A Multicultural Intimate Wedding on Lake Como | Amanda + Aris

If you’ve been searching for ideas for an intimate wedding on Lake Como, you’ve probably already seen a hundred versions of the same thing: a pontile on the waterfront, a grand hotel facade, confetti on a stone balustrade with the water stretching behind. Beautiful. Also very much a scene. Amanda and Aris wanted something else, and I was glad they called me to photograph and create memories from their vision.
They chose Villa Bonomi, an aristocratic residence perched on the western hills between Como and Cernobbio. Not on the shores, but above them. The garden was designed by Pietro Porcinai, the most important Italian landscape architect of the twentieth century, and it shows in the way everything feels placed rather than planted. Stone pathways, sculpted hedgerows, and statues that have been standing long enough to look like they grew there. A villa recently restored, with interiors that don’t need to be described as luxurious because they simply are: Venetian mirrors, parquet floors in herringbone, exquisite frescoed ceilings, a staircase that earns its place in every photograph taken near it. The first thing you notice, arriving in late April, is the wisteria on the main entrance. It had just come into full bloom, those heavy clusters of pale lavender that cascade over the entrance and last maybe three weeks if you’re lucky (and being there in the second half of April, I was). It’s the kind of detail that cannot be staged or repeated, and it sets a tone immediately: this is a place that does its own thing, on its own schedule, and you’re welcome to be part of it.
That, I think, is exactly why it works so well for this kind of wedding. Villa Bonomi sits high enough above the lake that the water is always present without ever being intrusive. During the day, Como stretches out green and still in the distance. At night, the lights of the town reflect on the surface like something from a film. But from up there, none of the lake’s tourism machinery reaches you. No ferries, no tourists’ crowds on the waterfront, no sense that three other weddings are happening five hundred meters away. Just the garden, the hills, and the people you actually invited.
This is a version of Lake Como that rarely gets photographed, because the couples who choose it aren’t particularly interested in being photographed. The lake has become, in the last several years, a fully developed wedding industry in its own right, a kind of set with its own aesthetic logic, its own vendors ecosystem, its own choreography. Villa Bonomi sits outside all of that, geographically and temperamentally. You get the view. You don’t get the audience. A sort of quiet luxury that can be enjoyed as is, without adding any other layer or brand.
The floristry for the whole weekend was by Fiorigraphia, and the two days read like two chapters by the same author, each written in completely different registers. The welcome dinner was easy in the best possible sense, while the ceremony the next day was something else entirely, with a full arch of peonies, ranunculus, and flowering branches at the center of the lawn. Music and lighting for both evenings were by Blunotte, which – if you’re planning a wedding on Lake Como – is a name you’ll encounter regardless. They’re the most established sound and lighting company in the area, and several venues require them by default. The weekend was planned by WOW Wedding, one of the most established wedding agencies on the lake. Thanks to the moon and back to my photo-mate Lorenzo, who helped me with this wedding!

The Evening before | The Rehearsal Dinner

Forty people. Two days. The people they actually love. That’s the whole guest list, and it’s enough to understand what kind of wedding this was going to be.
The welcome dinner was in the garden, with the lake beginning to darken below and the hills turning that particular shade of blue-grey that Como does in April around eight in the evening. At some point, someone held a plate of pasta toward me like an offering, but instead, I took a picture of it, just to say that’s the kind of evening it was.
Amanda wore a long white dress, easy and fluid, the kind of thing that photographs well even without trying to. When we left the group to take some photos, Aris picked her up and carried her across the lawn with the lake behind them. She was laughing, I took the photograph and thought – these two are going to be fine.
The portraits we made that evening were among the easiest of the whole weekend. When people are already that relaxed, you don’t direct much. You follow. On this April evening, over the lake, it was a bit chilly, so the heaters were doing their job and the girls were gathering around them. It was more like a very good dinner party than a wedding event. Which I think was entirely the point.

The Wedding day

If you book a villa like this, the ceremony can just be outdoors, overlooking the lake. The statues of the garden surround the forty guests, who look more like a circle rather than an audience. Quite a different thing, don’t you think?
Amanda, in her amazing Vera Wang dress, and Aris asked me to be a quiet presence on their first look before the ceremony. They did it not for the photos, not because it’s trending. Just to have one quiet moment together before everything started.
The ceremony was unplugged. No phones, no screens raised above heads. Just faces. You don’t realize how rarely you see that until you’re photographing it. So, my piece of advice if you’re reading this: do it unplugged. Your photos will show faces and not the back of guests’ phones, and they might not love the idea at first, but they’ll thank you for it later, for being there instead of just taking a bunch of photos of it.
After the ceremony, the guests spread across the lawn with their drinks, the lake below, the garden flowering around them. Somebody sat on the edge of the garden chatting in front of the majestic lake. We slipped away for a bit, the three of us. Less a photo session, more a walk through the azaleas and the wisteria still holding at the entrance. A moment for them to land somewhere. That’s honestly my favorite way to work. Not performative, just some honest, candid portraits, while escaping from the timeline for a while.
A quick hair change, from up to down, and a dress swap to get into the first dance moment. That Oscar de la Renta red dress, chosen to pay tribute to the Chinese traditional wedding color, stole the scene against the white facade of the villa. Aris spinning her from above, the lake in the background, guests watching from the grass.
Dinner moved inside, the evening too cool to stay out. Then, at blue hour, they cut the cake on the terrace with Como lit up behind them. I love that light. It forgives nothing and makes everything look like a painting at the same time.
I loved shooting this wedding. It wasn’t a performance. Just two people who knew how to be together, in a place that gave them room.
Now, it’s time to enjoy some more photos.

Love, Fra

TAG/CREDITS 

Design & Planning @wow.wedding – Floristry @fiorigraphia_ -Photographer @francescospighi – Videographer @moonandbackco – Muah @jiyoungyangbeauty – Stationery @paulaleecalligraphy – Catering @classeventi – Music & Light @blunotteventi – Rentals @latinidesign – Celebrant @comocelebrant – Cake @lisabakerycomo – Venue @villabonomi – White dress: @verawangbride – Red dress: @oscardelarenta – Shoes: @jimmychoo

All the photos listed above about this Intimate Wedding on Lake Como were taken by  Italian Wedding Photographer  Francesco Spighi