A Wedding Abroad

Bestweddingaway is comprised of a team of highly energised, dedicated professionals. The backgrounds and skills of the team vary from marketing to sales, from tourism to accountancy, with most of the experience having been gained through working in large multinational companies. This mixture of skills works well together to ensure we offer the best possible service to our couples.

As all of our wedding planners live locally to the areas where we arrange weddings we all have an expert knowledge over the areas of Italy, Greece and the Balearic Islands in Spain for which we look after as well as speaking the local language. This local knowledge is vital in ensuring the practicalities of marrying abroad are followed as well as ensuring we get you the best deals from the local suppliers. We can also offer advice on the local customs and generally ensure through our eye for detail, that everything concerning your wedding runs smoothly and that your dream destination wedding is everything and more you hoped it to be!

Roberto - Director 

Roberto’s international experience has been obtained through senior managerial positions in large English and American multinational companies. In his last position Roberto was a Country Manager for the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese branches of an American company operating in the sports and leisure industry. This company is a market leader in its sector and its parent company is a US Fortune 500. Roberto has worked in different industries, including, medical, pharmaceutical and wellness, covering a variety of roles such as sales, marketing, sales management and, for the last ten years, general management. In these positions Roberto has held responsibility to develop new markets internationally, introduce new products into European markets, organise national and international events at a high-profile level, develop marketing and communication campaigns and provide consultancy. All these skills are brought to Bestweddingaway as Roberto has overall supervision of all weddings, selection of wedding venues and suppliers as well as promotion and advertising.

Roberto possesses a first class degree and a second-class degree, which he achieved while living in Great Britain for six years. Furthermore he has achieved a Master in Business Administration at SDA Bocconi di Milano.  Roberto is 44, has two children and lives in a beautiful village in the province of Verona by Lake Garda.

Carla – Wedding Planner: UK and Ireland 

Carla studied Broadcast Journalism at University where she honed her skills in making deadlines and keeping calm in front of the camera whilst everything around her was chaotic. After university she found herself being pulled towards sales and marketing, which led her to develop excellent people skills and client handling. In particular she enjoyed matching client wants and needs to product benefits. All of these skills have proved invaluable to the role of wedding planner at Bestweddingaway.

Carla became fascinated with weddings from a young age as her mother dealt with brides frequently for her florist business. As she got older she started to assist her with preparations and learnt a lot about the creative aspect of weddings. Carla has organised many weddings for Bestweddingaway from simple elopement weddings to big luxury weddings and enjoys the excitement each wedding brings. Her background in journalism is still utilised through working with our PR agency, keeping them updated on the latest developments and trends in the destination-wedding sector.

Carla has Italian origins, with an Italian father. She was born in Britain and moved to Italy in 2007 and started working in the wedding industry not long after her arrival in Italy. Having a good knowledge and experience of both cultures enables Carla to assist the clients in ‘closing the cultural gap’ between supplier and bride.

Her favourite part of the job is the journey she goes on with each bride, the search for the perfect venue, assisting and advising the bride on all aspects of the day and being there for any wedding related problems they may have. Being there on such an important day and being thanked from the heart at the end of the evening brings her amazing satisfaction. Her top tip for anyone looking to get married abroad is to pick up the phone and speak to a wedding planner – a five minute conversation makes all the difference in getting to know your wedding planner and feeling at ease with her.

Emma – Wedding Planner: Tour Operators, Eastern Europe and US

Emma has worked in Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management since 1998 and is currently studying for a post-graduate certificate in Events Management. She was born in the North East of England and has lived in Croatia as well as Italy since 2003. Having worked and travelled all across Italy she is very knowledgeable about different areas that couples want to get married in.  She is fluent in Italian and therefore able to communicate with suppliers to ensure everything is done exactly as requested and that we get the best possible deal for couples.

With excellent knowledge of British wedding trends and Italian culture she is able to bring a wealth of knowledge to couples to ensure they have a unique and memorable day. She is also on hand to explain the small differences in planning an Italian wedding as well as having a passion for all things Italian; the culture, traditions, and not forgetting the wonderful food and wine.

Emma’s hobbies include travelling, yoga, swimming and skiing, which she fits in around her studies and work.

Emma loves organising and planning weddings and is extremely patient.  Emma’s aim is to create an unforgettable day for the bride and groom and their guests. Her top tip for any couple is to clearly communicate your dreams and inspiration for your special day in order for your wedding planner to make them come true.

Anna – Wedding Planner, Amalfi Coast Specialist

Anna was born in Ravello where she still lives with her husband and 2 children. She is very proud of her region and has detailed knowledge of the whole Amalfi Coast, from the most famous and well-known areas, to the most secret and treasured corners.

