Kathy & Alex at Palazzo Belmonte: A Love Story with a Disco Heart

Long before the wedding invitations, there was a twenty-first birthday in Wicklow. Kathy and Alex arrived at a mutual friend's party, and somewhere inside that ordinary reason to celebrate, their own story began. Years later, the people they loved would gather for a party with their names on the invitation. Their friend can probably claim a little credit for the guest list.

On 23 May 2026, they brought that story to Palazzo Belmonte, in Santa Maria di Castellabate. This corner of Italy already held happy holiday memories; returning to marry gave those memories a new tenderness. The warmth of the Cilento coast, the greenery and the pleasure of gathering over Italian food made it feel like a place where their life together could open into something beautiful.

Amore Weddings Italy helped bring the celebration together, with 137 guests, mostly from Ireland and the United Kingdom. In the preparations, hair by Arte in Bellezza di Angelo Incagliato e Federica and makeup by Diana Djurdjevski of Dawn Artists formed part of Kathy's bridal look. Alessandro Mari Photography cared for both the photographs and the film: two ways of carrying a little of this day home.

Their religious ceremony gave the day a quiet, solemn centre. Before the music and the crowded dance floor came the meaning of standing together, making promises that would reach far beyond this one afternoon. There is a particular tenderness in a wedding ceremony: all the anticipation of getting there, then the simplicity of the person beside you.

In the photographs, Kathy and Alex emerge from the church hand in hand, their arms raised as guests gather around the doorway. The joy is wonderfully uncontained. The vows belong to the two of them; the celebration is already spilling out to meet everyone else.

Back at Palazzo Belmonte, the Belvedere Terrace welcomed the aperitif. Surrounded by greenery and the easy warmth of an Italian afternoon, friends and family could linger together, letting the ceremony settle into conversation and celebration.

Kathy's speech made this part of the day especially personal. A bride's voice, the people who know her best listening: room for emotion, for smiles and for the shared laughter that makes a gathering feel close, even so far from home.

Yellow and green, touched with blue, brought freshness to the couple's chosen palette, with the floral design entrusted to La Maison Marie. Another much-loved detail was the gelato cart from Lounge Bar Gelateria L'Ancora. Kathy and Alex's affection for Italian food was getting a very enthusiastic supporting cast.

“Delilah (pull me out of this)” by Fred again.. was their choice for the entrance to dinner on the Marquee Garden Terrace. A little of the evening's dancing spirit was already finding its way into the reception, while Palazzo Belmonte's catering team took care of the meal.

With Aidan as MC, the speeches brought both fathers, Alex and his two best men into the story. There is a lovely intimacy in those pauses around a wedding table: conversations soften, people listen, laughter travels between the chairs, and the feeling of being there together grows a little stronger.

For Kathy and Alex, Italy had once been a place to make memories as a couple. Now their families and friends were inside the picture too. All those familiar faces, brought together in a setting they loved, made the distance travelled feel very small.

For the cake cutting, the couple chose “Mamma Mia”. With ABBA in the soundtrack, even this sweeter pause kept a little disco sparkle. Kathy and Alex stood together beside the cake, carrying the warmth of the reception into another small moment of their own.

The music felt at home in their celebration: joyful, affectionate, easy to love. Around the day's bigger promises were these lighter memories, the ones a familiar song can bring rushing back years later.

Then came Elton John's “Are You Ready for Love”. For a couple whose story began at a party, it was a beautifully fitting first dance: tenderness with a smile in its step.

Under the marquee's soft draping, the gathering drew close around them. The photographs catch Alex lifting Kathy, her arms around his shoulders, the guests watching from the edge of the floor. A whole room of people, and still that lovely sense of finding each other inside it.

This was their moment to hold for a little longer. Soon the floor would belong to everyone; for now, their story had the space of a song.

The Gloves' eight-piece band brought the marquee to life with two lead voices, guitar, rhythm and the bright lift of the horn section. Live music filled the space, carrying the celebration from the first dance into the joyful rush of being surrounded by friends who were just as ready to let go.

Kathy and Alex's love of disco, pop and house gave the evening its spirit. The photographs tell their own exuberant part of it: Kathy among friends with an arm in the air, guests singing along, smiling faces pressed into the same frame. With The Gloves driving the live party, there was plenty of room for elegant wedding clothes to discover their dancing ambitions.

The DJ continuation carried the celebration on. Beneath the marquee, the closeness of the crowd and the music made a world of their own, warm and wonderfully alive.

It had begun at somebody else's birthday in Wicklow. At Palazzo Belmonte, Kathy and Alex found themselves at the heart of a celebration they would carry together: the promises, the people, the sound of a room sharing their happiness. And, through it all, the same person beside them.

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