For us at Matthew Oliver Weddings, creating a wedding weekend that felt entirely personal to Josephine and John was at the heart of the planning process. From the first welcome drinks through to the final Sunday brunch, every detail was thoughtfully considered to create a seamless experience for their guests, while allowing the beauty, energy and timeless romance of Rome to take centre stage.
The weekend began at the Six Senses Rome, nestled in the heart of the city, where guests gathered for an elegant welcome event on the rooftop terrace. It was the perfect introduction to the weekend — sophisticated, relaxed and full of beautiful food, cocktails and music — bringing everyone together before the main celebration.
The following day, the celebrations moved to Villa York, just on the outskirts of the city centre, in one of Rome’s newest wedding venues which is an incredible new addition to the city’s destination wedding scene.
With its beautiful history, architecture and expansive surroundings, Villa York provided the perfect canvas for a wedding design that was contemporary, organic and effortlessly elegant.
The design centred around a sophisticated palette of greens, whites and earthy, natural tones, creating a visual language that felt both refined and rooted in its surroundings. Lush florals, organic textures and carefully considered details complemented the architecture rather than competing with it, allowing the setting itself to remain an important part of the story.
But it was the dinner reception where the design really came into its own.
A stunning bespoke wooden structure was suspended above the dance floor, creating a dramatic architectural focal point and transforming the reception space as the evening unfolded. Its soft green tones worked beautifully alongside the botanical-inspired florals and earthy palette, bringing warmth, texture and a distinctly contemporary edge to the celebration.
For us, this is where the magic of destination wedding design lies — taking inspiration from the location, the architecture and the couple themselves, and bringing all three together to create something that could only belong to that particular wedding, in that particular place.
And, of course, a Roman wedding weekend couldn't finish without one final celebration.
Sunday brought everyone together once again for a relaxed post-wedding brunch, designed to be the perfect antidote to the festivities of the night before. Guests enjoyed a delicious BBQ, an abundance of fresh salads and, naturally, an ice cream cart — a wonderfully informal and joyful way to spend one last afternoon together before heading home.
From the elegance of Six Senses Rome to the contemporary beauty of Villa York, Josephine and John’s wedding weekend was a true celebration of love, design, destination and togetherness.
It was a privilege for us at Matthew Oliver Weddings team to bring their vision to life and to create a weekend that felt seamless from beginning to end — considered in every detail, beautifully personal and unmistakably Rome.
A wedding weekend filled with beautiful people, incredible suppliers, thoughtful design and moments that will stay with us for a very long time.
Photos by Urska and Domen
