La Vita e Bella in Capri! A #realchicbride wears Berta at her swoony Italian wedding.

Tell us your love story! How did you meet and how did you get to a proposal? 

Mike and I met in Miami through a mutual friend I went to college with. I had been living in Miami for eight years at the time and was ready for a new experience. I had decided I would move to NYC to be closer to friends and family but hit it off with Mike a month before I was scheduled to move. I followed my gut and put my move on hold and it ended up being one of my best decisions to date. 

Mike proposed about three years later when we were visiting my family in Rhode Island one summer weekend.  We were running towards my favorite lookout spot over the beach and once we got to a bench there he faked a leg cramp. Next thing I knew he was down on one knee!

When you started planning your wedding what did you envision? How close did the actual wedding get to that vision? 

To be honest, I actually had no idea what I envisioned for our wedding when we first got engaged.  We were open to everywhere from Miami where we live to Rhode Island where I grew up and Mike has family, and finally ended up choosing Italy. Once we got our planner (Federica Nascimben with the Italian Wedding Event – she was fantastic) – everything kind of happened organically and she really helped us shape our vision. 

What were a few things that were important to you as a couple to include (or not include) in the wedding? 

We realized everyone would be taking a long trek to get to Capri (not the easiest little island to travel to) so we wanted our wedding to be super stress-free and just straight fun for everyone making the trip. That helped us prioritize having enough transportation and bars that no one was ever waiting for a ride or a drink the whole weekend! 

How did you decide on the location? 

Initially, we were trying to plan a wedding in Miami as we both live here and a lot of our friends do as well. It started becoming really stressful and I was having a hard time finding a venue that I loved enough to have it be super special and memorable.

Mike and I have always loved traveling and after a long conversation venting to one of my best friends about venue options, one night realized that a destination wedding was such a better fit for us.  Being that Mike and I are both from Italian families and it’s one of our favorite places, we initially decided on Portofino as we had vacationed there the summer before and had such an amazing time. Federica, our planner, convinced us to look at Southern Italy after discussing the things that were important to us and really sold me on this “magical ocean location that was not your typical wedding venue.” That got me from the start and even looking at pictures of Lido Del Faro did not prepare me for how beautiful it was in person (which I didn’t see until the day I walked down the aisle)! I’ve always loved the ocean and was way more into cliffside beach club vibes than a more formal hotel-type setting. 

The locations for the welcome party and brunch the day after were at Capri Palace and Il Ricco which Mike picked and they were just as incredible. And the best part about Italy was obviously that the food was insane at every venue!

Let's talk dress! Give us all the deets! 

I think out of most every detail of my wedding the dress was the only one I was sure of from the very beginning! I’ve never been one to fantasize about a wedding growing up or look at wedding dresses, but I stumbled across Berta dresses on Instagram a few months before we got engaged.  I actually have a picture of my dress in my phone from before we got engaged because I thought it was so different and beautiful. The week after I got engaged, being super excited and already thinking about trunk shows, I called Chic Parisien after finding out they were the only Miami bridal store that carried Berta to make an appointment for a trunk show I saw they were having a few months later. The lady on the phone told me that they were having the last trunk show of the 2018 F/W dresses the following weekend and why don’t I just come in then to try some on.  I swore up and down I would not be buying a dress as I had gotten engaged about two weeks earlier at the time but once I tried this dress on it was a done deal. 

How did your family, friends, etc play into your wedding planning and wedding day? 

Luckily both our families were super excited once we decided on Italy and were very supportive during all the planning. That being said, I did easily figure out that while I am normally very indecisive and like to ask others’ opinions, for your wedding you really do just want to do what you and your husband want and I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by not taking their recommendations.  For that reason, I mostly kept the planning between me, Mike and our planner. 

On the day of the wedding, we both got ready and spent the day preparing with family and friends, and I also chose my parents’ wedding song to walk down the aisle to. 

What's one specific memory you have from your wedding day that you don't think you'll ever forget. 

That we all ended up in the pool at the venue for a pool party at the end of the night because it was so hot from all the dancing! Also, that I got my husband dance for the first (and probably last time) and I think he actually enjoyed himself!!!

How did you decide on your hair and makeup look? 

I thought I knew what I wanted for both our welcome reception and the wedding (I experimented a few times during fittings to test out some different looks) but I changed both looks the day of with the hair and makeup team. I have to admit that’s mostly due to the heat because didn’t want to deal with any sort of down hairdo or pieces when it was so hot. It ended up being a great decision because we were all dripping sweat during the ceremony!

Was there one vendor you used that you wish everyone knew about? 

I’m going to have to mention two. My photographer, Evan Rich Photography, I discovered when I was looking for venues in Miami. He had an Italian shoot on his site and was also another inspiration for choosing Italy because his pictures made it look absolutely dreamy. I loved his work but unfortunately, he was booked on all the dates I was looking at in Miami. When we decided on Italy, I was thrilled he would be able to make it. He and his wife were so amazing in every step of the wedding day.  They really helped streamline the day and took the most beautiful pictures I could have asked for. Also, Mike hates taking pictures normally and I’ve never seen his teeth so much from him smiling as in all our wedding pictures. 

Also, DJ Fabio Vuotto!!! DJ Fabio is the Capri resident DJ and he played all the music for our ceremony, reception and the day after brunch. I didn’t give him any recommendations other than the songs we walked out to for our ceremony and our first dance/father daughter/mother son dances. I figured if he was that good I should just trust his vibe and music judgment for the crowd and he was such a hit. 

Where did you go on your honeymoon and what was the best part? 

We left straight from our wedding to Switzerland and toured the country over the next week from Zurich to Lucerne and ended in St. Moritz.  We stayed at some beautiful hotels and took some amazing hikes and nature tours but the best part was being so well-rested by the time we returned home to Miami that I went straight into work the next day feeling like a million bucks! Switzerland was extremely relaxing which was very much needed after going straight from a bachelorette weekend in the Amalfi coast to the wedding week.

Photos by Evan Rich Photography

Dress by Berta from Chic Parisien