I still can't believe I get to write this. I'M MARRIED!!! 🥹
On October 21, 2026, I married my favorite person at the most beautiful villa in Sicily, Italy. And because apparently planning a destination wedding in another country wasn't enough, I decided I was going to design and create all of our wedding flowers myself.
As a wedding florist, I've spent years creating beautiful flowers for other brides. I've seen their reactions, watched their visions come to life, and been a part of some of the most special days of their lives.
But this time, I was the bride AND the florist.
And let me tell you, it was an experience. 😂
A Romantic Destination Wedding in Sicily
When we started planning our wedding, I knew I wanted something intimate, romantic, and completely us.
We found the most incredible villa in Partanna, Sicily, surrounded by olive trees and the beautiful Sicilian countryside. It was everything I had imagined for our wedding day.
We wanted to celebrate with our closest family and friends, have an outdoor ceremony, enjoy an amazing Italian dinner, and spend the evening together under the Sicilian sky.
And of course, I wanted flowers. A LOT of flowers.
I've always loved romantic, editorial floral design. Full, lush arrangements, beautiful movement, soft colors, and flowers that feel like they're growing naturally around you.
For our wedding, I wanted to take everything I love about floral design and create something I had never done before.
Designing My Dream Wedding Flowers
I had a very specific vision for our wedding flowers. Soft pinks, creamy whites, garden roses, hydrangeas, orchids, and just enough greenery to make everything feel natural.
I wanted the flowers to be the statement.
Our ceremony design centered around an oversized, asymmetrical floral arch filled with hydrangeas, roses, orchids, and clouds of baby's breath. I wanted it to feel romantic, almost like the flowers had taken over the entire structure.
We also created ten large floral arrangements to line the ceremony aisle, with additional floral clouds welcoming guests into the space.
And I wasn't interested in creating a traditional, perfectly symmetrical aisle. I wanted movement, different heights, and flowers spilling into the walkway.
The entire design was meant to feel abundant, airy, and a little wild.
For my bridal bouquet, I chose garden roses in the prettiest shades of blush and pink. I wanted something romantic and slightly asymmetrical that complemented my lace wedding dress without competing with it.
Every flower was chosen intentionally, and seeing them all together was something I had dreamed about for months.
When Your Wedding Flowers Arrive at 1 AM...
Okay, here's where things got a little crazy.
We had planned for our flowers to arrive in Sicily with plenty of time to prep, hydrate, and create everything before the wedding.
Well, that didn't happen. 😂
A transportation strike disrupted our flower delivery, and suddenly thousands of stems were stuck in a warehouse on mainland Italy.
I'm talking about the flowers for our entire wedding.
My husband, Oussama, knew how much these flowers meant to me. And without me even having to ask, he started figuring out how to get them.
He flew to Naples, arranged for a friend to drive a van down from Pesaro, picked up the flowers, and brought them all the way to Sicily.
A plane, a van, a ferry, and a whole lot of determination later, our flowers finally arrived around 1 AM on the morning of our wedding.
I genuinely don't think I've ever loved him more.
So there I was, a bride with thousands of flowers to arrange and only a few hours until I was supposed to walk down the aisle.
Not exactly how I imagined my wedding morning going. 😂
But we did it.
Creating Our Luxury Wedding Floral Arch
This was the part I was most excited about.
Our ceremony arch was designed to be a huge, romantic statement piece. I wanted the flowers to feel like they were growing around us, with large clusters of hydrangeas, garden-style roses, delicate orchids, and airy baby's breath.
We used layers of flowers to create depth and movement, rather than spreading every bloom evenly throughout the arch.
The result was full, dramatic, and still soft and romantic.
The ceremony aisle was just as important to me. Ten lush floral meadows framed the walkway, creating the feeling of walking through a garden.
After the ceremony, we repurposed some of our floral arrangements around our sweetheart table for dinner by the pool.
One of my favorite memories from the entire day was watching Oussama help create the flowers for our sweetheart table.
He's not a florist. He didn't know anything about floral mechanics when we started this adventure. But there he was, helping bring my vision to life.
I don't think I'll ever forget that.
A Wedding Day I'll Never Forget
Was everything perfect? Absolutely not.
It was windy. Some of the little details I'd spent months planning went right out the window. Literally. 😂
We had last-minute changes, unexpected challenges, and a wedding week that I don't think either of us could have imagined.
But none of that mattered once the day began.
We were surrounded by people we love, celebrating the beginning of our marriage in the most beautiful place.
The flowers were everything I had dreamed of, but the best part of the day had absolutely nothing to do with flowers.
It was marrying Oussama.
It was seeing our families together. It was all the little moments I didn't plan. And it was realizing that after everything it took to get there, we were finally married.
It was genuinely the best day of my life.
From Utah to Italy: Destination Wedding Floral Design
Creating the flowers for my own destination wedding was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career.
I've always loved designing large-scale floral installations, but this wedding pushed me creatively and logistically in ways I never expected.
It also reminded me exactly why I love what I do.
Flowers have the ability to completely transform a space. They create an atmosphere, bring a vision to life, and become part of the memories you carry with you long after the wedding is over.
Now that I'm based in Italy, I'm so excited to bring my floral design experience to more destination weddings throughout Italy while continuing to design weddings in Utah and the United States.
Whether you're dreaming of a romantic wedding in Sicily, a beautiful Italian villa celebration, or an editorial floral installation back in Utah, I'd love to hear what you're envisioning.
Planning a destination wedding in Italy or a wedding in Utah?
I'd love to create something beautiful with you.
Inquire with The Floral Studio
With love from Italy,
Alison 🤍