Who remembers the days when the local boy married the girl next door and the families trotted off to the local church with household gifts, such as a sterling silver tea service or the newest thing in toasters? Today’s wedding invitation often includes directions to some faraway island, or perhaps to a mountain top in Tibet where the bride and groom pledge their sometimes creative vows. Wedding guests of today have a chance to fly to these weddings in far away places, then return home with memories not only of the wedding but a wonderful vacation.

Amelia (better known as Amy), daughter of Carole and Robert Peters of Riverside, and Jason Stanislaw of Libertyville, son of Jack and Sue, invited their families and friends to Florence, Italy, to join them for the nuptials in the beautiful Tuscan hills in “Firenze.”

“Amy and Jason’s wedding on June 18 was like a true Italian wedding, among lovely beautiful gardens. The wedding itself took place in the ancient Palazzo Vecchio in Florence,” said the bride’s mother.

The couple chose Florence because it is their favorite city in the world. The happy couple has known each other for a long time, as Amy took art courses in Florence after her graduation from high school, and Jason is territory manager for Wilson Racket Sports and had organized tennis matches in that area. The wedding party stayed at the Villa Torre a Cona at San Donato in Collina, eight miles southeast of Florence.

“We hired local drivers because we couldn’t possibly drive in the mountains in daylight, to say nothing about night driving,” Carole said.

Fortunately, the groom counts among his friends some very nice people.

“We met one of Jason’s friends, the Counti Capponi, who lives in a villa and owns the winery, the Villa Calcinaia at Greve in Chianti,” Carole said. “He and his wife insisted we have the rehearsal dinner at their ancient winery, where they not only hosted a wine-tasting party, but a true Tuscan dinner that included local cuisine and the host’s special wines. The Capponi family seldom invites outsiders to enjoy dinner with them.”

The wedding took place the next day in Florence at the beautiful Palazzo Vecchio, originally built in the 14th century as the seat of the Florentine government.

Lying in the foothills of the Apennines on the Arno River, Florence is the repository of not only the glorious artwork of the Renaissance, but the results of the architectural activity that took place between the 11th and 15th centuries. Any visitor to this region of Italy makes it a point to visit Michelangelo’s “David” and “La Pieta,” as well as the Baptistry, the Medici parish church of San Lorenzo and as many of the more than 40 museums as time will allow, viewing the works of Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian and so many more.

Among those in the wedding party of 36 were the bride’s parents and her brother, Michael; Nancy Vazonnis of Riverside, who served as bridesmaid; the parents of the groom and international friends of both the bride and groom.

The happy bride and groom honeymooned in the north of Italy’s Lake Country. They stayed at Lago Maggiore near Como before returning to their home in Logan Square in Chicago.
 
Rocky Mountain wedding

“Ron and I were fully convinced we would have two of our six sons remaining confirmed bachelors,” said Meredythe Bolda upon their return from their son Dan’s wedding on July 20 in Breckenridge, Colo.

“Dan and his bride, Jennifer Malmquist of Winnetka, originally met through John Wiaduck, a mutual friend, who offered the couple a ride back to their homes from Boulder, Colo., when they were all students at the University of Colorado, Boulder some years ago,” she said.
The wedding took place outside Mountain Thunder at Maggie Pond in Breckenridge.

“There were 16 of us, including our son Ken of Lombard, who served his brother as best man, Paul, who lives in North Riverside, and Matthew, who all served as groomsmen,” Meredythe said. “John Wiaduck also served as a groomsman for his good friend, Dan, who now makes his home in the Rockies at Aurora, outside Denver, with his bride, a teacher in the Aurora school system. The bride, the daughter of Barbara Malmquist, was attended by her sister, Christina Heitman.”

The fall of another bachelor son, Matthew, came when he visited the country of Nicaragua with Wiaduck, who seems to serve as a catalyst for the marrying Boldas but has not as yet fallen from his position as bachelor.

“It was in Nicaragua that Matthew met Cesiah Vargas, who ended Matthew’s bachelor days. We attended their wedding last September in Breckenridge. They now live in Colorado,” said the happy mother.