Italy’s Lake Como is easily one of the most romantic places to get married in the world. The backdrop to countless celebrity weddings and celebrations, it’s easy to see why Melissa and Kevin felt the same. They packed up their California-based friends and family for an adventure across the world, and the result was a wedding made for the pages of Style Me Pretty. See more from Thecablookfotolab right this way!
From the Bride… Famous composer Franz Listz wrote, “when you write the story of two happy lovers, let the story be set on the banks of Lake Como.” And so Kevin and I set our story here. We met in the San Francisco Bay Area and when we first started dating we both developed a love for traveling the world together. We discovered that we made fantastic travel partners! We packed as many vacations in as possible every a year and finally decided to explore Europe together. While in the South of France we got engaged in the ancient village of Eze, which is without a doubt a jewel in the French Riviera.
We searched high and low for a wedding venue in California but nothing compared to the majestic beauty of the Alps. We then realized a destination wedding would only be suitable for us. Our favorite food is Italian so we knew the majestic alps and a destination in Italy would be the only way to go! When we saw pictures of Lake Como we were absolutely stunned and when we saw pictures of Villa del Balbianello and found out it could only be reached by boat, we knew that we HAD to get married there. It is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Not speaking the language and having never been there we decided that having a local wedding planner help was absolutely necessary. We interviewed many wedding planners but when we FaceTimed with Anastasia with we fell in love! We had great chemistry and she understood our California style & wedding vision. We found our photographer from wedding blogs. We showed her work to Anastasia and turned out they work together all the time. Darya, with the Cab Look of Love is spectacular! Her photography spoke to our hearts. Darya’s style and her ability to shoot with real film in today’s digital world is why we picked her! We knew she would be the ONLY one to document our special day. Planning a long distance event was stressful at times but Anastasia always put us at ease and made everything very easy!
Heading to Italy with our families & friends we were a bit nervous. We were not quite sure what we were going to get or if the weather would cooperate. We soon found out Italians love weddings. And the locals we encountered around the lake were so wonderful and welcoming & even celebrated for us!
On the day of our wedding the lake glistened and the lush colors all around us were glowing. The air was clean. It was like the lake smiled knowing it was our wedding day. The day of the wedding was stress free and every detail was taken care of. The boat ride, food, prosecco, wine, flowers, music and everything was perfection. Our guests still talk about how our menu was the best wedding food, being SF foodies it’s a HUGE compliment. Our wedding day turned out to be perfect. For us, it still is the best day ever. Everything exceeded expectations and we were still in complete awe of the day. We owe so many thanks to all of our wonderful vendors that made our day so incredibly special. We couldn’t imagine a better place to have shared such a special moment with our family and friends. Lake Como is now our piece of paradise forever.
Photography: Thecablookfotolab | Videography: Lumen | Event Planning: Happy Moments Collector | Floral Design: Maurizio Buzzi | Wedding Dress: Custom | Invitations: Minted | Ceremony Venue: Villa Balbianello | Reception Venue: aquadolce | Bride's Shoes: Gucci | Bridesmaid Dresses: BHLDN | Groomsmen Suits: Nordstrom | Bride Wedding Ring (custom): Deja Co | Bride's Jewelery: ILioniti | Bride's Jewelry: armenta collection | Groom & Groomsmen Bow Tie: The Tie Bar | Groom's Ring: David Yurman | Groom's Shoes: Santoni | Groom's Suspenders: Mason&Sons | Groom's Tuxedo: Indochino | Groom's Watch: Panarai | Invitation boxes: Envelopper Inc