One Couple's Two Beautiful Weddings in Italy

When Margherita Cardelli met Gerardo Cavaliere, it was amore at first sight. "Of course it was," laughs Margherita, a Rome-based fashion consultant. "Have you seen my husband? He's very handsome." Well-dressed, too. Whether in the office or on his motorcycle, Gerardo, a lawyer from Salerno, exclusively wears custom handmade attire. "He doesn't even own a pair of jeans," Margherita says. "He's obsessed with beautiful clothes." So obsessed, in fact, that in 2013 he opened his own tailoring business, Sartoria Giuliva—it was in his atelier in Rome where the couple first met in 2014. Fifteen months later, on a sunset walk in Naples, Gerardo proposed—after which, in the Italian tradition, he went in person (on motorcycle in the rain!) to ask both her father and his own mother for their permission.

Naturally, both families consented, and the couple knew exactly where to host the occasion. Not long after they started dating, Margherita took Gerardo to visit the hills near her family's farm. As the sun set, they drank wine and decided that's where they would marry. "I think that's where we understood that our encounter was 'the one,'" she says. The pair officially said "I do" in a religious ceremony on July 1, 2017, followed by a second outdoor celebration under the Gran Sasso mountain. Keep reading to see how this fashion-forward couple planned and coordinated their own remarkable, intimate celebrations, both captured by Alba Morassutti and Anna Szkoda.

Wearing a gown inspired by traditional Abruzzan clothes (and designed by one of her friends), Margherita got married at a monastery in L'Aquila.

The couple—who teamed up to launch a women's ready-to-wear brand, Giuliva Heritage Collection, just three months before their nuptials—were officially wed on a Thursday in a tiny ceremony at the monastery where the bride's aunt (and namesake) is a nun.

The couple exchanged vows in front of close friends and family. Gerardo wore a navy, double-breasted light wool suit for the church ceremony. The bride kept her ensemble completely minimal, accessorizing only with diamond studs from Gerardo's mother and opting for a natural makeup look.

Two days later, they hosted a much larger all-day celebration, kicking off with a priestly blessing in a fairy tale–perfect meadow near where Margherita grew up in the mountains of Abruzzo (about an hour east of Rome).

The bride wore a chic Derek Lam sheath dress, which she describes as, "the simplest, yet most elegant, dress I ever saw." Margherita worked closely with the designer, who remade the dress from the SS 2011 collection just for her.

The dapper groom dressed in a bespoke morning suit. (Because, of course.)

The bride carried a bouquet of wildflowers gathered by her Aunt Amalia that morning, with a few last-minute blooms gifted to her by a young wedding guest.

Guests sat on fabric-draped hay bales, and a traditional accordion trio played as the bride walked toward her groom. Margherita describes their wedding spot as "a gem in the middle of the mountains in the center of Italy."

During the ceremony, Margherita and Gerardo thanked their family and friends for being a part of their day, and she gave her father a special hug. "We hugged for five minutes on the clock," she recalls. The couple's beloved dog, Gastone, looked on.

"The blessing was very emotional," she says. "The landscape was full of energy, and love was all around."

"Our aesthetic was all about respecting this place," she explains of the sentimental outdoor venue. "The nature is overwhelming."

Gerardo, Margherita, and their dog, Gastone, drove a vintage Land Rover between the ceremony and the reception at the bride's family home.

Afterward, the party moved to Margherita's family's farm, which was decorated with off-white linens, wheat, rosemary, and wildflowers. Plenty of seating was provided underneath a long wood gazebo, topped with linen sheets.

Revelers feasted on an Abruzzo-style lunch of pasta prepared by the bride's father, an architect turned chef and restaurateur. "It was one of the best ingredients of the whole wedding," says Margherita of the picnic. "It was a hot day, and nobody felt like they had to do anything, just rest and relax."

Friends and family ate at their own pace throughout the afternoon and, following lunch, lounged on pillows and blankets spread in the grass. Rest time, however, was short-lived, as the festivities migrated toward the property's two swimming pools for cake and dancing.

The couple cut into their enormous wedding tart (topped with fragoline di bosco), which perfectly meshed with the countryside appeal. In place of a traditional toast, the bride's father invited her 90-year-old grandmother to help Gerardo and Margherita slice into the dessert. Margherita calls this "the sweetest moment."

After cake, the happy couple kicked off an epic dance party with the help of their friend DJ Polaris, who had flown in from London. "He's great at getting people up on their feet," she says. "We danced straight through from lunchtime until 9 p.m. It was absolutely nonstop!"

Overall, Margherita sums up their back-to-back ceremonies as "unforgettable." "We believed that our love and the love of our friends and families were the perfect ingredients for the perfect wedding," adds the bride. "And so it has been!"


Brides's Dresses: Derek Lam, Bomba || Groom's Attire: Sartoria Giuliva || Mother of the Bride Dresses: Missy Dress || Reception Music: DJ Polaris ||

Young musicians push the piano into new territory

Black and glossy and as unfathomable as deep space, the grand piano exerts an immense gravitational pull on the past and present of classical music. Three young pianists, all with local connections, aim to ensure that influence continues well into the future, although the routes they’ve chosen are sometimes far from conventional.

For Vicky Chow, who’ll soon present two salon concerts and an ensemble reading of John Luther Adams’s Ten Thousand Birds for Music on Main, going off-piste was both surprising and simple. A decade ago, well on her way to an international reputation as an interpreter of the classics and nearing the end of her Juilliard School training, the Vancouver-born musician was simply helping out a friend when she discovered her true calling.

It probably helped that Chow’s friend was Zhou Tian, whose Concerto for Orchestra has been nominated for a 2018 Grammy Award for best contemporary classical composition.

