My Wedding Day with Caroline Morahan: 'There was a thunder and lightning storm — it was cinematic and poetic'

Caroline Morahan and her husband Dáithí on their wedding day in Tuscany.

We got married in September 2012 in Tuscany, Italy. I’ve always loved Italy since I was first there as a child. When my husband got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, the first thing I said was yes, and the second thing I said was, let’s get married in Italy. We didn't particularly know where in Italy, but we were set on somewhere in Tuscany.

When we were looking for somewhere, I called Lucy Kennedy. She had gotten married in Italy and used an Irish company, Amore Weddings, to help her with everything. 

They gave us a list of places and the one we chose, Borgo Stomennano, just outside Siena, was probably last on the list; it wasn't one that was foremost on anyone's mind. 

But when we were driving up the driveway — it was like the movie Gladiator — I just immediately said to my partner: “This is it,” and he was going: “Cool the jets. We don't know if it's available. We don't know if it's extortionate.” But I was determined to make it happen.

Caroline Morahan on her wedding day in Tuscany.

It was so funny. When I walked up the aisle in the church, one of my cousins said: “She’s been drawing that dress since she was five”. And she was right, even though I wasn’t drawing it as a wedding dress. I’d always loved Civil War era American dresses, like Scarlett O’Hara. 

So, I went to Kathy de Stafford and explained what I wanted. Kathy did some sketches and I thought, “Oh my god, that’s it!”. I wanted really deep pleats, pockets, and a corset. And she used an entire bale of silk — metres and metres of silk. The dress had a sense of occasion, and it was unmistakably a wedding dress.

I used to write a wedding column at one point for VIP Magazine, and so many of the brides said that the day just passed them by. They said to make sure I was present at my own wedding day, and it was the best advice I ever got. I made a point of tasting the food, dancing, chatting and enjoying my day.

Caroline Morahan and her husband Dáithí on their wedding day in Tuscany.

You’d think with a wedding in September in Tuscany that the weather would be balmy and gorgeous. But two days before the wedding when I checked the weather app, I could see that thunder and lightning emoji with full rain right on our particular pocket of Siena. 

Sure enough, there was a storm moving in, expected to land on the wedding day. We had to make big changes. We had planned to have the entire wedding outdoors, dinner among the trees, and the drinks reception in the piazza in Siena, the disco out by the pool. As soon as we got to the venue I had to try and source a marquee and we had to make a plan to move the disco indoors. But we pulled it off.

It ended up that the weather was one of the highlights of the day. After the church, we walked down to the piazza and the rain just started to sprinkle as we were walking. Then, as soon as we got to the place where we were having our drinks, the heavens opened. And I mean, there's rain, and then there's this. 

The awnings were being ripped off the buildings by the rain. There was thunder and lightning. It was so incredible and theatrical and amazing. And one of my Irish friends turned to me and asked, “Are you okay?” and I was laughing and cheering, because it was magic. It was cinematic and poetic and incredible, and we were laughing our heads off. 

Then my husband and his groomsmen ran around in their underwear in the rain, re-enacting the traditional Palio di Siena horse race. It was hysterical.

Caroline Morahan on her wedding day in Tuscany.

In Italy there's so much food involved at every meal, but particularly on special occasions. It can be so tiring, so we introduced what we called a 'musical sorbet'. At random times during the meal, we would play Everybody Dance Now and everyone had to put down their food and their drink and get up and dance for two minutes. It was to energise ourselves, and it really kept everybody buzzing and having fun.

We’d booked a band we’d found in Milan called Maniac. Because of the weather and things going awry, we were way behind schedule, so they only ended up starting to play at 1am. But they were just so sound, and they went along with everything. They were having so much fun, too. They played until 6am.

Caroline Morahan on her wedding day in Tuscany.

Everyone was having so much fun. We were passing around the mic and people were going up on stage with the band. One of our friends had been the original drummer in Riverdance and he asked the band if he could play the drums for a while — they were delighted. The whole night was such fun and full of energy.

For me, though, among the highlights of our wedding weekend was the food. We wanted to have an authentic Tuscan food experience with a rustic, traditional vibe, and that’s exactly what we got, from the spectacular BBQ the night before at Villa Catignano to the pasta dish in a local restaurant the day after. It was absolutely incredible.

• Caroline Morahan is currently starring in a psychological thriller called I Hope We Can Still Be Friends with Emmet Hughes and directed by Aisha Taylor.