Luxury Wedding Workshop in Lake Como Italy
Italian Photography & Design Wedding Workshop in Lake Como
With much excitement we are proud to announce L’Arte del Martrimonio, a luxury photography and design workshop being help November 11- 15 on the shores of Lake Como, Italy. Brought to you by Alchemy Fine Events, we are offering photography students the chance to learn under the talented shutterbugs Jana Williams and Mike Larson and designers and planners to learn under the direction of Vanessa Van Wieren of Alchemy Fine Events with beautiful styling and florals by Krista Jon and Archive Rentals. In addition to these creative talents we are also very excited to announce that Rebecca Crumley, photo editor of The Knot Magazine will be there to critique, trend forecast and talk about how to get published in this competitive market.
Students will be staying at the luxurious Hotel Imperiale and shooting at the incredible Villa Passalacqua, vacation home to Elton John, Victoria & David Beckham to name a few, in addition to outdoor and lake locations. Student’s will get to work with each teacher in smaller groups as well to learn not only technical skills but also how to communicate more clearly with each other as the designer photographer relationship is crucial. We also be offering specialized breakaway groups such as boudoir shooting with Jana and portraits with Mike while planners and designers will be able to talk about the details the clients love, styling tips and tricks and walking through the creative process with ultimate goal being client success and of course getting published! Students will get to work with an incredible level of talented models and couture fashion designers such as the swoon-worthy gowns by Galia Lahav and other beautifully crafted works of art.
While staying at Hotel Imperiale breakfast, lunch, aperitivo and dinners will be held in group settings for more one-on-one teacher time for Q&A over dining as well as glamourous styled dinners each evening with a black tie gala the last evening to wrap up the week.
What Vanessa will talk about…
With a plethora of creative details going into each of my events people always ask where do I even start this tedious process? The creative process is far too often taken for granted and really should be a methodical practice of starting with creativity and letting your visions soar as a whole before starting the smaller details. Approaching each event from a creative direction standpoint rather than coordination of smaller details not only will allow you to expand your creative vision but allow you to communicate visually with your clients and vendors.
In addition to the creative design and styling skills, I’ll be working with the photographers so that they learn to shoot with a design perspective while spotlighting each vendor involved in the wedding to ensure as much exposure for your work as possible to promote future collaborations for years to come.
What Jana will talk about…
Many people have asked me how I stand out in the wedding industry. Above all, it’s about the work. However, I have found social media and precise branding to be one of the biggest catalysts for my success. I am very excited to share my insight about developing, cultivating, and living your brand as well as specific way to use social media to get noticed and book jobs in the wedding industry.
What Mike will talk about…
Mike will have presentations and then open discussions for each topic section. We’ll chat about these concepts: “how to be different in a sea of photographers”, shooting right the 1st time, the power of specializing & unique positioning, designing your business to fit your life (with freedom), how to brand yourself, well, walk through the images a full real Mike Larson wedding, Review top mistakes most photographers make. Why and how to wow your clients.
Then we will go into the details: Lighting - Curating - Personal Style Development - Marketing/Branding - Specialization - Presentation/Perception - Simple Album Design - Pricing - Building Client Relationships - Getting published & Submitting to blogs & magazines - Advertising - Lightroom, packaging, assistants, associates - yay or nay , speedy systems for editing in Lightroom, simple workflows. How to keep having fun.
What Rebecca will talk about…
Editors and designers have tricks and needs to what gets published. In our sessions, I’ll reveal how editorial content varies from what your clients want to see. Particularly, we’ll cover telling a story with your images and the subtle differences to get your shots noticed. We’ll go behind-the-scenes analyzing photo variety and necessary data to deliver a strong submission. I’ll also share my favorite tips for perfectly styled shots.
The chance to shoot inside of the famous Villa Passalaqua is like non other.. With masterpieces hanging on the walls and the history of famous composers in its past this is truly an opportunity like non other and would be in invaluable addition to any portfolio. Please view more images of this historic gem below and visit L’Arte del Matrimonio for more details.
Ci vediamo in Italia!!!
Education to Destination: Italy Wedding Workshop by Alchemy Fine Events & Claudine Grin at Tenuta di San Giusto
 Italy Wedding Workshop Student Spotlight: Claudine Grin
One of my favorite part about designing for the Mike Larson Italy Wedding Workshop every year is getting to see how fantastically different each student’s interpretation of my design work is. Each person, and artist especially, sees life through a fresh set of eyes and that definitely holds true in the case of photographers.
Claudine Grin is a wedding photographer based in France that definitely blew me away with her soft and romantic style that captures light in such a delicate way. Her colors, softness of skin and almost dreamlike quality is one that I absolutely adore. If you are planning a wedding in Italy, wedding in France, or wedding in Europe for that matter, she should be a definite consideration to capture your big day.
See more of Claudine’s photos (along with our next student spotlight star) featured on 100 Layer Cake here!!!
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Photography by Claudine Grin
Art Direction, Design, Styling, Flowers & Stationery: Vanessa Van Wieren of Alchemy Fine Events
The Luxury Villa: Tenuta di San Giusto
Fashion Styling: Stefania Warren
Bridal Fashion & Accessories: BHLDN
Groom Fashion: Zara Men
Bride Model: Carolina Rosini
The Italy Experience: STYLEshop 2012 Tuscany Workshop with Mike Larson & Vanessa Van Wieren
With a tremendous amount of honor and excitement we are pleased to announce our first STYLEshop this June in Sienna, Italy with Mike Larson. The Italy Experience will be featured a luxury villa Tenuta di San Giusto located in Gaiole in Chianti. Owned by a dear friend, I used to frequent this gorgeous location on the weekends during my time living in Florence and completely fell in love with its charm. I have been dreaming of doing an event here and am so excited to go back and bring other talented aspiring designers and photographers with me this time to capture its elegance and charm for us to share with destination brides.
Mike will continue to work with photographers on this workshop but we are now opeing the invitation to event planners and wedding coordinators as well! After working as an art director for many years before branching off into event design, I felt that my experience working in a commercial environment helped me tremendously in the event design world. With this workshop I aim to not only work on styling tips, resourcefulness and creative ways to pull inspiration into your events, but how to work closely with photographers to make sure that each frame is curated and styled picture perfect. With a passion for food, interior design, traveling and fine arts, I want to showcase how to tie all of these passions into your events while also gaining the exposure needed to showcase your talents.
Read more details on what the workshop offers to planners & photographers listed here.
Join us for the workshop and then stay for the authentic Italian cooking class on the last day!
Photography by Mike Larson
