“We’re simple people: a wannabe Italian mafia boss and his boss wife. That’s where the whole inspiration for our wedding came from,” said bride and nailed it. Madalina and Andi’s day runs from a gold leaf Orthodox crowning to a reception that turns decadent after sundown, hushed and sacred one minute, loud and a little wild the next. Costin Fetic captured their day perfectly.
Location: Tuscany, Italy
Style: Romantic, Editorial, Cinematic
Time of planning: 2 years
Number of guests: 200
Setting: Church and Ballroom
Season: F all
Before any of this, there were a few parties at her cousin’s place and a lot of glances that never turned into a conversation. Madalina had mostly stopped expecting the simple, real kind of love by the time Andi worked up the nerve to actually speak to her at a birthday party. Then, in their own telling, a complicated and twisting story followed.
The proposal runs on that same improvised energy. In the summer of 2023 the couple was on holiday in Lefkada, where Andi wanted to propose and had absolutely no ring to do it with. He spent half a day tearing through every little shop in town looking for something worthy of her and came back empty handed. So he waited until they were home, hung the ring around her dog’s neck, and asked her in the kitchen.
Bride's Morning & Fashion
The morning stayed close and unhurried. The details the bride chose all lean the same direction, away from anything soft or expected. Her scent for the day was Initio Oud for Greatness, saffron and oud and a touch of arrogance, a bolder call than the florals most brides reach for and a decent tell about how she wanted to walk into a room. Underneath the dress sat pointed Amina Muaddi heels, and the jewellery came from Teilor, kept sharp rather than fussy.
The dress is Antonia Nae couture, lace worked from the bodice down, off the shoulder, with a sheer corset front and gloves running past the elbow. She had a second version of the look too, a high neck illusion lace that closes the throat completely and sends the veil down the back, a Victorian idea dropped into a very current silhouette. Ioana Persinaru and the Bassam Concept Salon team kept the makeup clean and pulled the hair into a low centre parted bun with nothing loose, the balletcore discipline that has owned the runways for a few seasons.
Groom’s Fashion
Andi started the morning with his groom’s party around him, and it played like an occasion of its own, cigars going, strong liquor poured, the easy energy of a men’s club before noon.
He got two looks and both of them work. The black tuxedo with a satin shawl lapel carries, and the ivory dinner jacket over black trousers and a black bow tie takes the reception, the exact costume old Hollywood kept for the man who knew a party was coming. The suiting is Antonia Nae, the same house as the dress, with shoes by Seroussi and a boutonniere tied back to the designer.
First Look
Andi had made a point of never seeing the dress, wanting his reaction to be the real thing rather than a rehearsed one. The first look delivered on exactly that, both of them crying the second they actually saw each other. It is one of the few genuinely unplanned beats a wedding day still allows, and this one landed!
Ceremony
The religious ceremony pulls the day into a different register entirely. Choosing an Orthodox crowning over something modern says plenty about what the day was built on. The stefana mark the two of them as king and queen of their own home, a piece of ritual that has run for centuries and does not bend to trends. Set against the celebration that comes later, this stretch stays upright and reverent, the one part of the day nobody tried to turn up.
There is a specific gold in a painted Orthodox interior that fashion keeps trying to borrow, the kind Klimt chased for a whole period of his work. Standing under it in matching crowns, surrounded by family in a space built long before either of them arrived, the couple handed the celebration its anchor. Everything that gets going after nightfall earned its footing here first.
Moments Together
Out in the countryside the film the couple leaned on finally shows up on screen. The portraits move through cypress alleys, a terracotta oil jar taller than the box hedges, a weathered garden statue, and a loggia opening onto the Val d’Orcia going gold at the far edge, the exact Tuscan frame Call Me by Your Name and half a century of Italian summers taught everyone to want. Costin Fetic shot these with the low autumn sun doing most of the lighting, one couple walking a stone path below a hilltop villa, another wrapped together under a willow in black and white, the flare coming straight off the horizon.
"The best moments are the ones you don't have to orchestrate, and this day was full of them."
Cocktail hour matched the setting instead of fighting it. Guests arrived to a Limoncello Spritz built for golden hour and a Negroni held in reserve for later, drinks that taste like the place. The whole evening started relaxed, everyone already holding a glass and looking out at the hills before dinner had even been called.
Reception
For the reception Idyllic Events filled a white columned room with monstera, areca palm and philodendron towering over mass white blooms. The theme held down to the smallest object, a painted monstera leaf shaped into the menu card itself and laid on the charger over full silver service, so the print threaded from the table straight up into the room.
Music was the part the couple refused to hand off to autopilot. Instead of a standard band slot they brought in artists they actually love, Luna Band by Adi Cristescu alongside Jorge and Pepe, before the night slid into a DJ set without ever feeling like a switch got flipped. Their first dance was Mystery of Love by Sufjan Stevens, played for intimacy rather than spectacle, and the toasts stayed short and personal, a little humour and a few real pauses. By the read of the room, and by their guests calling it the best party of their lives, that plan worked.
A long table of French patisserie in green and cream, macarons and choux and opera slices, sat a world away from the actual cake, which stayed barely frosted with fresh fruit and soft cream tones. Later a copper toned vintage car pulled up and the couple poured a coupe tower in the dark, Andi working the bottle while Madalina reached across the glasses, about as close to a Gatsby closing shot as a real couple gets.
"Every feeling we've ever carried poured into a single day, the day we celebrated our love."
Advice from the couple:
• What made it even more special was having our child by our side on the most beautiful day of our lives, from the very begging, to the almost very end.
PHOTOGRAPHER Costin Fetic | PLANNING Pretty Great Weddings | VENUE Villa Poggiano | FLORALS & DECOR Idyllic Events | MUAH Ioana Persinaru, Bassam Concept Salon, Ionut Hair | DRESS Antonia Nae | BRIDE’S SHOES Amina Muaddi | JEWELRY Teilor | GROOM’S SUIT Antonia Nae | GROOM’S SHOES Seroussi | MUSIC Luna Band by Adi Cristescu, Jorge, Pepe
