Last month, together with my team, we had the honor of being able to do a stylized photo shoot at the historic villa, Dimora Ghirlandaio. Located in the Florentine hills, this recently restored luxury villa used to be the summer estate of the famous Renaissance painter, Domenico Ghirlandaio- recall that Michelangelo apprenticed at his studio.
Taking inspiration from Ghirlandaio's works, particularly his family's origins as a gold and silver smiths, we created a winter wonderland table scape incorporating Florentine silver accents as well as Florence's symbol, the Fleur di Lys. From our research of Renaissance still life painting, we imagined the sumptuous table Domenico Ghirlandaio would have set to entertain his noble guests and then gave it some modern, whimsical touches, like the little porcelain swallows that peep out from behind our silver tea lights. We used dark elderberries and black grapes as the organic element of the table, contrasting them with the winter whites of our florals. We then used rich fabrics to shade from dusty blues to silvery grays, creating contrast and sparkle on our wintery table fit for a Renaissance feast. To keep things fresh and modern, the cake was designed with geometric inlays which shaded from silver to dusty blue. In Ghirlandaio's chapel, completely frescoed by the master himself, we chose a very understated arrangement of whites, greens, fall foliage and elderberries, in order to allow the delicate nature of Ghirlandaio's work to shine through.
*Regarding the budget, I see that you would like a break down by vendor, but the truth is that most of the vendors supplied their services for free. Would you like me to supply an approximation of what those services would cost were it a wedding, rather than a stylized shoot?
Photographer: 3500 euro
Villa: gifted for shoot
Florals: 1500 euro
MUA: 500 euro
Cake: gifted for shoot
Event styling: gifted for shoot
Stationary: gifted for shoot
Dress: gifted for shoot