Wedding Date: Monday 5^th August 2019

Venue: Villa Del Balbianello & Villa Regina Teodolinda

Birmingham born Laura and Jacob’s love story began after they met in September of 2007 in their home city. Both 21 and both captivated by one another, the pair spent the next 12 years travelling and scaling the globe before finally cementing their love during a trip to Jamaica that involved an exciting proposal, after 10 years together.

Yet, despite being nomads of sorts, Laura and Jacob had never experienced a landscape as rivetingly romantic as Italy, not to mention their passion for the food, and rightly so. Which is why they decided, almost immediately after the engagement, that Italy would be the country in which to breathe life into their fairy tale.

The hunt began. From Positano to Puglia they searched, but really the couple already had their hearts set on spellbinding Lake Como, after luckily stumbling upon their dream venue, Villa Del Balbianello, where their wedding ceremony was to take place.

Laura and Jacob had travelled to Northern Italy’s Lombardy region to scope out their dream venue and were so dazzled by Italy’s spellbinding villa offerings that they opted for a second venue for their wedding reception, Villa Regina Teodolinda which, some say, is the house that George Clooney couldn’t get!

And it turns out Laura’s booking of Villa Del Balbianello was utter fate as, reactivating her Pinterest account at the request of her wedding planner, she saw that the charming villa had been on her very own Dream Wedding Board all along. As Laura described it – “my Pinterest dream was becoming a reality.”

Of course, with an Italian wedding on the cards, a helping hand was needed to make dreams come to life, so Laura and Jacob chose wedding planner, Gemma from My Lake Como Wedding to work her magic. With a talent of making the couple feel at ease, the intricate details began to weave together.

Laura Ashley Butler became Laura Ashley Dutton on Monday 5^th of August 2019. They chose the date as it marked her husband’s mum’s 70^th birthday, who passed away in 2008 so that “it felt like she was with them.”

As Villa Del Balbianello is closed to the public on Mondays, the couple were able to marry earlier in the day and what a beautiful day it was. With makeup by Daniela Guanziroli The Studio, Laura looked every part the beautiful bride, ready to wed Jacob.

Reminiscing on her favourite moment, Laura, who walked down the aisle in a stunning Paloma Blanca dress, recalled it being the moment Jacob first saw her. “He never looked at me coming down the aisle, but when he did he was overcome with emotion and it hit me how special and important what we were doing was.”

For Jacob, the groom, seeing Laura in front of him at the aisle held first place as his most cherished moment from the wedding.

Vows exchanged, the couple, now married, headed to their next stunning villa (Villa Regina Teodolinda) for the reception. They travelled in style with a boat ride across the picturesque lake, which they described as ‘phenomenal’ as other boats waved and cheered their congratulations. As Laura described it, “We got to travel the lake just taking it in as man and wife. It was an amazing time alone.”

Real bride Laura looked heavenly in her precious gown and the Lake Como backdrop makes us feel like we are right there basking in the sun with the gorgeous couple. Check our their chosen dream team below.