Wedding in Puglia

Your love journey to Puglia

Make your wedding a typical Apulian experience

The wedding in Puglia is a dynamic event and, at the same time, rich in ancient rituals and traditions. Apulian weddings, in fact, stand out precisely for this bond with the values of the past and the ability to always keep up with the fashion of the moment and the latest trends.

There are many Apulian couples, but also from other regions or even from abroad, who choose Puglia to get married, also attracted by the history of this region which relieves thorough its artistic and architectural beauties.

Puglia is in the heart of the Mediterranean, the European door that looks to the East. A fusion of peoples, cultures and traditions blended over the centuries, well represented by ancient Medieval castles, fortified towers, and noble villas, now exclusive places of the luxury and country chic lifestyle.

All in love with Puglia

Puglia is one of the first destinations chosen by foreign couples who decide to get married in Italy. Not by chance, in recent years there has been more and more talk of wonderful weddings that celebrities and international stars come to celebrate in our region with sumptuous parties that have also contributed to the success of Puglia in international tourism.

Who’s getting married in Puglia is spoiled for choice between the locations and landscapes available. For example, there are many couples who choose the Itria Valley, fascinated by the green expanses of olive groves and the white trulli. Even for nature lovers, Puglia becomes the protagonist of their weddings. The crystal-clear waters of Salento are the perfect location for exclusive ceremonies by the sea: the inebriating scent of salt, the lapping of the waves, the colours of the sunset in the evening, transform weddings into unique and unrepeatable experiences elsewhere. 

Nevertheless, in recent years, the sea has ceased to be the only attraction towards Puglia. The region has been rediscovered in all its entirety and beauty also in the lesser-known landscapes of the hinterland, such as the wild Murgia of Bari, the flat lines of the Tavoliere and the high and indented cliffs of the Gargano still covered by thick woods.

Imagine how wonderful is it to get married in this variegated explosion of nature!

Getting married in Puglia for great food

As we all know, Puglia is well-known for its delicious cuisine. For those who love to rediscover ancient flavours, Apulian local food is an experience of pleasure capable of involving all the five senses.

Diversity is another keyword of the Apulian cuisine: the unique flavours and aromas of tradition, refined and genuine, vary from one province to another, offering completely different gastronomic typical products even a few kilometres away from one city to another.

The many variations that the Mediterranean cuisine expresses in Puglia also characterise the wedding banquets, especially through a delicate synthesis between tradition and experimentation of the most modern gastronomy. 

An example is represented by all the dishes prepared at the time of moment during the appetizer buffet, a show cooking performance that pays homage to some of the traditional foods and the most ancient crafts once made in the village shops or even on the street. Diary art, stuffed leavened products such as panzerotto and calzone, without forgetting fish and roast meat, have also found a place in the most elegant ceremonies.

Food tradition becomes an experience, a gastronomic journey with which to cross the whole of Puglia, always with the use of local raw materials and typical products that often cannot be found in other regions. We refer to horse and cow breeds raised exclusively in Puglia, to our catch represented by the delicious seafood and to spontaneous and wild herbs still harvested by hand and then transformed into modern and gourmet dishes.

Wedding in Puglia: customs and traditions

The wedding is an ancient ceremony rich in customs, traditions and superstitions that accompany the bride before and after the wedding.

During the preparations, the bride must wear something "old" given to her by a happily married woman in order to wish her an equally happy marriage. Something “new” as symbol of happiness, success and health, and something “blue” as it is considered a lucky colour that represents loyalty and constancy.

Always according to tradition, flowers are an important element during weddings. The groom should wear, pointed to his jacket, a flower chosen among those present in the bride’s bouquet. A thin reference to the medieval tradition of the horseman who wears the colours of his dame, as a declaration of love: for example, the orange blossom that represents chastity, pureness, and beauty or more generally the red flowers to say a sincere “I love you”.

In reality, some of these traditions are not exclusive to the Apulian culture but, a careful look at our region shows us that they still survive extraordinarily strong even if mitigated by the most modern wedding trends.

Wedding in Puglia: civil or religious ritual?

Location, food, and tradition are the setting for an unforgettable wedding, but the most important aspect of any wedding ceremony is the choice of how to carry out the ritual: religious or civil?

As mentioned, traditions have a strong persistence in Puglia and the wedding in its most classical meaning is the one celebrated in the church. Also thanks to the beauty of the Apulian churches and cathedrals, mostly in a Romanesque style, the church is still an extremely popular choice capable of combining faith with historical and beautiful locations.

However, the rediscovery of Puglia with all its landscape sides has determined a fast increase in civil rituals. Once celebrated exclusively in the Municipalities, in the last years, weddings with civil rituals are celebrated in a wide range of locations: on the beach by the sea, in the open countryside, among the woods and ancient large farms and farmhouses now converted to fascinating reception halls.

And the country chic style dominates across all: elegance combines with the most traditional elements of the countryside and nature that become chic. Imported from the United States and the United Kingdom, the country chic style in Puglia has been customised with all typical elements of the region: places, flowers, and settings.

An example? A civil ritual celebrated on the gentle hills of the Murgia in a summer sunset with the shape of Castel del Monte behind it.

Olivetta, a gastronomic and country chic wedding favour

Our wedding favour is also a typical Apulian wedding gift. It is a traditional terracotta jar, once used to preserve food, oil, and wine, transformed into a modern, coloured and adaptable object that talks about Puglia with its four collections.

Each Olivetta collection is inspired by a characteristic element of the Apulian culture. For example, the Serena collection talks about the tradition of the Apulian lace, represented on each jar, sage-coloured, with the geometric and floral design typical of all those handmade laces still preserved in our homes.

The Olivetta wedding favour is a synthesis between tradition and modernity, it intersects with the most modern wedding trends and responds to the increasingly careful search for useful wedding favours that are not just a knick-knack in the homes of those who receive them.

Conclusion

The wedding in Puglia is faith, modernity, culture, great food, and tradition. If you are organizing your Apulian wedding, let yourself be inspired by this handbook and contact us to find out more about our gastronomic wedding favours.