Matt and Ila's Wedding
Dear esteemed guests,
With the wedding fast approaching, we wanted to update you on some of the final details of next week! We apologise for not being able to get all this to you sooner, but there have been so many moving parts and unexpected changes, and we needed final confirmation from a few companies first!
So without further ado...
DAYS BEFORE AND AFTER THE WEDDING
Wednesday Night, 5th July **UPDATED**
We have made a reservation at La Baita in Ceglie Messapica for 8:30pm (a beautiful town just 15 mins from Ostuni. This is the same owner as Tre Trulli but we changed the booking in order to ensure we were outdoors for the evening.
The cost will be 24 EURO per head for antipasto, pizza, fruit and beer, all in a charming outdoor ristorante with plenty of space. We thought this evening would be a great opportunity for guests to meet and get to know each other prior to the wedding day itself.
If you are interested in coming, please reach out so we can get an idea of numbers. Please also let us know if you would need a lift and/or whether you would be willing to give someone a lift and we can help arrange this for people.
Click here for the location.
Saturday Afternoon, 8th July - Beach Day (TBA)
We would like to meet our lovely guests for a final day of relaxing at a beach nearby. If you have time and are able to make it, we would love to see you before you depart again. Matthew will provide an update on this soon.
Ostuni Beach Bar
THE WEDDING DAY!
A brief outline for the day:
4:30pm - Ceremony at Cattedrale Santa Maria Assunta
7pm - Reception at Masseria Traetta
7pm - Aperitivo (Welcome drinks and canapes)
8pm - Buffet di Antipasti on Verandah and Portico
9:30 - Dining Room for Primi/Secondi, Speeches etc.
10:45pm - By the Pool for Cake Cutting
11pm - Open Bar by the Pool and DJ until 2am!
Getting up the Hill to the Cathedral
The ceremony will be held in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta at the top of Ostuni’s Historic Centre. The mass begins at 4:30pm so please arrive with enough time!
This is a beautiful location but can be difficult to access and the stoned roads are quite steep and slippery (especially in heels!). As such, we have organised for a local Calessini company to transport people from a parking area on the perimeter of the city centre up to the cathedral. We have covered the cost of this service so all you need to do is show up!
The company is called Go L'Apa and they will be taking people up to the cathedral between 3:30pm and 4:30pm and back down again after the ceremony from 5:30pm.
Locations
Pickup Point 1: Parcheggio Via Specchia (This is the main pick up point for the Calessini. For those staying outside the historic centre, it is still recommended that you get a taxi to this point as leaving your car for the night will be very costly (read taxi suggestions below). Once there, go up the stairs at the back of the parking lot to Corso Giuseppe Mazzini where you will be collected.
Pickup Point 2: For those staying closer to the cathedral (inside the historic centre), we are organising another pickup point along the route in Piazza Della Libertà (The exact location TBA). Look for the Calessini with the ribbon on the front!
Head up stairs towards back of parking lot
Meeting point along top of stairs
Ride the 'Calessini' up to the church
Getting to Masseria Traetta
After the ceremony, there is plenty of time to get to Masseria Traetta, which is just a few kilometres outside the city. Whilst official welcome drinks begin at 7pm, you are free to get there anytime before that.
Transport to the Venue
If you have hire cars and wish to drive, you are more than welcome to and there is plenty of parking at Traetta itself.
For those who would like to hire a taxi to and from the venue, we have been in extensive communication with a company called Itria's Car Rentals, who on top of providing us with our wedding car, run a substantial taxi service in the area. The owner Nicola seems to be a very genuine fellow, and keen to ensure guests who book a taxi are also catered for at the end of the night, whenever they wish to leave.
Nicola: +3939940656
Essentially, he has urged that anyone interested in this service give him a call (in English) or email him as soon as you can and pre book so that he can confirm numbers. He will keep a running list of those who have booked which he will update us with. The quote is variable: the more people who book and travel together the cheaper per person it will become. There are three possible legs you might book for:
Before Ceremony: Picked up from your hotel/Airbnb and taken to the Parking for the Calessini ride (mainly only for those staying outside the city centre)
After Ceremony: Picked up from parking station and taken to Masseria Traetta
After the reception: Picked up at the end of the night and taken back to your hotel/airbnb
Everyone who books a taxi to the venue (Traetta) will be recorded by the company to ensure that there is sufficient vehicles turning up to get people home. Obviously the cheapest options is to travel home at the same time as others, but you can book a pickup whenever you want.
Note: The advice of everyone (Ila's parents and locals) is that it is better to get picked up from home rather than leave your car at the paid station for the night, which would be unnecessarily costly. There will not be a lot of free parking around either as not only is it summer, but we somehow managed to book a wedding at the same time as the International Dolce and Gabbana high fashion festival, so things will be crowded.
The benefit of booking through this company is that you will be ensured a consistent and affordable service, as opposed to the sporadic opportunism of other companies who may prey on the lack of options.
If you want to get clarification on any of this, contact Matthew for more details!!
Masseria Traetta
Dress Code
Dress code is Formal/ Cocktail, so suits or blazers for gents and midi or maxi dresses for the ladies. Ultimately though, we want you to feel comfortable and not inconvenienced, especially as it will likely be quite warm! be assured the jackets will not be staying on all day! Having said this, even on the brutally warm days, the nights can get quite cool, so we recommend having something to put on later!
Gifts
It may sound cheesy, but you guys coming all this way is seriously the best gift we could have dreamed of. We feel so humbled and lucky that so many of you have endured the travel and expense to join us on our special day, and remember this for the rest of our lives.
Should you really wish to buy us something, a small contribution towards our dream honeymoon would be greatly appreciated. We have included bank details below only for convenience, as the typical honeymoon gift registries don't work well with currency exchange.
Bank: Commonwealth Bank Australia
Name: Matthew Sells and Ilaria Barletta
BSB: 062230
Account: 11407429
Final Words
We have created a whatsapp chat which we will use to keep every updated with any changes that happen in the lead up to and the big day itself. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to reach out so that we can be there to help you. Most of all, we hope you have an incredible time as we are absolutely going to with all of you.
Thank you from the bottom of our heart!
Love,
Matt and Ila