When most people picture a Lake Como wedding, they picture a villa. Terraced gardens, a boat pulling up to stone steps, the lake glittering behind them. As much as that might be why you choose Lake Como as the destination for your wedding, there is an entire Italy happening just outside the villa gates. If you are only focused on the ceremony and the venue, you will miss it.
What if you actually lived in Como for a day? Not as a tourist checking off landmarks, but as someone who immerses themselves in the culture and traditions of this beautiful destination. That’s what I would suggest any couple planning an Como destination wedding to consider.
The day started the way Italian mornings should, with a picnic by the water. A gingham blanket, a basket of fruit and bread, the lake sprawling out in every direction and the hills of Bellagio visible in the distance. There is nothing staged about the way this kind of setting makes people feel. You slow down. You feed each other strawberries. You forget, for a little while, that there is anywhere else to be.
From there, the afternoon moved into town, to A.picci, a local silk shop that has been part of Como’s identity for generations. Como has been the silk capital of Europe for centuries, and walking into a shop like this one, with bolts of fabric stacked to the ceiling and scarves in every shade, is one of those experiences that reminds you where you are in a way no vista can.
The day then took us to Osteria Del Gallo, the kind of place that has no interest in being discovered. Stone walls, checkered tablecloths, bottles lined up behind the bar like they have been there since before you were born. They played cards. They laughed. The wine was eventually poured.
Then the lakefront, the piazza, the golden hour light doing what golden hour light does in northern Italy, which is to say, everything. The couple walked the cobblestone waterfront in a way that felt more like drifting than walking, the mountains behind them catching the last of the sun.
This is what a Lake Como elopement can look like when you give it room to breathe. The ceremony matters. The venue matters. But so does the osteria you stumble into on a Tuesday at noon, and the silk shop where you spend twenty minutes deciding on a scarf, and the picnic where all you can do is fall in love all over again.
If you are planning a Lake Como wedding or elopement and want it to feel like more than a backdrop, I would love to work with you. A special thank you to Just Juno Weddings for planning and coordinating this beautiful day in Como.
Photography by Photos by Anusha.
Comments +