Maria and Kalon’s incredible wedding in Florence, Italy.  The ceremony was held at CHIESA di SAN FILIPPO NERI and the reception was at Villa Poggio ai Merli.

The food, the food, the food! All I can say is the food! Maria and Kalon’s rehearsal dinner was held at Ciro&Sons in downtown Florence.

No wedding in Italy would be complete without a private wine tasting.

Maria and Kalon’s wedding celebration started off with a pool party at Villa Poggio ai Merli. The 15th century villa is set on an olive orchard in the small town of Scandicci (about 20 minutes outside of Florence).

European work/vacation extravaganza ’08!!! Over the next few days I’ll be recapping our trip, which sadly is now over… sniff, sniff. I meant to post while I was on the road, but finding wifi (and finding the time to find wifi) was a pain, and when we did Ali had to telecommute for her work.

This batch of photos is from our one free day in Florence, Italy before Maria and Kalon’s wedding. Unfortunately Ali had to wear the same clothes for 48 hours because the airline lost her suitcase, but they eventually tracked it down so she didn’t get to go on a Gucci/Prada shopping spree.

Thanks to jet lag we woke up really early and wandered around town before the masses of tourists showed up. By mid-morning we headed into the suburbs on foot to explore the quieter side of the city. The endless cobblestone streets made for a spectacular walk! Ali and I have been to heaps of museums and tourist attractions over the years, so these days we get the most enjoyment out of people watching and soaking up the everyday culture (a.k.a – eating lots of good food).