Bianca Beattie and Alain “Coco” Bonvecchio married on Saint Barth. The celebration ran across four days for 120 guests, most of them first timers on the island, and each event opened up a different side of it: a rehearsal dinner at Le Toiny, a welcome party at Nikki Beach, a Catholic Nuptial Mass in Gustavia, a reception at a private villa above Gouverneur and a final pool party the couple called the Bonvecchio Pool Club. Anker Prod turned the weekend into a film in acts, each one opening with its own title card, and their work gives this story the warmth of a family home movie seen through an editor’s eye!
Location: Saint Barthélemy, French West Indies
Style: Curated, Fashion Forward, Joyful
Time of planning: 18 months
Number of guests: 120
Setting: Hotel, Beach Club, Church & Villa
Season: Spring
Bianca and Coco grew up in Miami and crossed paths at the same high school parties for years, though their story officially starts in August 2017 at airport security on the way to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where Coco spotted her first and talked his parents into a coffee stop so the two families could “accidentally” bump into each other. A few nights later the Bonvecchios took the Beatties to dinner, and Coco, still in the polo and shorts he had worn all day for move in, ordered “my usual” after 48 hours in Dallas and kept Bianca laughing over a massive, practically mooing steak. Over dessert came the truth: his family had already eaten with friends that evening, and Coco had insisted on a second dinner, and a second steak, rather than postpone.
The proposal came over Christmas at Bianca’s parents’ house in North Carolina, on Coco’s birthday, with both families in on the plan. After a near disaster involving a neighbor with homemade baklava and Tito the dog escaping, Coco led Bianca to the little red bridge in the meadow and got down on one knee as her dad switched on the lights wrapped around every tree. When he told her to look up, her mom, her sister by marriage Emily and his parents were cheering from the balconies, and her brother Brian stepped out from behind a hedge with a camera. “If I were Taylor Swift, I’d absolutely have a song called Little Red Bridge,” Bianca says.
Behind the Lens
The film behind this story comes from Anker Prod, the studio Jose and Lucía founded in 2012 and have taken to destination weddings around the world ever since. Their work starts from the belief that “the most meaningful moments can’t be staged,” so Jose and Lucía observe the day with honesty and let each story unfold as it truly is, balancing editorial aesthetics with documentary sensitivity.
Super 8 is part of the Anker Prod signature, and the studio blends digital cinema with its character. Kodak launched the format in 1965 for families filming their own lives, and its grain, warm color and slight flicker became the visual language of summer holidays for generations. That reference suits a weekend built on a family history with the island that goes back 33 years. The photographs come from EFEGE, based in Mexico and specializing in destination weddings.
The Beach
Four days of celebrations gave Bianca the rare chance to build a complete fashion story, with different fabrics, colors, textures, hair, makeup and accessories for every event. She kept each outfit under wraps until her entrance, and watching her closest girlfriends react to every reveal became one of the simplest joys of the weekend for her.
The first two nights set the social tone. At Le Toiny, the couple asked every bridesmaid and groomsman to say a few words at the rehearsal dinner, and the table filled with stories the two of them had long forgotten, told by friends from every chapter of their lives. Coco remembers it as the moment the whole weekend’s feeling began: “We laughed until we cried and cried until we laughed.”
The Island
Behind those first two nights sits a much older story. Bianca’s parents honeymooned on Saint Barth 33 years ago and have returned almost every year since, and the island Bianca and her brother grew up with had little to do with beach clubs or shopping in Gustavia.
Since only a handful of guests had ever been to Saint Barth, the couple designed the weekend as a guided introduction to every side of the island they love, and Moosh Events planned it. The couple wanted the weekend to feel less like a series of events and more like a vacation shared with the people they love most, with time to slow down and actually experience the island.
Guests found that idea waiting in their welcome bags: canvas totes, custom scarves, hats, handheld fans, a welcome note, a designed itinerary and a bottle of La Pinta vanilla rum, a nod to one of the couple’s favorite island traditions and a small piece of Saint Barth for every guest to take home. Graphic design for the weekend came from Marina Silva Studio and the invitations from Bliss Imprints, and every custom detail across the four days celebrated the new shared last name, the wedding monogram or Saint Barth itself.
