We did it! Ok, so we're actually halfway there. Turning over the calendar page this month not only signified the beginning of a brand new year with all the potential and renewed enthusiasm this always brings for me, but it also served as a gentle reminder that we are now exactly halfway through our year as newlyweds! These past six months have brought into sharp focus just how fast time flies in a way that's not fully possible to grasp while it's happening, save for those rare moments that makes time stop and brings everything into brief perspective. For me, our beautiful lakeside wedding in Northern Italy last summer was exactly one of those moments.
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| Beautiful Villa Rusconi Clerici |
While I still beam with joy seeing the end results of the labor of love that became our wedding planning, it seems hard to believe that it was just one short year ago we first discovered
Villa Rusconi Clerici , a picture perfect Italian villa on the shores of Lake Maggiore. True, there had been a seriously unexpected snowstorm the day we arrived. The gorgeous lake views were replaced by a heavy curtain of snow and fog, compliments of the surrounding Alps, and the little resort town of Stresa had become a literal ghost town. It also didn't help being one of only a handful of guests in a seemingly abandoned historic hotel, snowed in by a temporary blizzard that rendered our accommodations far more reminiscent of
The Shining than either Jack or I cared to acknowledge. (Despite of course entertaining ourselves endlessly with "Redrum" jokes....seriously, when would we ever actually get to use this line again?)
But they say when you meet "The One" you just know, which is exactly how we immediately felt about this amazing villa and its tranquil lakeside town. It was love. And so began a year long adventure that got me where I am today-- a wife and honorary Brit (minus the cool accent) with a new passport and new country to start making home.
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| Site checks of wedding locations in the snowstorm |
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| View from inside Villa Clerici |
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| Overlooking Lago Maggiore from our Grand Hotel des Iles Barromees |