She has worked in the Tourism industry for many years assisting mainly British tour operators organising holidays on the Amalfi Coast. She started to coordinate weddings in 1998 and since then has developed a fantastic knowledge which she uses to aid couples in planning their dream wedding in Italy.  The Amalfi coast and especially her native town Ravello have given her the chance of working with some truly elaborate events of famous movie stars and also with simple romantic weddings.

With Anna’s expertise and knowledge she will guide you throughout the wedding planning process to ensure everything is fully under control. Her passion in being there for her couples at all times ensures the success of the event.

Anna’s experience as a wedding planner will ensure you feel comfortable and relaxed, resulting in a truly unforgettable day.

Katharina – Wedding Planner: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia

Katharina was born and raised in Austria and studied Tourism and Management in Innsbruck. Following her studies she worked at the Congress Centre in Innsbruck as the Event Manager where she honed her excellent people skills. She also developed her language skills and speaks 5 languages fluently: German, English, Italian, French and Slovenian.  

Having been fortunate enough to travel to many countries over the years as well as having lived in Austria, Slovenia, France, Switzerland and Italy, Katharina is acutely aware of the differences in cultures and traditions. Now living in Italy, Katharina supports couples looking to get married in Italy and brings an eye for attention to detail to her weddings. She enjoys being a wedding planner as her passion is in organising unforgettable events. She loves the creative aspect of the job and loves to come up with innovative ideas to ensure that couples have a wedding day abroad that they will never forget. Her motto for couples is nothing is impossible!

Her top tip for couples looking to get married in foreign countries is to utilise a local wedding planner. This will ensure that the preparations go smoothly and the couple are not driven crazy or stressed out by the bureaucracy required to get married overseas.

Katharina’s hobbies including skiing, horse riding, sailing, mountain biking, trekking, running, and gardening - she is always on the go!

Carole – Wedding Planner: Spain and the Balearic Islands

Originally from the UK, Carole first encountered the island of Mallorca on holiday where she immediately fell in love with the island and decided on working there.

Her professional background has been diverse working as a hotel receptionist, management secretary, holiday rep, store manageress, estate agent, eventually moving on to hold a top management position in one of the largest privately owned commercial airlines based in Spain.

Having been head hunted to work as a Commercial & Marketing Director she took the bold move in 2001 was to start up her own consultancy company serving the airline industry which she is still involved in today.

Over the 35 years of living in Mallorca, Carole has acquired a wealth of knowledge both commercially and locally which she has found to be vital in wedding planning.

Her involvement in weddings and being an events planner arose after helping a number of friends and commercial acquaintances with arrangements for weddings, product launches, incentive programmes, holiday villas etc. Her organisational skills, attention to detail and passion ensure each couple have the overseas ceremony they dreamed of in Mallorca.

Carole speaks fluent Spanish, and has good knowledge of Catalan, French and German.

Joanna – Wedding Planner: Santorini, Greece

Joanna began her career in Greece’s hospitality industry in the hotel Food and Beverage departments, and soon fell in love with event planning. It was her dream to provide a full wedding and event planning service to clients. Joanna quickly became known as a leading event designer and planner in the Cyclades and the islands of North East Aegean.

Joanna brings over 15 years of experience to the industry, as she began her event planning endeavours at a young age.  When she was nineteen she began working as a waitress at weddings and special events and throughout college she was able to design several weddings. Determined to incorporate the creative finer details, floral and event design were very quickly added to her repertoire of skills.

Joanna is native Greek from Chios Island and has been living in Santorini the last two years. Her passion for travelling, together with her extensive knowledge of the Greek islands have recently earned her a Master’s Degree in Tourism Management.

Joanna uses her eye for detail, love of style, passion for beauty, commitment to excellence and unparalleled work ethic to define and interpret the style of each couple. From this she then creates timeless celebrations that are forever remembered.

Claire – Websites & Social Media coordinator

Claire studied Accountancy and Management at University and is a qualified accountant. Having worked largely in the retail sector she has managed large multinational projects requiring excellent communication, planning and attention to detail. Her recent roles in senior management for one of the leading UK retailers saw her manage a large team and devise future financial strategy for the organisation.

With her varied skill set she has recently taken on responsibility for the Bestweddingaway websites and social media content.

Claire moved out to Italy last year with her family and having recently got married herself in Italy she cannot recommend getting married overseas enough! Her top tips would be: firstly make sure you are relaxed and able to enjoy your wedding by letting someone else take the strain of doing the planning. Secondly don’t try to replicate a UK wedding too much, embrace the local culture and traditions to bring a unique feel to your day.

For any PR related enquiries please contact Nicola at Propose PR in London:

www.proposepr.com

enquiries@proposepr.com