Bride's Morning & Fashion
On wedding day, Bianca spent the wedding morning with her mom, Coco’s mom and her bridesmaids, sipping Perrier-Jouët in a room full of steamers, selfies and running questions about eyelash curlers and hairstyles. Makeup by Idalmi and hair by Brianne Smith kept a busy room moving, and Bianca calls both absolute pros for holding the schedule through the usual hiccups of getting several people ready at once.
For the ceremony Bianca chose a Nicole + Felicia gown via Chic Parisien, looking for something romantic, sculptural and fashion forward with a touch of drama that would never read as trendy. The dramatic silhouette and couture floral detailing give it the presence of a work of art, and the Manolo Blahnik heels are a nod to Carrie Bradshaw, one of her lifelong style icons, for whom Manolos were always more than shoes.
She finished the look with Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady, and a small charm with a photo of her grandmother hung from her peony bouquet by B Floral Events & Design, so she could carry her down the aisle. Peonies filled the bridesmaids’ bouquets as well.
Groom’s Fashion
Groom’s two best men were Bianca’s brother Brian and his own brother by marriage, Oscar. While the groomsmen were supposed to be getting ready together on the wedding morning, Coco’s dad and Oscar spent it on the tennis court, and later, during the first look, the couple spotted them nearby in athletic shorts, fresh off the court and happily eating the sandwiches ordered for the groomsmen.
The moment became the funniest footnote to one of the couple’s best decisions. Every guest joined a WhatsApp group, and at the end of each evening and again the next morning the couple sent the designed graphic for the day’s events, the same artwork as the itinerary booklet, with where to be, what to wear, when to arrive and how transport would work. The bridesmaids had every detail covered, and the couple admit the groom’s side could have used the same level of briefing.
Coco himself kept his wardrobe classic and understated all weekend, mixing Suitsupply with Italian labels he loves, including Luca Faloni and Pini Parma, and choosing quality fabrics, great tailoring and fit over recognizable logos. For the wedding he had his tuxedo made by Sartoria Martino, an exclusive bespoke tailor in Rome, and as someone proud of his Italian heritage he saw real meaning in starting married life in a piece crafted there. Hugo Boss shoes, Maison Label Olivewood & Leather and a sculptural take on the classic calla lily boutonniere completed the look.
The couple’s practical tip for any groom marrying somewhere warm, especially in white, is to pack a backup jacket and shirt, since heat, dancing and hugs add up quickly and a fresh change also covers any accidental red wine.
The First Look
Before the church, Bianca and Coco saw each other for the first time at the villa. Walking down the aisle was always going to be its own milestone, and the first look gave them something different, along with a free cocktail hour later to celebrate with guests instead of disappearing for photos.
Asked for her favorite moment of the wedding, Bianca handed the question to Coco, because a different memory wins every time she looks back. Her Manolo Blahnik heels were nonnegotiable for the first look, and she accepted in advance that the villa grounds would destroy them, which fits her advice to brides to plan shoes around grass, cobblestones and wooden slats.
"Seeing Bianca for the first time at the villa was, without question, one of the greatest moments of my life. We were surrounded by the natural beauty of the property, but the only thing I could focus on was her."
Ceremony
The ceremony took place at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Gustavia, where only a select few couples receive permission to marry. Bianca and Coco had always pictured a traditional Catholic Nuptial Mass, and three priests who have played important roles in their lives traveled to the island for it, two from Rome and their local pastor from Miami.
A live vocalist, pianist and cellist accompanied the service. Bianca walked down the aisle with her dad to a live mashup of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love and Rascal Flatts’ Bless the Broken Road, a pairing rooted in the country music the two have always bonded over. Bridesmaids and groomsmen walked in together as pairs, a way to honor the friends who stood beside each of them long before they became a couple. B Floral Events & Design framed the ceremony with a dramatic orchid arch and lined the aisle with lush ground arrangements of calla lilies.
Reception
The reception took place by the pool at Maison Blanc Bleu, and the tablescape was one of Bianca’s biggest design priorities: light, layered and built to feel just as relevant thirty years from now. B Floral Events & Design worked with her favorite flowers in crisp whites and greens with touches of blush pink and buttery yellow, varying the height of the arrangements so guests could still talk across the table. Moosh Events turned the calla lilies into place cards, with each guest’s name printed on the bloom and the stem wrapped around the wine glass.
