Hannah and Lindsay were ready to elope to Italy, just the two of them. But then their families made it work, and what started as a plan for two became an intimate family wedding at Grand Hotel Tremezzo on Lake Como. Before they had a venue, a planner, or even a date, they found their photographer: Marta Ilardo. That priority shaped every choice that followed, from a wooden boat ride to Villa del Balbianello to a billiard table photoshoot to a candlelit dinner for nine.
Location: Lake Como, Italy
Style: Romantic, Intimate, Picturesque
Time of planning: 1 year
Number of guests: 9
Setting: Hotel
Season: Summer
Hannah was living in Seattle, and Lindsay was in Missoula, Montana. He came to visit his sister one weekend, they matched on Bumble, and that was it. Turns out they had overlapping friend circles across Montana for years and somehow never met. Hannah’s old roommate had even vouched for him as “Salt of the Earth,” which pretty much sealed the deal. Remote work during COVID let Hannah spend more time in Montana, and finally, she’d moved to Missoula to be with him.
Lindsay proposed at a snow-covered ranch with Clydesdales and a twinkle-lit igloo. For a self-described master of romantic surprises, he nailed it. He got down on one knee in the powder, and Hannah said yes before he could finish the question. They made each other a few promises that day: to always be each other’s biggest supporter, fiercest protector, and to put their relationship first. Also, to always share the other half of the cookie.
Bride's Morning & Fashion
Hannah’s first-look dress was a white crepe sheath with thin straps, a corset bodice, a thigh-high slit, and a full row of covered buttons running the length of the back. Her shoes were four-inch heels with straps wrapping above the ankle. The accessories tell a layered story: heirloom gold and diamond teardrop earrings from her family, a delicate pearl bracelet with a gold heart charm given by her mother in Italy the day before the wedding, and a Christian Dior handbag gifted by Lindsay.
Her hair and makeup, handled by stylist Svetlana Kvasnevskaya, followed a specific brief: natural makeup and a slicked-back mid-ponytail with what Hannah described as “old money waves.” Her bouquet was a generous bundle of clean white roses, simple and deliberate.
Groom’s Fashion
Lindsay’s look was a double-breasted white linen suit custom-designed by Dan Trepanier at Articles of Style, paired with dark brown brushed-leather Prada loafers. The couple made a conscious decision to both wear white, steering away from the classic black tuxedo entirely.
Boat Ride
Classic wooden boats ferried the couple and their parents across Lake Como to Villa del Balbianello for the portrait session. Just that sentence alone carries more atmosphere than most full wedding weekends.
The boat shots are the centerpiece of this gallery, and they deserve to be. Hannah and Lindsay on white leather seats, sunglasses on, bouquet in hand, the lake throwing hard sparkle behind them. The visual shorthand is immediate: this is the opening scene of every mid-century Italian film where someone rich and beautiful arrives somewhere beautiful and rich. But it’s warmer than that, and less posed.
Villa del Balbianello, one of the most photographed spots on the lake, provided the architectural backdrop for their portrait session: stone archways, terraced gardens, the water opening up behind them. Marta Ilardo framed them against the structure rather than in front of it, using the loggia and its shadows as compositional borders.
Ceremony
The lovebirds married outside on a warm August afternoon, in the gardens of Grand Hotel Tremezzo, overlooking the lake. Nine guests, a harpist, Sofia Mari Zampicinini, playing classical music, and white roses by Lorien. And a celebrant, Daria Ciur, who was given a deliberately restrained role. Mindful of the Italian summer heat, the couple opted to exchange their own deeply personal vows, keeping the proceedings beautifully concise.
The dress code for guests was black. That’s a visual strategy that most couples never think of, and it worked precisely the way it should: the black-dressed guests become a kind of elegant frame, a living backdrop.
The weather was a last-minute save: persistent rain gave way to glorious sunshine, as if on cue. The couple had braced for logistical stress, a destination wedding in a foreign country, cherished family traveling great distances, the challenge of coordinating wooden boats on the lake, but to their astonishment, the day unfolded in something close to perfection. An unexpected calm settled over everything.
Moments Together
When Marta Ilardo‘s work showed up on a couple’s feed, everything else was reverse-engineered around the question: what will this look like through her lens? Ilardo shoots with a split personality: black and white for the private, unguarded moments, and rich, warm, saturated color for everything facing outward like ceremony, boat ride, reception.
With Marta locked in, the couple found Grand Hotel Tremezzo online, and it clicked immediately. The venue was striking enough to speak for itself, which meant minimal decor. From there, they brought on Diana from Edelweiss Weddings, who became the architect of the entire day. Working from the couple’s carefully curated mood board, Diana sourced the officiant, coordinated every vendor, and executed the vision with the kind of precision that lets a bride and groom actually enjoy their own wedding.
Reception
Right after the ceremony, instead of a cocktail hour, the couple and their guests simply sat down on the hotel terrace alongside other hotel guests. It was casual and chic in the way that only works when you’re not trying. From there, the evening moved inside to one of the hotel’s most ornate dining rooms. Candles provided the primary light. The table was set for nine, which means every seat was a front-row seat.
For the evening, Hannah switched into her second look: a strapless silk corset bodice over a silk mini skirt, with silk cream heels decorated with pearls covering the straps. A completely different bridal register from the ceremony, shifting the energy from editorial to after-party. Among the more unexpected moments of the evening was a detour to Tremezzo’s billiard room, where Marta Ilardo shot the couple.
The dinner was held in the Sala Contessa, one of the hotel’s private dining rooms built during the Belle Époque, and it shows: the walls, the ceiling, and the chandeliers do all the decorating. The couple understood this and kept additional decor minimal, letting the venue’s own history carry the space.
The dinner photos carry a completely different color temperature from the rest of the day. The ceremony was Mediterranean daylight, clean whites, blues, greens. The reception goes deep into amber and gold, candlelight bouncing off old walls, warm shadows, faces lit by flame.
The couple chose not to have a formal first dance. At a gathering this intimate, it would have felt performative. Instead, they quietly designated “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish as their wedding song to each other.
The cake was a single-tier, vintage, heart-shaped pistachio cake with buttercream icing and “Just Married” written across the top in black cursive. Lindsay’s mother delivered a toast, a poem she’d written about the history of the couple’s relationship. At a table this small, a toast isn’t a performance, it’s a conversation where everyone can see the speaker’s face and hear the catch in her voice.
Advice from the couple:
• Make the day about yourselves. No matter the size of the wedding, big or small, it’s important not to forget the day is meant to be about the bride and groom. It’s not selfish, it’s beautiful. And when guests see that kind of devoted love, they will have a better time than you could have anticipated.
• And it sounds cliche, but don’t sweat the small stuff. Not caring so much during the day of, really made every single moment feel that much more magical.
PHOTOGRAPHER Marta Ilardo | VENUE Grand Hotel Tremezzo | PLANNER Edelweiss Weddings | STYLIST Svetlana Kvasnevskaya | FLORALS Lorien Floral Styling and Design | HARPIST Sofia Mari Zampicinini | GROOM’S SUIT Articles of Style
