A Tour of Lake Como, Italy with our Destination Wedding Team

Planning a Wedding

Aug 18

If you’ve followed our team in recent months, you know that we just returned from Como, Italy in May after producing this beautiful intimate destination wedding for our clients, Macy and Travis. It was a joy to design that celebration, especially because it represented a true return to international travel after two years of pandemic postponements and challenges.

Are you considering a destination wedding in Italy? Want to know more about Lake Como? Read on…

Here’s a little “day in the life” style take on how we spent 24 hours exploring the area alongside photographer, Jillian Knight before kicking our work into high gear to set up the wedding. This kind of day is exceedingly rare for us when we’re on location for event production, but the stars aligned and the intimate nature of this wedding afforded us a bit more time to soak up the local scene, culture, and culinary delights before arriving at our venue to begin our work. (Thanks to Jillian for all of these images below that she captured during our adventures that day!)

If there’s one thing you do when you visit the Lombardy region of Northern Italy to spend time at/around Lake Como, it should be this: charter a private boat and spend some time on the water. It feels impossible to imagine having seen or learned anywhere near everything we did without the guidance of our boat driver, Massimo, who was born and raised in Como. We spent nearly 7 hours on the water cruising by the villages and historic villas, taking in the views of the Swiss Alps in the (not so far) distance, and stopping to disembark and enjoy sights, shopping, gelato, and cocktails.

Because the villages are quite literally built on the sides of the mountains around the lake it’s virtually impossible to really see the architecture of the expansive, exquisite villas from the (very small/narrow!) roads. The vantage point is truly from the lake… on a boat.

One of our favorite locations was Villa Balbianello. Yes, it’s possible to host a spectacular wedding here - though it’s not to be confused with the somewhat similarly named Villa Balbiano, a stunning 16th century property that is the largest private residence on the lake, and also an incredible wedding venue.

When Massimo pulled up to the dock at Villa Balbianello and told us to get off the boat and walk around for a bit, we really didn’t know what to expect, but we were blown away. The architecture is something to behold in and of itself, but the exquisite gardens were absolutely captivating. On such a beautiful sunny day, the views from these terraces and gardens were downright amazing. Don’t miss this, and don’t forget to suggest it to wedding guests who might be looking for sights to take in while visiting. Or better yet… our suggestion for any destination wedding experience in Lake Como is to arrange private boats and excursions for your guests.

These poppies swayed in the breeze so effortlessly that we probably spent five full minutes just staring at them, while the vibrant blue lake glistened behind them. It almost felt too perfect a moment to be real life!

After gliding past countless villas and taking in centuries worth of architectural significance and local legends and stories (yes, George and Amal Clooney’s property is lovely!) we ventured on to the village of Bellagio, where Massimo docked the boat once again and told us to spend time exploring.

The cobblestone streets and steps were just as charming as you might suspect, and we had a blast popping in and out of the artisan shops to look at scarves, leather goods, souvenirs, pastries, and much more. And of course, no afternoon exploring Italy is complete without gelato, so we happily indulged in the tourist tradition.

The weather in May was warm, but beautiful - and not too hot. The flowers were blossoming abundantly and we found azaleas, wisteria, poppies, and pansies galore. Lemons seemed to be growing every direction we looked. Many of the villas boast immaculately manicured gardens and their precision is world-class. In visiting a region so beautiful, it feels impossible to be stressed about anything. (And that’s an environmental benefit any engaged couple is lucky to have as the background to a weekend of wedding celebration!)

Our next stop was at the private dock at the Mandarin Oriental Lago di Como for our afternoon reservation, where we perused the lobbies, marveled at the floral installations, and meandered out onto the terrace for afternoon tea (which turned into afternoon cocktails!)

The Mandarin Oriental is most easily accessed by boat and it’s position on the lake affords guests an exceptional level of privacy in addition to some of the most spectacular views. Appointments/reservations are required for any visit, so be sure to call ahead if you plan to dine or enjoy teatime. Needless to say the accommodations are exquisite, and we love this property as a potential luxury wedding destination.

After wrapping up a full day of leisure on the lake, we changed and freshened up for our dinner reservation at the historic Villa d’Este, a present day five star resort with 16th century origins that is often regarded as one of the best in the world. Before being seated for our al fresco dinner overlooking the lake, we toured the gardens and expansive grounds which feature incredible works of art and sculpture.

Dinner was exceptional. A truly exciting culinary delight in one of the most magical settings imaginable. It’s no surprise that Villa d’Este is often host to some of the most exquisite destination wedding experiences on Lake Como. We’ll readily admit that our standards are high, and this exceeded all expectations.

It feels like this post barely scratches the surface of all there is to do, see, and experience when visiting Lake Como, which is why we feel so drawn to it as a wedding destination. It’s a place that feels otherworldly, as if it’s a little slice of heaven.

Following our whirlwind day of exploration, we transferred to Relais Villa Vittoria to check in and begin our work for the wedding. But while we immediately dove into a busy production mode as we’re so accustomed to, the feeling of weightlessness and excitement over the beauty of the surroundings never faded away.