Sonatra, as its title suggests, is a mashup of musical quotes from the Frank Sinatra songbook, played with the virtuoso skills necessary to tackle the classical sonata. A wild ride of endlessly overlapping arpeggios, it may well be the most maxed-out minimalist piece Chow has ever played. Or tried to play, as she points out.

Music Helps to Forget Worries

Music is simply the best entertaining thing in today’s world. In fact, it is also a sign of gratification. It has its own magical prominence and impact on the society. It has the capacity to stimulate your stale mood and make you even more active, enthusiastic and energetic. It directly affects the psyche and helps you make happy and active. People all across the world listen to their favorite music. It is a superior and passionate source of entertainment. People have different choices as per their region, religion, country, social environment, background, culture, subculture and even personality.　

It is also known as the best companion of mankind. It gives enough psychological support to depressed and agitated people. In fact, people love to listen to music when they feel tired, neglected, loved or ignited. Music has many forms that have the capacity to change mindsets. This is the reason people associate music and songs with their particular life moments. They listen to music whenever they seek support. They get good inner vibes that help to enjoy the moments and forget about the worries. Lyrical contents of songs support dancing, drama, movies, play, novel, public entertainment shows, and disco.

Today, many regions have their own songs, track records and people love listening to different types of songs in a same country. It helps them to understand their existing situation to feel it more closely. People of almost all age groups love to listen to their favorite songs. They have specific choices and special likings developed due to their personal traits and life styles. It does not matter where a person lives, a villager may like pop music and a kid may prefer listening to hard rock music or hip hop music or funk.

Today, due to the fast evolution of entertainment industry, music has carved its unique niche. Entertainment industry is fostering music like never before, which is allowing people to have greater access to music and their favorite songs. They prefer listening to Hindi songs, English songs, regional language songs, karaoke music, and much more. Even people love to sing songs of their choices and feel elevated due to their internal positive vibrations. They also feel highly elated and feel confident when they imitate their singers.


In order to sing their favorite songs, people directly approach to Karaoke restaurants or music companies that help in recording songs. These music companies have professional artists who record and mix your song and provide you CD instantly. Most of the time, Hindi karaoke store also offers an opportunity to music lovers, lyricists, performers, and junior artists to sing songs that they like most. Many reputable online music stores also provide 24*7, accessibility to their music stores so that more and more people can access their music directory.

Ed Sheeran scores first Christmas No 1 with Perfect

The singer-songwriter hit the top spot after releasing six versions of his single, including duets with Beyoncé and Andrea Bocelli

Ed Sheeran has capped a hugely successful year by winning 2017’s Christmas No 1, with his song Perfect.

“This is an actual dream come true and I’m very proud and happy,” Sheeran said, wishing his fans “a very merry Christmas, happy holidays and a happy new year”.

He benefited from – or perhaps shamelessly exploited – chart rules that count streams and sales of multiple versions of the same song towards its chart placing. Sheeran released six versions of Perfect to aid its chances of getting the festive top spot: the original, an acoustic version, remixes by Robin Schulz and Mike Perry, and two duet versions with A-list names: Beyoncé and Andrea Bocelli.

Sheeran also features on the No 2 song, River by Eminem. The rapper scored the Christmas No 1 album for Revival, its commercial fortunes left undented by generally negative reviews.

A campaign to get Wham!’s Last Christmas to No 1, 23 years after it was pipped to the top by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? – and one year on from the death of George Michael – didn’t quite succeed. The song reached No 3, with Mariah Carey’s festive perennial All I Want for Christmas Is You at No 4.

The era of streaming means that there are numerous other Christmas classics coming back into the charts this year, with the Pogues’ Fairytale of New York at No 7, Band Aid at 12, Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree at 14, and a further 11 festive hits in the top 40.

British rapper Big Shaq made a late bid for the top spot by releasing a version of his viral comedy hit Man’s Not Hot with added sleigh bells, and rose two places to No 6.

Classical music brings money to the pits

The classic Lucerne Festival brings the business and public sector an annual benefit of almost 24 million francs. The sponsorship contributions and the subsidies are worthwhile for the Lucerne economy as well as for the city and canton.

Lucerne Festival had its economic benefits analyzed in 2015 by the University of St. Gallen. It was, after the years 2000 and 2008, the third study. The same method was always used.

Adding to this economic added value for the region of CHF 22.6 million is the advertising value generated by media reports abroad. The study puts this at 1.1 million francs.

According to the St. Galler study, Lucerne Festival today contributes 20 to 22 million francs to regional value added. In 2000, the value was 18 million francs lower. In 2008, when the festival time was a week longer, it was 24 to 25 million francs higher.

The visitors were responsible for the high regional purchasing power inflow, which made substantial expenditures in the context of the festival, according to the study. This contribution to value creation was around 11 million francs.

According to the study, the sponsors, who in addition to the sponsorship contributions contribute around 8 million francs, play an important role. In addition there are investments of the festival and expenses for the care of the artists.

The regional purchasing power inflows benefit primarily the restaurants and the hotels. Through pre-production, the overall contribution of Lucerne Festival to regional value creation in model calculations increases to around 30 million francs.
Lucerne Festival had budgeted revenue of CHF 24.2 million in 2015. The majority is covered by the ticket sales as well as sponsorship and patronage contributions. Government subsidies amounted to 1.4 million francs. The investments in the festival were worthwhile for the economy as well as for the canton and the city, is the conclusion of the Lucerne Festival.


If the Lucerne Festival were to expand its program, as planned with the Salle Modulable, the economic benefits could be further increased. There is considerable potential for growth, says the study. A reduction in subsidies, as reflected in Lucerne, would clearly be counterproductive.