After a cancelled 2020 COVID wedding and scheduling conflicts after that, these two decided to just elope to Italy for their big day! With just the two of them and making it double as their honeymoon as well, they had an awesome day that was meaningful to them!
What inspired you to choose to do a destination elopement?
Wedding 2020 canceled due to pandemic and could never get it to happen after that due to pandemic and military so we decided to do elopement with just us two and do honeymoon in Italy. We were originally going to have a big wedding but so glad that didn’t work out because elopement with just us two ended up being perfect for us and our personalities.
In what ways did you personalize your wedding day?
We have two corgis that are very important to us but could not bring them to Italy so included them in the details by putting them on a handkerchief in case we got teary eyed during our vows.
What were your favorite wedding day details?
We both loved getting photos at the venue and around town in Ravello including the local coffee shop. We also loved the boat cruise and dinner to ourselves at the beach club with an amazing evening view with fireworks at the end of the night.
Inspiration/theme behind your elopement?
The inspiration/theme was romantic and modern Italian elopement.
Tell us a little bit about how you chose your invitations, flowers, venue, and dress.
Flowers I picked pink/light peach to keep the theme romantic but light since the wedding was in summer. We chose Amalfi Coast in Italy because we both wanted a coastal wedding. Ravello felt perfect because it is a beautiful/romantic small town and much less busy/touristy which was important for us since we wanted privacy during our wedding day and summer is busy with tourism in Italy. We chose Palazzo Avino because of the beautiful pink palace and it was very modern which fit our style/theme the best. Dress-I wanted a low back with long train with lace details and to keep it romantic/modern with my wedding theme.
Overall, do you have any special advice you would like to share with other brides to help prepare them for their destination elopement?
I recommend elopement because you can make the day about you and your love instead of worrying about guests/family wants/desires. After all it is YOUR DAY! Find a planner that specializes in the type of wedding you want and a planner that knows and has experience with planning weddings in the country/destination you want to have your wedding. I loved that we did the elopement/honeymoon at the same destination. Removes a lot of stress and extra travel costs doing it all in the same area. Eloping allows you to spend more money on a nicer venue and other more expensive wedding details because you are not spending as much money on guests, such as their food/alcohol, etc.
We would love to hear how you met or how did you get engaged?
We met in 2018 on an online dating app. After the first 2 dates, we both knew we had found “the one” and quickly fell in love. Three months into dating, I accidentally let it slip out of my mouth that if Steven ever asked me to marry him, I wouldn’t say no. Five months into dating, he took me out to dinner and when we got home later that night he had candles and red rose petals all set up in my home and proposed and here we are!
Is there anything else you would like to share from your big day?
There are so many beautiful places to have a wedding but we highly recommend Italy because of the history, scenery, people, and food. The people in Italy really embrace living a slower pace of life which was very relaxing and a good change for us coming from the US.
Wedding Planner & Designer: Rochelle Cheever at The Elopement Experience
Photography: Rochelle Cheever
Gown Designer: Martina Liana
Shoe Designer: Mago Sisters
Florist: Francesco di Bianco
Groom Clothing: Hugo Boss
Hair & Makeup: Alessandro Mancino Studios
Videographer: Luigi De Gregorio
Wedding Submission Services: Published + Pretty
