Elena & Marco
Intimate dinner · Lake Como · 2024
A ceremony for two witnesses in the morning and a candlelit dinner for eighteen above the water — the smallest celebration we have designed, and one of the most precise.
Place
A villa terrace, Lake Como
When
Late September
Scale
18 guests
How the day was made
Elena and Marco had already had a large family wedding in mind and quietly abandoned it. What they wanted instead was one perfect evening: the people they speak to every week, one table, and the lake.
They married in the town hall at eleven with two witnesses, then spent the afternoon on the water in a wooden boat while we finished the terrace. There was no ceremony to stage in the evening — just a toast at the door.
Dinner was a single oval table under the loggia, lit only by candles and two lamps. The menu was written with the chef around what the market had that morning, five courses, each introduced by him personally. Between the fourth and fifth course the guests simply stayed at the table talking for an hour — we had left the space in the timeline for exactly that.
The evening finished with espresso and grappa on the lower steps, the lake completely still.
Candlelit dinner on the villa terrace above Lake Como
Elena and Marco on a wooden boat at dusk
Wine poured beside a hand-written menu card
Three decisions
01
Ceremony first, quietly
Civil ceremony in the morning with two witnesses, so the evening belonged entirely to the guests.
02
One table, one menu
Eighteen seats, no place cards beyond the couple. Five courses chosen the same morning.
03
Deliberate slowness
The timeline had an hour with nothing scheduled in it. It became everyone's favourite part.
- Format
- Civil ceremony plus private dinner, 18 guests
- Venue
- Villa loggia and terrace above the lake
- Dining
- One oval table, five-course market menu
- Light
- Candles and two lamps only — no overhead lighting
- Florals
- Garden roses and ivy, low and unlit
- Music
- Piano trio during dinner, records afterwards
- Planning
- Five months, design, menu development and coordination
- Design & planningÉLAN Studio
- PhotographyGiulia Ferrante
- FilmCorda Films
- KitchenChef Andrea Bellini
- FloralsOrto Lago
- StationeryHand-written menus, ÉLAN atelier
- Bridal gownSatin gown, vintage, re-cut
- Boat1961 Riva, private charter
“Eighteen people and one table. We would not change a single minute of it.”
Want a celebration in this spirit?
Tell us a little about your day — we take a small number of weddings each year.
