Lisa and Massimo's June 2013 wedding in Florence, Italy, was a weekend-long affair where family and friends took over the Grand Hotel Villa Cora (the setting for all of the events except the ceremony).
"We didn't have so much of a theme but rather we wanted it to be a full weekend where all our guests could get to know each other at their leisure and enjoy each other's company whilst celebrating our union," says Lisa.
"It felt like we had all our family and friends over to ours for the weekend - very intimate and personal."
The bride wore a custom-design wedding dress by Emilia Wickstead – inspired by Audrey Hepburn's iconic Sabrina dress – and the groom ditched his trad bespoke tux a week before the wedding in favour of a Dolce & Gabbana velvet smoking jacket he picked up during a lunch break, which he teamed with tuxedo trousers. "Best decision we ever made," says Lisa.
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Photographed by Paul Rogers of Rogers Pictures, the couple said their "I wills" against the gorgeous backdrop of a Catholic church outside Florence before heading over to the Villa Cora for a poolside dinner (decorated with white blooms from a local Florentine florist).
They also made every effort to make their destination wedding big day as straightforward as they could for their many international guests (in fact, all of their guests flew in from abroad!).
"We tried very hard to make it as easy as possible for everyone to enjoy our wedding weekend," explains Lisa. "From the hotel, to the location (i.e. in a city rather than on a hillside where traffic would be horrendous), we really paid attention to every small detail for our guests."
Don't miss all of the pictures from Paul Rogers in the slideshow below (as well as all of the top tips on how this couple pulled off their destination wedding!)...
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All imagery is from Paul Rogers Wedding Photography - www.rogerspictures.com