it really isn't that mad. If you think you can cope with a weekday, you will have access to a larger range of the best service providers. Usually weekends (especially those with public holidays tagged on either side) are booked out a year or so in advance, so if you aren't one of these early birds your choice is immediately cut in half.

A thousand flowers in one promise - Armando Malafronte

Locally and Internationally famed, Ravello Floral designer, Armando Malafronte recently reached a new level of success in the publishing of his divine book.

Armando "A magical floral designer capable of realizing magnificent floral creations", recently released his first book 'Mille fiori in una promessa'. The book, enriched with fabulous colours and floral compositions, leaves you with an inspiration and admiration for flower design that is hard to find elsewhere. It is nothing but a true reflection and appraisal of this man’s unique talent and incredible green fingers.

You think you are ugly.

Why is it that us girls have to wait till we get old and wrinkled to realise how beautiful we were? Anyway, you think you are ugly and there is nothing I can say or do to change that. You can however adapt your wedding outfit to conceal to be your worst points and accentuate your best points. It’s all about balance. For example;

You don’t like your face?

Wear a nineteen twenties box hat or a broach hair slide with a short net covering half your face. The broach can be a beautiful focal point. If you have a long neck, wear long chandelier ears, which will again draw attention away from your face.

You have flabby arms?

Flabby arms but your shoulders are your best feature? You wear something off shoulder with off shoulder drapery sleeves (1970s) or carry a delicious shawl.

You are very short?

You need a short twinkly wedding dress with slinky shoes and your hair should be worn up.

Flowers in your hair.

If you are getting married in June I do not recommend you put real flowers in your hair. By the end of the evening they will look very sad. Tiny roses seem to hold up, as long as they are not white or cream since they will go brown. Peonies are very popular but if it’s hot and they are exposed to a lot of sun they will droop. I promise. If you absolutely insist on real flowers keep them hydrated in the fridge till the very last minute. If you want orchids in your hair, I would highly recommend you look for a good quality fake variety. I know you have seen the fashion shoots with fresh flowers in their hair but those flowers only had to look good for an hour maximum. Another option is to have replacements at hand but it also means you need a hairdresser or reliable friend.

Why do Italians seem so rude?

From Rome down, Italians can be quite rude as seen from an English cultural position. It’s the great cultural divide that I married into. Italians do not like to decorate their requests and acknowledgments with pleases and thank yous. Especially if they are your friends (or work in public service.) Between friends they find it too formal and if you say thank you to a good Neapolitan friend, they will reply that there is no need for a formal thank you. They believe thank you and please are too formal for good friends who understand each other. When in Italy their apparent rudeness is just due to cultural differences so try not to take it personally.

How to order food like an Italian in Italy.

Basic Rules: Part 02

8.Ask for recommendations; Italians love giving their opinions on just about everything, but food questions will be tackled with the seriousness of a political debate. “what would you recommend?” works better than “what is good?” “Everything is good!” they will reply, like I said tread lightly food is serious business.

9.Most Italians (especially in South Italy) will have; anti-pasta, pasta, secondo, fruita, dolce and café. If you want to try so much food once in your life I recommend you don’t eat too much pasta and avoid the bread. Or you may just pop.

10.Never ever in your whole life, even if your life depends on it order a cappuccino after a big meal. Everybody in the place, who is Italian, will naturally assume that you are foreign and “don’t understand anything about food.” Unfortunately they have brainwashed me and I too now believe that milk after fish is not so hot.

1.Look for places filled with locals and ask about dishes you see passing by.

2.Try to always order local wine and often house wine which can be home made wine. It’s a little rough round the edges and lighter in alcohol but once you get the taste for it there is no going back. Especially since the price is right and the hangover is low key.

How to order food like an Italian in Italy.

Basic Rules: Part 01

1.The shorter the menu the more likely you are to get good quality fresh food.

2.The more dishes offered with ingredients, which are in season, the better the food will be.

3. In Italy ingredients, which are frozen have to be indicated on the menu, so look out for those little stars on the right.

4.Water is always ordered at the beginning of the meal, a lightly fizzy is recommended to clean the palate especially if you will be eating rich food.

5.If you start with fish or meat, you should stick with the theme or have lemon sorbet between courses.

6.Avoid anything labelled tourist menu or you will end up with fish fingers for your main.

7. It’s good to know what different areas are famous for e.g. Naples has mozzarella, Rome the Amatriciana, Tuscany has it’s Fiorentina and Genova has pesto. But these are just the obvious, Italians can be so passionate about their way of making a certain pasta that they will talk about the people in the next town who don’t know how to cook because they add onions. They will discuss these onion lovers as though they come from a far off land.