Bianca danced with her dad to I Loved Her First by Heartland, a song he had chosen the day she got engaged, Coco danced with his mom to Tim McGraw’s Humble and Kind, and Bianca surprised her own mom with a Céline Dion remix as a thank you for months of planning together. The couple’s first dance to Coldplay’s All My Love slid straight into the PNAU remix and filled the floor. Dinner came from chef Baptiste Gauthier of Bon Appétit, with speeches spaced between courses so every word could land.
The Car
One look from the weekend carries more family history than any other. Before the rehearsal dinner, the couple spent the day exploring the island and photographing some of Bianca’s favorite places, and for the shoot she wore her mother’s wedding dress, completely reimagined.
She kept a few of its most distinctive details, including the signature shoulder pads, and the lightweight linen felt right at home in the island heat. The finished look is a nod to Claudia Schiffer’s Vogue editorials shot on Saint Barth in the 1990s, completed with Valentino shoes, Saint Laurent sunglasses and, for a few of the photos, a hat.
The Chess
Bianca knew from the very beginning that she didn’t want the weekend to end with a traditional farewell brunch, so on April 19, the day after the wedding, the couple invited everyone back to Maison Blanc Bleu for the Bonvecchio Pool Club. The villa that had hosted the reception the night before took on a completely different atmosphere, and the couple loved how the same venue could change character through mood alone.
The recovery day brought back the side of Saint Barth Bianca fell in love with growing up, its slower pace, natural beauty and strong sense of community. Games run through this couple’s story, from the card games that closed every family evening at the villa when she was a child to the games with Coco and Brian that kept her up until what felt like 3 a.m. the night before the proposal. Kaz à Juice served fresh wellness drinks and energy shots next to the cocktails, a healthy way to kick off the afternoon before many guests moved on to a spritz by the pool.
The Pool
The customization reached another level by the pool: embroidered towels, popsicles debossed with Bonvecchio, burger boxes, French fry containers, pool floats, beach balls and custom aprons and hats for the chefs and bartenders. As the afternoon went on, everyone was dancing, drinks were in the air and guests were jumping into the pool, and Coco remembers it as the most joyful finale they could have imagined and the ideal way to close out the best weekend of their lives.
The End
The celebrations continued a few weeks later in Rome, where the couple received a Papal Blessing for their marriage. For family and close friends who could not travel to Saint Barth, they held a church blessing at the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo. The blessing included several traditional German marriage blessings in honor of her family heritage, and the day ended with cocktails and dinner at Donna Camilla Savelli. Just months after the wedding, the couple relocated to Amsterdam, where Coco leads the European expansion of his real estate private equity firm and Bianca is preparing to launch an interior design company powered by AI.
Two more lessons from the couple are worth borrowing. Go easy on the alcohol, since this is likely the only day all of your favorite people will be in one place, every second deserves to be remembered and navigating a wedding dress in a bathroom is already an Olympic sport. And ask the caterer to pack your dinner: Bianca spent the meal visiting tables and barely touched the Snake River Farms wagyu steak she had spent months planning, which left her starving by the end of the night.
“Your wedding doesn’t have to follow someone else’s playbook,” Bianca says. For this couple, that meant four days instead of one, carajillos instead of the hora loca and a pool party instead of a farewell brunch, all shaped around the two of them and the people they chose to celebrate with. Anker Prod captured all of it, and their acts hold the weekend exactly as the couple describe it: curated, fashion forward, endlessly joyful and full of giddy energy, a film the Beatties and the Bonvecchios will keep returning to for years.
VIDEOGRAPHY Anker Prod | PHOTOGRAPHER EFEGE | PLANNER Moosh Events | REHEARSAL DINNER VENUE Le Toiny | WELCOME PARTY VENUE Nikki Beach | WEDDING & POOL CLUB VENUE Maison Blanc Bleu | FLORALS B Floral Events & Design | GRAPHIC DESIGN Marina Silva Studio | INVITATIONS Bliss Imprints | MAKEUP Idalmi, Brianne Smith | BRIDAL GOWN Nicole + Felicia via Chic Parisien | SECOND LOOK Eisen Stein via Amable Bridal | BRIDE’S SHOES Manolo Blahnik, Valentino | GROOM’S TUXEDO Sartoria Martino | GROOM’S SHOES Hugo Boss | CATERING Bon Appétit | MIXOLOGIST Shaken | DJ Adrien Mas
