I feel like I’ve been in a whirlwind lately…in a good way. I have a passion for travel, and since July I’ve visited 5 countries (Spain, Morocco, Poland, Italy and Mexico), three of those, for weddings. After my wedding in Zakopane, Poland, I was asked to travel with Donnie and Carla to Tuscany for their wedding in the very tiny town of Certaldo. What a fantastic trip that was! I traveled solo and had a few days in Florence before the ceremony, so I had a chance to see much of what I hoped to see there (Brunelleschi’s dome and the Duomo, Michelangelo’s David, the Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio and even Michelangelo and Galileo’s tombs), and later managed quick day trips to Rome, Pisa and San Gimignano. I then planted myself in Certaldo close to the ceremony site so that I could scope out the location. What I found was a photographer’s paradise! Certaldo is a small Tuscan town about 30 -minutes north of Sienna. Perched high on a hill above Certaldo and overlooking the town is a Medieval Castle known as Certaldo Alto. You can hike up the steep walkway or ride the venicular up to the top for fine dining, great wine and fantastic views of Tuscany. There were way too many settings for portraits on the hilltop; stone walls, brick walls, gorgeous arched doorways, cobblestone streets and arched tunnels, old wooden doors and ivy covered walls. Everywhere I turned I saw a photogenic backdrops. In fact, much of Italy makes for photogenic backdrops! Here are a few of my favorites from Donnie and Carla’s wedding celebration.
